By Caroline Gladwin, Certified Personal Trainer & Health Coach
If exercise suddenly feels different in your 40s, you are not imagining it. Many women reach midlife and realize that the workouts, eating habits and recovery strategies that seemed effortless ten or twenty years ago don’t always produce the same results any more.
For some women, this coincides with perimenopause – the transitional years leading up to menopause when hormone levels begin fluctuating. Periods may change. Sleep may become less predictable. Body composition can shift. Recovery may feel different. And maintaining muscle and strength can suddenly seem much more important.
But this is not the time to stop challenging your body. In many ways, it is the time to start taking strength training more seriously. As a certified Personal Trainer and Health Coach who has worked with women for more than 20 years, strength training is one of the biggest priorities I emphasize with women through midlife.
Not because every woman needs to look muscular, and not because we need to train like competitive athletes. But because the muscle, strength, bone health and physical capability we build now can influence how active and independent we remain in the decades ahead.
So what actually changes during perimenopause, and should your workouts change too? Let’s look at the bigger picture.
What Is Perimenopause?
Perimenopause is the transitional period leading up to menopause. It usually begins at around age 35. During this stage, estrogen and other reproductive hormones fluctuate, and women may begin noticing changes in their menstrual cycle alongside physical and emotional symptoms.
Perimenopause symptoms most commonly occur during our 40s, although hormonal changes can become apparent earlier for some women. Menopause itself is reached after 12 consecutive months without a menstrual period.
Read: Perimenopause vs Menopause: What’s Really Happening to Your Body?
Not every woman experiences perimenopause in exactly the same way. Some barely notice the transition. Others experience significant changes in:
- Sleep
- Energy
- Mood
- Body composition
- Temperature regulation
- Exercise tolerance
- Recovery
- Menstrual patterns
This is one reason I don’t believe there should be a single rigid “menopause workout.” Training needs to be adapted to the individual woman.
Why Strength Training Becomes So Important During Midlife
Women have always needed muscle. But as we get older, maintaining it becomes increasingly important. Regular resistance training can help maintain and build muscular strength while supporting physical function and bone health. After age 50, women become more prone to osteoporosis and so resistance training becomes even more is crucial as it strengthens bones, joints, tissue, and ligaments – as well as just our muscles.
That matters because healthy aging isn’t simply about maintaining a certain dress size. It’s about being able to:
- Carry groceries
- Climb stairs
- Get up from the floor
- Lift luggage
- Maintain balance
- Continue traveling
- Play with children or grandchildren
- Participate in hobbies
- Remain physically independent
Muscle is functional tissue. Bone is our foundation. The stronger and more capable we remain, the more options we tend to have as we age.
Maintaining Muscle Requires More Attention
When training women over 40, I don’t just want them to focus on how many calories they burned – and continue to burn 24-48 hours after strength training – I also want them to be aware of maintaining or building muscle.
Cardio, walking, and movement is valuable. But if almost all of your exercise consists of cardio and very little resistance training, you are missing an important part of the healthy-aging picture. Strength training provides a stimulus that tells your muscles “We still need you”.
That stimulus can come from:
- Dumbbells
- Barbells
- Weight machines
- Cable machines
- Kettlebells
- Resistance bands
- Bodyweight exercises
You do not need a bodybuilding program. But you do need enough resistance to challenge the muscles progressively.
Bone Health Becomes More Important
This is another major reason I encourage women to lift weights. Estrogen plays an important role in maintaining bone, and bone loss can accelerate around the menopausal transition as our estrogen levels begin to decline. Women are therefore at increased risk of osteoporosis as they age, typically after age 50.
Resistance training and weight-bearing activity both form part of a bone-healthy lifestyle. Strength training places mechanical stress on the body, encouraging muscles and bones to adapt to physical demand.
That doesn’t mean exercise can guarantee that you will never develop osteoporosis, but it can certainly help to prevent or manage it.
Bone health is influenced by many factors, including:
- Genetics
- Hormones
- Nutrition
- Calcium intake
- Vitamin D
- Protein intake
- Smoking
- Alcohol
- Certain medications
- Body weight
- Physical activity
Resistance training also strengthens the joints and surrounding tissue, and it can also help with posture and imbalances.
Body Composition May Change
One of the most frustrating experiences women describe during midlife is feeling that their body composition is changing even though their habits haven’t changed dramatically. Weight isn’t the entire story. Where fat is stored can change during the menopausal transition, and maintaining lean tissue becomes increasingly important.
This is another reason I advise women to not respond to midlife changes by simply eating dramatically less and exercising dramatically more. Aggressive dieting combined with endless cardio can make it even harder to prioritize muscle, and it can actually make us lose muscle mass.
Instead, I prefer a strategy centered around:
- Resistance training
- Sufficient protein
- Balanced nutrition
- Regular movement
- Appropriate calorie intake
- Consistency
- Recovery
The objective should not simply be to become lighter. It should be to improve body composition, strength and long-term health.
Recovery May Feel Different
One of the most important skills in midlife training is learning the difference between challenging yourself and constantly exhausting yourself. You absolutely can train hard after 40 – I certainly do! But in some cases, harder is not always better.
Recovery can be affected by many things during midlife, including:
- Sleep disruption
- Stress
- Work
- Family responsibilities
- Nutrition
- Training volume
- Exercise intensity
- Menopause symptoms
If your sleep is poor and your stress is high, repeatedly pushing yourself through punishing workouts may not be productive, and should be adapted according to your lifestyle and fitness level. Strength training should stimulate change, as well as energy and mental wellbeing. It shouldn’t leave you feeling destroyed every day.
Sleep Matters More Than Many Women Realize
Sleep can become particularly challenging during perimenopause. Night sweats, hot flashes, stress and hormonal changes can all interfere with sleep for some women.
Poor sleep can affect:
- Energy
- Motivation
- Exercise performance
- Appetite
- Recovery
- Mood
If you have slept badly, that doesn’t automatically mean you should skip training. But it may occasionally mean adjusting your workout.
For example, instead of forcing yourself through an extremely demanding session, you might:
- Reduce the weight slightly
- Perform fewer sets
- Avoid training to failure
- Choose low to moderate-intensity training
- Decrease the duration of your workout according to how tired you feel
- Listen to your body and take longer breaks between exercises as needed
That isn’t failure – it’s intelligent training.
A Trainer’s Perspective
What often impresses me about women in midlife seeking my services is that they already understand that as they get older they need to take their training more seriously. These ladies are often more intentional about strength and know how beneficial this type of training will be.
Recognizing that muscle, strength, balance, cardiovascular fitness and mobility are valuable assets is an important first step for women pursuing their fitness journey – at any age, but certainly after 40. The ultimate goal should be to build a body that continues working well for you for decades, so you can feel strong, confident and enjoy a good quality of life.
How Often Should Women Over 40 Strength Train?
General physical-activity guidelines recommend adults perform muscle-strengthening activities for at least 30 minutes – at least two days per week.
For many women, two to three well-designed strength-training sessions per week can be an excellent foundation. More is not automatically better. It depends on your fitness level, rest and recovery needs, other physical activity you may partake in, and your health history.
Your ideal frequency needs to factor in:
- Training experience
- Goals
- Recovery
- Schedule
- Other activities
- Injuries
- Sleep
- Stress
- Current health
Someone new to strength training does not need the same program as a woman who has been lifting weights consistently for ten years. The important thing is consistency. Two quality workouts performed every week for a year will generally accomplish far more than higher frequency workouts that are less intentional, or sessions that cause complete burnout.
What Should a Perimenopause Strength Workout Include?
A balanced program should train the major muscle groups of the body, followed by some isolation movements for smaller muscles, and then core exercises.
That means including movements for:
Legs and Glutes
Examples include:
- Squats
- Lunges
- Split squats
- Step-ups
- Leg press
- Hip thrusts
- Glute bridges
Back
Examples include:
- Rows
- Lat pulldowns
- Deadlifts
Chest
Examples include:
- Chest press
- Push-ups
- Chest flyes
Shoulders
Examples include:
- Shoulder press
- Lateral raises
- Upright rows
Arms
Examples include:
- Biceps curls
- Triceps extensions
- Dips
Core
Examples include:
- Planks
- Bird dogs
- Balance movements
- Crunches
A good Personal Trainer can modify exercises around injuries, mobility limitations and individual ability. Run away from any trainer who says “push through the pain”!
How Heavy Should Women Over 40 Lift?
There isn’t one correct weight. Some women are stronger than others depending on fitness level, workout history, health issues, age, lifestyle, and genetics. The appropriate resistance is the weight that challenges you while allowing you to perform the exercise safely and with good technique.
The last few repetitions of a set should generally feel challenging. If you can easily perform endless repetitions without fatigue, the resistance may simply be too light to provide much strength stimulus. At the other extreme, if technique completely breaks down after two repetitions, the resistance may be inappropriate. Simply, adjust the weights accordingly.
Progression can occur by gradually increasing:
- Weight
- Repetitions
- Sets
- Exercise difficulty
- Range of motion
- Training quality
- Rest between sets
You do not need to increase everything at once. Small improvements accumulated consistently produce results, and are safer.
Do Women Need to Avoid Heavy Weights During Perimenopause?
Being over 40 is not, by itself, a reason to avoid challenging resistance. Women are capable of becoming stronger throughout midlife. What matters is appropriate progression and individual circumstances.
Certain medical conditions, injuries, pelvic-floor issues, osteoporosis or other health concerns may require exercise modifications. But the assumption that women suddenly become too fragile to lift meaningful resistance once they enter perimenopause is simply not true. Strength is something we can acquire, maintain – and that we want to preserve.
Don’t Forget Cardiovascular Exercise
I strongly advocate strength training, but that doesn’t mean cardio suddenly becomes irrelevant. Cardiovascular fitness matters too.
A comprehensive midlife program can include:
- Strength training
- Brisk walking
- Cycling
- Hiking
- Swimming
- Jogging, where appropriate
- Yoga and pilates
- Other aerobic activities you enjoy
Current activity guidelines recommend adults aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week, or an equivalent combination of moderate and vigorous activity, plus muscle-strengthening activities at least twice weekly.
You don’t need to perform all of that in one enormous workout. Movement can be – and should be – accumulated throughout the week.
Protein Matters Too
You cannot talk seriously about maintaining muscle without talking about nutrition. Resistance training creates the stimulus. Nutrition provides the building materials. Protein is the building blocks for muscle.
Protein-rich foods include:
- Fish
- Chicken
- Turkey
- Eggs
- Greek yogurt
- Cottage cheese
- Lean meat
- Tofu
- Tempeh
- Beans
- Lentils
- Protein powder (if you struggle to get enough protein from your diet)
Surviving on coffee until lunch and then eating a salad with almost no protein isn’t the best strategy if maintaining muscle is a priority. A diet should be well-balanced and you should aim to eat protein with every meal.
What About Supplements?
Supplements can complement a healthy lifestyle, especially if you aren’t able to get all of your daily nutrients from your diet. At Tenacity Fitness, my Women’s Wellness collection is designed around women in midlife and beyond.
EXPLORE THE TENACITY FITNESS WOMEN’S WELLNESS STORE
Frequently Asked Questions About Strength Training During Perimenopause
Is strength training good during perimenopause?
Yes. Resistance training strengthens muscles and contributes to bone health and physical function. It can form an important part of a healthy lifestyle during perimenopause and beyond.
How many days a week should a woman over 40 lift weights?
General exercise guidelines recommend muscle-strengthening activity at least twice per week. Many women do well with two or three strength sessions weekly, although the appropriate frequency depends on experience, goals, lifestyle, and recovery.
Can you still build muscle after 40?
Yes. Women can continue improving muscular strength and fitness through midlife. Progressive resistance training, appropriate nutrition and sufficient recovery remain important.
Is cardio or strength training better during perimenopause?
They provide different benefits, so this doesn’t need to be an either/or decision. Strength training supports muscle and bone health, while aerobic activity supports cardiovascular fitness. A well-rounded program includes both.
Should I exercise if I slept badly because of menopause symptoms?
That depends on how you feel. A poor night’s sleep doesn’t automatically require skipping exercise, but you may benefit from reducing workout intensity or volume when recovery is compromised.
Do I need a personal trainer during perimenopause?
Not necessarily. That depends on your knowledge and motivation. Many women train successfully on their own, while others prefer a Personal Trainer to guide them and provide accountability. A certified trainer can help with exercise selection, technique, progression, and adapting a program around individual limitations and goals.
The Bottom Line
Perimenopause does not mean your strongest years are behind you. But it can be a useful reminder that muscle and strength deserve more attention as we age. Midlife fitness shouldn’t simply be about burning calories or forcing the scale down.
Women should focus on the bigger picture and think about:
Muscle mass.
Bone health.
Strength.
Mobility.
Cardiovascular fitness.
Confidence.
Independence.
Healthy aging.
Longevity.
Quality of life.
The bigger question is: How do I build a body that keeps me strong, active, and capable as I age? That is the mission I’ve built Tenacity Fitness around.
LEARN MORE ABOUT WOMEN’S PERSONAL TRAINING
EXPLORE THE TENACITY FITNESS WOMEN’S WELLNESS STORE
Important: This article is for general educational purposes and is not intended to diagnose or treat a medical condition. Speak with your healthcare provider before beginning or significantly changing an exercise program if you have injuries, health issues, or other medical concerns.