Building strength is a genuinely powerful way to look after your muscles, bones, heart and brain through the all the changes that these chapters of life throw at us.
If you’re in perimenopause or beyond, you may have noticed that the old rules have quietly stopped working. Same walks, same classes, same diet – and yet your body seems to have renegotiated the contract without telling you.
Your physiology has changed and if you’re still going through it, will continue to do so. And most of the exercise advice we were handed was never designed with women in mind.
Women are not small men
Exercise physiologist Dr Stacy Sims has built her career on one blunt premise: women are not small men. Much of the classic exercise and nutrition research was done on men, then handed to women as if the findings transferred neatly. Sims – author of ROAR and Next Level – argues they don’t, and that menopause is where the gap becomes impossible to ignore.
Here’s a tiny bit of biology for you. Oestrogen, which begins to drop in perimenopause, isn’t only a reproductive hormone. In women it also acts as an anabolic (building) hormone: it supports the cells that build bone, and it plays a part in how muscle contracts and repairs itself. As oestrogen falls and becomes erratic in perimenopause, that quiet support system weakens. Sims describes a particularly big shift in body composition in the three to four years leading up to menopause – lean mass drops, fat mass climbs – before things begin to level out in early post-menopause.
Why building strength is important
Muscle is metabolically active tissue, it keeps you independent, and it’s your insurance policy against falls. With less oestrogen helping muscles contract, they need a stronger signal from the nervous system.
Actively building strength results in better bone density. Our bone density declines throughout perimenopause and menopause, due to the falling levels of hormones in our bodies. This can become problematic, should you take a fall, for example as bones that lack density break far more easily. But research is giving us good news- you can improve bone density with strength training. A study* of 101 postmenopausal women with low bone mass, and an average age of around 65, found that lifting weights improved lumbar spine bone density. Functional tests – getting up from a chair, balance, back and leg strength – improved too, and adverse events were minimal. Bones are not too fragile for heavy work! (*The LIFTMOR trial, Watson et al., Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, 2018)
It looks after your heart and blood vessels. As sex hormones decline, blood vessels become stiffer – called reduced vascular compliance and resistance training can be a key tool for blood pressure control and cardiovascular health in this window.
It may even look after your brain. Emerging research links muscular strength with cognitive function, and resistance training with better brain health. It’s early days, so hold it lightly – but it’s one more reason to pick things up.
More isn’t neccessarily better
Sims warns against the “grey zone” – training too hard to recover properly, but not hard enough to adapt. Heavy lifting and high-intensity work are stressors. If your sleep is wrecked, your stress is high and you’re under-fuelled (adequate protein matters here), trying to do more can leave you flatter and more exhausted, not stronger.
What’s the answer? Well Dr. Sims believes it lies in polarised training: a few short, properly hard sessions, balanced by genuinely easy days, good sleep and real recovery. The recovery half is where many of us fall down – which is exactly where practices like restorative yoga and breathwork earn their keep (more on that in the next post!).
Getting started safely
Check in first if you have osteoporosis, a joint problem, a heart condition or any doubt.
Learn technique with a coach or physio who understands midlife women.
Build up gradually. In the early weeks, consistency matters far more than intensity.
Eat and sleep like it matters – because it does!
As Sims puts it, be the oldest person in the gym, not the youngest person in the nursing home. Menopause isn’t the end of your strength. It’s the moment strength becomes non-negotiable.
I’m running a 6 week course blending Yoga& Strength together from 10th Feb 27. For more details, click here.