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Hello there my friends, welcome back! Today I want to dive into a topic that is a hot topic everywhere, filled with misinformation, confusion, and honestly a lot of frustration – exercise training around menopause and during the menopause transition.
My giant disclaimer here is that I know this period of time and the changes that come with it can feel really frustrating. I ask you politely not to take it out on me if the advice I give doesn’t feel like it perfectly addresses your individual circumstance. Know that I am on your side and I’m doing this today to help you – I am friend, not foe!
The menopause transition is essentially a phase of your life where you go through perimenopause, which is the period between being premenopausal (having a normal, regular menstrual cycle) and the state of being postmenopausal (12 months past your last menstrual cycle).
These phases are easy to identify: you’re either having a normal menstrual cycle (premenopausal), no longer having a cycle (postmenopausal), or somewhere in that transition in between where things start to get really wonky and haywire.
During this transition, your hormones do this craziness – up and down all the time. If you’re going through that phase of life, I’m sure you can attest to the wonkiness and shifting of your hormones as your body goes through this phase where they’re haphazard and then start to bottom out.
Essentially, you have a decline specifically in estrogen, which is that primary female sex hormone that does a lot of awesome, amazing, positive things when it comes to regulating body composition, fat oxidation, muscle recovery, and adaptation in that premenopausal state. Then we have this decline or loss in that function.
The first thing that happens is shifting of body fat to your abdomen or central body fat storage. You actually end up storing fat more like men in the postmenopausal or menopausal transition – more fat around your organs (visceral adipose tissue) and in your abdomen in general (subcutaneous adipose tissue).
For many of you, what you’re feeling most frustrated with is that subcutaneous adipose tissue – that outer bit of your belly that people call the “menopod” or “menopause belly.” You have the shifting of your fat storage from your hips and thighs (like when you were premenopausal) to your central abdomen.
The average woman reports a 5 to 10 kilogram weight gain through the menopause transition. It’s important to state that even if it’s frustrating, this is a normal physiological response, even if it isn’t the ideal or desired one.
With this decline and loss of estrogen, we also potentially see loss of muscle tissue or a decline in current muscle tissue mass and function. This includes a decline in muscle contractility, which is a fancy way of saying your muscle’s ability to perform power and function becomes less efficient.
The biggest concern is potentially a loss of our type two muscle fibers. We have type one muscle fibers that are more endurance-based (they don’t produce a lot of power but don’t fatigue easily), and type two muscle fibers that are really powerful – these are our power, heavy lifting, jumping, sprinting, burst muscle fibers.
This is compounded by the fact that when we age, we also see loss and declines in muscle. Menopause and aging happen concurrently, and it’s hard to separate what’s coming from age versus hormonal shifts, but they tend to happen simultaneously.
We’re also going to see shifts in our metabolic health and metabolism. In the premenopausal state, we see lower rates of metabolic disease or cardiovascular disease in females compared to males, but after or during the menopause transition, we see the opposite – higher rates of metabolic disease.
We see things like reduced insulin sensitivity, increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes, and metabolic disease. We’re not as good at using and storing glucose as well as fats and lipids in our blood, which can lead to cardiovascular disease.
You might also have reduced recoverability or ability to recover between high, hard, or intense bouts of exercise training because of the shifts in hormones.
When I think about training for menopause, I think about three main buckets that we really want to hit:
1. Heavy, hard resistance training focused on developing quality muscle tissue and strength
2. Plyometric or power-based training designed for jumping, power, and repeated force production
3. High-intensity cardio-based training with a mix of high-level cardiovascular fitness and general physical daily activity
There’s a lot of advice out there for menopause saying “just lift heavy,” but what does that actually mean?
Heavy and hard resistance training means lifting weights to an effort of at least 7-8 up to 9 out of 10, getting within 1 to 4 reps of failure, or having your reps slow down as you get close to (but not all the way to) failure when performing an exercise set.
Ideally, we want some heavy compound movements, specifically squat and hinging patterns that target our hips and spines. One of the things that happens with menopause transition is loss in bone density or decline in bone mineral density that can lead to osteoporosis or fractures.
One of the best things we can do to help preserve, maintain, or even potentially gain bone density is heavy loaded resistance training – putting adequate load on our bones.
Hinging Patterns: Heavy deadlifts, Romanian deadlifts, trap bar deadlifts – anything that involves picking stuff up off the floor or hinging at the hips
Squatting Patterns: Squats, leg press, step-ups, split squats – anything with that knee-bending pattern
These target the hips and spine, which are the two areas where we see some of the greatest bone loss and fracture risk in this population.
• Start with at least two full body days per week
• Include exercises from each movement pattern
• For heavy compound movements: 3-6 reps (more strength-focused)
• For other exercises: 6-15 reps (hypertrophy range)
• Take sets to within a few reps of failure
Plyometrics are a great way to load our bones so they adapt to improve or maintain bone mineral density. Because they are high repetitive impact, they put a lot of strain on our muscles, which pull on our bones similar to lifting.
Studies on peri and postmenopausal women with plyometrics often show improvement in bones or preservation over time with just little bouts of jumping like double leg hopping or skipping a few times across the week.
• Start with low-level plyometrics – hopping, jumping, skipping
• Begin with 2 sets of 5-10 hops, 1-2 days per week
• Do them at the beginning of your workouts
• Progress gradually over 4-6 weeks
• Work up to single leg hops, higher jumps, or more technical movements over time
Exercise intensity, HIIT, and sprint interval training are good in this population. We have studies showing this can help preserve muscle mass, muscle power output, and improve body composition in menopausal women specifically.
However, we need to balance this with the fact that you might have lower exercise recovery during this phase of life.
Sprint Intervals: 10-30 seconds all-out with 1-2 minutes recovery
Longer HIIT: 1-4 minutes hard with equal or slightly shorter recovery
Frequency: Start with 1-2 quality sessions per week
Duration: 10-30 minute sessions are often sufficient
Despite what you might hear about easy cardio “spiking cortisol” and “making you fat,” this is nonsense. Visceral adipose tissue is decreased through cardiovascular training, especially when we do lower intensity cardio that allows us to do higher volumes.
Exercise training does not make you fat. We want to preserve cardiovascular fitness as much as we want to preserve muscular fitness because of the risks associated with metabolic and cardiovascular disease that increase during this transition.
You’ll notice there’s no magical menopause exercise protocol – it’s really the things we know work in good exercise training programs. The biggest difference in this population is that with the loss of hormones, you might have a slightly harder time gaining muscle, fitness, or recovering, but that doesn’t mean you won’t adapt at all.
This is exactly why I designed the programs in The Lyss Method to be menopause-friendly, incorporating all these evidence-based principles. Our programs include heavy resistance training with the compound movements mentioned above, progressive plyometric protocols, and carefully balanced cardio programming that includes both high-intensity intervals and recoverable training.
Whether you’re looking for strength-focused programs that emphasize bone health, hybrid training that combines resistance and cardio work, or structured periodization that accounts for varying recovery needs, our programming meets you where you are and supports the unique challenges women face during this transition.
If you’re just diving into exercise training and this feels overwhelming, start here:
Week 1-4: Foundation Building
• 1-2 full body resistance sessions per week
• 2 sets of 6-10 reps (machines) or 10-20 reps (bodyweight)
• 20-30 minute walk daily
• Target 50-60% max heart rate during walks
Week 5-8: Adding Intensity
• Progress to 2 full body sessions per week
• Add 1 day of sustained cardio (20-30 minutes)
• Introduce basic jumping/hopping 1-2 days per week
Week 9+: Building Complexity
• Add 1 day of HIIT/sprint intervals
• Progress plyometric complexity
• Continue building resistance training intensity
If you have an exercise background and are struggling with this transition, you might need to shift your approach:
• Focus on quality over quantity
• Allow more recovery between intense sessions
• Slightly increase the percentage of high-intensity work (from 20% to 30-35%)
• Space out hard training days more strategically
• Practice autoregulation – adjust training based on how you feel
The programs in The Lyss Method are designed with this flexibility in mind. Our on-demand cardio library provides structured HIIT and sprint protocols, while our strength programs offer progression strategies that can be adapted based on your recovery and energy levels on any given day.
Beyond structured exercise, focus on:
• Sleep quality and quantity: This becomes even more crucial during menopause
• Protein intake: Keep it moderate to high to support muscle preservation
• Overall nutrition quality: You have less room for error during this time
• General daily activity: Combat the natural decrease in spontaneous physical activity
• Stress management: Hormonal changes can affect stress response
If you’re dealing with significant menopausal symptoms or having a really difficult time during this transition, please advocate for yourself with your doctor, OB, or whoever you need to work with to make sure you’re getting the health and care you need.
I can’t give out medical advice individually, and I want to encourage you to advocate for that on your own, aside from the exercise information I’m providing here.
The biggest thing during this period is giving yourself grace. I’m not going to be 30 and function the way I do at 30 forever, and it’s going to be challenging for all of us to go through this phase and transition.
Some weeks you might be crushing it, and some weeks might be harder. Learning how to autoregulate your training – adjusting your weeks or training sessions as needed in response to how you’re feeling – is crucial during this time.
The days you can give your most, make those the hard workout days. The days you can’t, maybe you’re just going for a walk that day, and you have to learn to be flexible, shifting and adjusting as needed.
Menopause doesn’t mean you can’t be strong, powerful, and fit. It means you need to be smarter about your approach. The fundamentals of good training still apply – progressive overload, adequate recovery, balanced programming – but you might need to adjust the details based on your changing physiology.
Whether you’re just starting your fitness journey during this transition or you’re an experienced athlete navigating new challenges, remember that consistency and patience are key. Your body is capable of amazing adaptations at any age and any hormonal state.
Ready to start training smarter for this phase of life? The Lyss Method offers comprehensive programs designed with the unique needs of women in mind, providing the structure, progression, and flexibility you need to thrive during menopause and beyond.
I hope this was helpful! Remember, I’m on your side. If you found this valuable, please share it with other women who might benefit from this information. Together, we can navigate this transition with strength, knowledge, and confidence.
I’m Exercise Physiologist, sports nutritionist, weight lifter, and ultra runner. I am here to bring science to your training in a no-nonsense way. I have helped thousands of women crush big lifting goals, cross race finish lines, and even do both. I’m here to help you do the same!
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