For women in their 40s and beyond, prioritize resistance training and high-intensity interval training (HIIT) as essential forms of movement. These are crucial for aging well, countering hormonal changes, and maintaining strength, power, and metabolic health.
Challenge the cultural belief that women need to ’eat less and move more’ for health or weight loss. Instead, nourish your body with high-quality food and appropriate movement, which often means consuming more calories than typically perceived as suitable.
Prioritize getting really good sleep as the first step in any health journey. You cannot effectively implement or sustain other lifestyle changes, like exercise or nutrition, without adequate rest.
Engage in heavy resistance training (0-7 reps per set) to build and maintain strength, power, and bone density, especially for women in perimenopause and postmenopause. This directly counters muscle weakness and lean mass loss associated with declining estrogen.
Incorporate true polarized High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) or Sprint Interval Training (SIT) into your routine. This involves short bursts of maximum effort (e.g., 30 seconds all-out with 2-3 minutes full recovery) to significantly improve metabolic control, reduce visceral fat, and enhance vascular compliance.
To change body composition and lose fat, focus on consuming more high-quality, nutrient-dense food, including sufficient protein, rather than restricting calories. This approach supports your gut microbiome, muscles, and hypothalamus, aiding in fat loss and overall hormonal balance.
Do not reduce calorie intake to lose fat, as undereating can disrupt appetite hormones and lead to increased fat storage. Instead, eat consciously and in alignment with your circadian rhythm to support proper hormonal function and positive body composition changes.
If time-constrained (e.g., 1 hour/week), structure your session with 20 minutes of mobility, 20 minutes of compound heavy resistance training, and 2-3 sprint intervals. This bare minimum approach maximizes gains for body composition and brain health.
For women in perimenopause and beyond, walking alone does not provide the necessary stimulus for building strength, power, bone density, or optimizing vascular compliance. These are critical adaptations needed to age well and mitigate hormonal changes.
For women, heavy lifting is critical for aging well, maintaining independence, and being ‘muscle-centric’ and strong throughout perimenopause and postmenopause. This directly stimulates muscle stem cells and strengthens muscle contractions.
Understand that ‘muscle toning’ (higher reps, lower loads, Pilates) provides metabolic stress but not the nervous system stimulus for true strength and power gains. For longevity and robust physical changes, heavy lifting is required.
Do not let the fear of ‘getting bulky’ deter you from heavy strength training. It is extremely difficult for women to bulk up without specific genetic predispositions; instead, you will gain strength, improve cognitive function, and build strong bones.
To ensure effective strength training, select a weight that allows you to perform only 0-7 repetitions before reaching fatigue. Most women underestimate their strength, so challenge yourself to lift heavier than you think you can.
Add high-intensity intervals to your regular walks by picking up the pace for 1-2 minutes, followed by a minute of recovery. This simple modification can turn a leisurely walk into a beneficial HIIT session.
Limit true HIIT sessions to no more than 30 minutes (including warm-up and cool-down) to maintain proper intensity. Longer sessions often result in moderate intensity (‘gray zone’) which can elevate cortisol without the beneficial post-exercise hormonal drop.
Engage in true high-intensity interval training to improve your sleep quality. Better sleep is a foundational element that positively impacts all other aspects of your health and well-being.
For women, Zone 2 training (low intensity, long duration) offers fewer unique benefits for mitochondrial health and metabolic flexibility compared to men. While not harmful, if time-pressed, prioritize HIIT and strength training for maximum gains, reserving Zone 2 for ‘soul food’ or mental well-being.
View Menopause Hormone Therapy (MHT) as a tool to manage symptoms like hot flashes and support bone health, rather than a ‘replacement’ for declining hormones. It does not stop all age-related changes, and lifestyle interventions remain crucial for overall health.
For mild hot flashes, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has been shown to be more effective than Menopause Hormone Therapy (MHT). Explore this alternative for symptom management.
Seek out a friend or join an online fitness community (e.g., through apps) to support your exercise journey. Community provides encouragement, accountability, and a valuable resource for questions and motivation.
For girls entering puberty, focus on reteaching fundamental movements (running, throwing, landing, jumping) to help them adapt to rapid biomechanical changes. This improves coordination and confidence, potentially reducing dropout rates from sports.
Encourage strength training in young girls and teenagers with functional movements and light loads, rather than heavy weights. The goal is to develop proper movement mechanics under load, not to build maximal strength, to prevent poor motor patterns.
Strength train at home using items like loaded backpacks, sandbags, kettlebells, or fitness apps for guidance. This allows for adding external load and progression without needing a gym.
For heavy lifting, consider a ‘five by five’ program: five sets of five repetitions with 2-3 minutes of rest between each set. Aim for a weight that causes fatigue by the final set.
Tailor your exercise focus based on your most pressing health needs; lean into HIIT/SIT for metabolic control or strength training for bone density and lean mass.
Recognize that High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is an umbrella term, with Sprint Interval Training (SIT) as a subset, and other forms involving 1-4 minutes of work at 80-90% max effort with 1-2 minutes recovery.
Engage in strength training as you age, regardless of gender, to counteract anabolic resistance to exercise and protein. This helps your body continue to build and maintain muscle and bone mass.
For endurance-focused women on an exercise bike, incorporate 30-second all-out sprints after a 10-minute warm-up, followed by 4.5 minutes of low-intensity recovery. Repeat sprints while maintaining wattage, then cruise.
Recognize that perimenopause can begin as early as 37-38 with anovulatory cycles, leading to shifts in estrogen and progesterone ratios. These hormonal changes impact every body system, including bone density, metabolism, and stress response.
If not seeing desired body composition changes despite good lifestyle, avoid increasing walking, eating less, or doing fasted exercise. These traditional approaches are often missteps for longevity.
Take control of your training sessions by communicating your needs to personal trainers or class instructors. Advocate for workouts that align with your body’s requirements during different life phases, such as shorter heavy lifting sessions or longer warm-ups.
Strength training improves power, balance, brain health, gut microbiome, bone density, vascular compliance, blood pressure, metabolic control, and glucose regulation. These benefits collectively mitigate many negative effects of aging and hormonal changes.