Are you feeling frustrated with your workouts during menopause? You’re not alone! As estrogen levels decline, many women face challenges like fatigue, mood swings, and unwanted body composition changes that can make traditional workout strategies feel ineffective. In this episode of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast, I dive deep into the world of menopause workouts, addressing the unique hurdles women encounter during this phase of life.
Are you feeling frustrated with your workouts during menopause? You’re not alone! As estrogen levels decline, many women face challenges like fatigue, mood swings, and unwanted body composition changes that can make traditional workout strategies feel ineffective. In this episode of The Holly Perkins Health Podcast, I dive deep into the world of menopause workouts, addressing the unique hurdles women encounter during this phase of life.
As I share, “Many women increase their efforts in the gym but still feel exhausted and defeated. ” This episode sheds light on three common mistakes that can derail your fitness journey during menopause: overemphasizing cardio at the expense of strength training, neglecting progressive overload in strength routines, and avoiding heavy lifting due to fear of injury. These pitfalls can hinder your progress and impact your overall health.
But don’t worry! I provide actionable advice to help you adjust your workouts effectively. Focusing on building lean muscle is crucial for maintaining metabolism and enhancing energy levels as we age. I encourage you to embrace a new approach that prioritizes strength training, progressive resistance, and safe impact exercises. This shift can significantly improve your body composition, boost your energy, and promote longevity.
Join me as we explore the connection between menopause and fitness, and discover how to create a sustainable workout routine that aligns with your unique needs. Whether you’re navigating weight loss, looking to improve your mental health, or seeking motivation for women over 35, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Learn how nutrition for women, including the importance of protein and healthy eating, plays a vital role in your fitness journey. Together, we can empower midlife women to reclaim their health and vitality through effective menopause workouts!
Don’t miss out on these essential tips and strategies that can transform your approach to fitness during this pivotal time in your life. Tune in now for a wellness podcast that truly understands the challenges of women’s health during menopause!
Get FREE lifetime access to my 4-week Strength Without Stress program today! This unique program helps you build lean muscle and reduce inflammation—without the fatigue from long or intense workouts. All you need to do is post a review of my podcast, grab a screenshot, and upload it at: hollyperkins.com/review
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Speaker #0 Menopause workouts often stop working the way they used to, and most women have no idea why. If you've been trying different workouts, But your body feels more tired than ever, softer in your arms or midsection, and utterly resistant to change. You're not imagining it. You might be doing more cardio than ever, working out harder but feeling more exhausted, and getting in your strength training. But if you're not seeing real changes in muscle or body composition, this episode will help. I'll reveal what most women get wrong with menopause workouts. and how to adjust your training to support muscle, metabolism, and long-term health. So if that's something you're looking for, keep listening. Hello, and thank you for being here. If you are new, welcome. I'm Holly Perkins, and I help women mostly over 40 to improve your body composition so that you are at least 70% lean mass, so that you can reduce your risk of disease and stay you in the game of life and out of the rocking chair. Listen, if you're over 40, you're in perimenopause, whether you believe it or not. I know I didn't believe it. And at the age of 44, I was in complete denial until it pulled the rug out from underneath me. And here's the thing, with each passing year, it's more likely than not that you'll experience some symptoms as a result of declining estrogen. Some women get mild symptoms and some women like me are completely blindsided by the earthquake of truly terrible health issues. And while technically menopause begins a year and a day after your last menstrual cycle, I'd argue that for that year, you're really dealing with the worst of the symptoms. I know that's been true for me, my sister, and several of my friends and my clients. So even if you're not in menopause, if you suspect that you're around that year, then you can pretty much assume you're dealing with some of the symptoms. And because menopause is such a radical shift in your biology, it kind of makes sense that your old fitness and nutrition hacks stop working like they did in your 20s or 30s. If your biology has taken a left turn, Why wouldn't your body's response to cardio, carbs, and... Crushing workouts follow along. If you feel like suddenly your workouts aren't working anymore, I promise you're not imagining it. I've been in practice for over 30 years and I see it every single week with the women that come to me for coaching. So as someone who coaches women in midlife all day long, I want to first validate your struggles and share my insights into menopause workouts. what most women get wrong, and how to fix it so that you can start to feel good in your skin again. The most common symptoms and struggles I see when women come to me for coaching are, number one, fatigue. And more than that, it's really a loss of just a get up and go. It feels like you've lost your enthusiasm and your zeal for life. And this goes beyond just like general fatigue, because it really does feel like it's a new aspect of your personality. It's as if you've lost your lust for life. Number two, mood changes, and that can include anxiety, depression, worry, anger, and a loss of patience. Number three, belly fat and body fat changes in general. Of course, most women report that nothing has changed in their habits. Yet the scale goes up and their belly fat proves it. And number four, loss of muscle tone and muscle weakness. In the past, you could work out for three or four days and your arms and your legs would feel toned again. And that becomes a thing of the past when you keep chasing your old workouts. So listen, I am an expert in this space, but I'm also a woman too. and I have struggled with every single one of these symptoms. And so I know it's pretty sobering to acknowledge those changes in your health and your body. And the truth is, it's downright depressing at times, I know. And I'd like to offer a glimmer of hope because really and truly, there is so much that you can do to turn the ship around, I promise you. I'm doing it, my clients are doing it, and you can do it too. So in this episode, you'll learn the three biggest mistakes that women make with menopause workouts, why cardio alone won't protect your metabolism in midlife, the strength training strategy that helps build lean muscle, why progressive overload matters more than most women even realize, and how the right menopause workouts can support bone health and longevity. So just this morning, as I was getting ready, I decided that I wanted to flip the script on menopause and see if I could actually find some positives because clearly there's so many negatives that kind of punch us in the face. And I've decided that I don't mind the extra body fat that I have because it brings with it some really sexy curves, if you know what I mean. I also find myself caring less. about what I think other people think of me. These are very positive things for sure. And I'm sure if you took a moment and really thought about it, you would find some positives as well. And the one thing that might surprise you is that once I figured out this strange new body that I'm living in, I've actually been getting better results from my diet and my exercise programming. Because once you stop going back to what used to work and you start experimenting with some new strategies, you might find that your body starts cooperating again. And what I'm finding is maybe it's what I should have been doing all along. And you might be surprised to see brand new benefits when you start changing your menopause workouts. So let's jump in to some of the mistakes that I see women making and what to do so that you can start. turning things around and start feeling good in your body. The first thing that nearly all women do when they don't like the direction that their body is going in is they start to lean into workouts more, faster, harder, etc. They just start working out harder. And specifically, they spike their cardio in an effort to burn more fat and or burn more calories and or lose weight. You've heard the saying that energy in, energy out determine if you gain or lose fat, right? Or I'll say it another way. If you do more cardio, you'll burn more calories and fat. But let's break this down because while it is true, I believe in Newton's first law of thermodynamics, which is the law of conservation of energy. It's also not the whole story. So the first mistake is doing more cardio instead of building more muscle. Many women respond to menopause weight gain by adding more cardio, either more sessions or longer sessions, or doing longer workouts in general, and increasing the intensity and effort by doing things like spin classes or sprinting or even HIIT workouts. But menopause changes the equation, and this is the piece that a lot of women miss. As estrogen declines, muscle loss accelerates. And this means legitimately that your metabolism slows because your muscle literally is a huge part of your metabolism. And cardio does not stop muscle loss. In fact, excessive cardio is catabolic and it usually increases systemic fatigue. It's why you're tired all the time. If you're doing... tons of cardio to burn calorie and burn fat, then that's probably why you're tired and you've lost your stamina. Here's a trick for you. Take a week and cut back on how much cardio you're doing. And sure enough, you'll notice that some of your energy comes back. Also, excessive cardio elevates stress hormones. It really does. And oh, by the way, I'm not sure I know a woman in midlife who needs any more stress hormones. Stress is already high enough and... Because of the change of hormones, we experience our life in a more stressful way. Cardio has a tendency to compound that. And lastly, excessive cardio makes muscle loss worse. And here's the real issue. Muscle is the metabolic engine of your body. When you lose muscle, You also lose metabolic efficiency. This means how your body is responding to calories, fat, and carbohydrates in general. You also lose strength, and this is what your body needs to hold you up all day long and to keep your joints in alignment. And lastly, resilience. I know so many women really feel like they've just lost their oomph in life, and they tie higher more quickly. And that's resilience. And that's what happens when you lose muscle. Did you know that research shows women lose anywhere between 3% and 8% of their muscle per decade starting in their 30s? And what's scarier is the rate increases significantly later in life. And if you think about it, that's 3% to 8%, by the way, if you're lucky, because it could be even more than that, of your metabolism. That's 3% to 8% of your energy for holding your body up all day long. No wonder you're so fatigued. And that's 3% to 8% of your hormone regulation, which influences how your body processes carbohydrates, cortisol, and catabolism. Losing muscle is the whole equation. It is the entire problem. And cardio has a tendency to destroy muscle. If you do too much, too frequently, or too high of an intensity. Because, oh, by the way, cardio is still important. But like I always say, you want to dose it like medicine. So the question becomes, what's a gal to do? And I suggest you prioritize progressive strength training. And this means lifting weights. But more on that in a moment, because it doesn't end there. gradually increasing resistance of those exercises and challenging your muscles to adapt. If you want your metabolism to work with you during menopause, you must give your body a reason to keep muscle. Because trust me, you will lose it if you do not fight tooth and nail to keep it. It's too easy to lose muscle. In fact, I've seen the DEXA scans of women who spent an entire year. on a muscle building program only to find out that they actually lost muscle. I have had that happen not once, not twice, but three times in the past two years of menopausal women coming to me. That is how easy it is to lose muscle. They weren't sitting on their can. They hadn't given up exercise. They were actually trying to build muscle and they lost it. Talk about tragic. But here's the thing. there is a solution. And lucky for you, this is where I shine because it is 100% of the focus of what I do here. In a moment, I'm going to explain progressive strength training more because it's not what it seems and it's not what the media will lead you to believe. And then you'll discover the truth about lifting heavy and impact exercises. So stay with me. But first, I hope that you will Let's... Let me tell you about one of my podcast sponsors that I am obsessed with. If you're a woman in midlife, there's a really good chance that you've noticed your weight going up, even though not much has changed in your daily habits. And it's really crazy how the number on the bathroom scale can literally ruin your mood for the day. I feel lucky because I made an exciting discovery that changes all of that. I stopped focusing on my weight and put my energy into improving my muscle so that I could reshape my body and really discover its potential. Creatone by Brickhouse Nutrition was created by doctors specifically for women. I believe that creatone is helping me to look more toned and Defined and sculpted without really changing my diet and exercise. Creatone is radically different from typical guy's creatine. It's designed for women with pure creatine and patented ingredients that help to reshape your body so that you look leaner and trimmer and more toned without the water retention. So there's no weight gain. And definitely... no bulking up. It boosts metabolism to help you burn fat, and that is a plus in midlife. Break up with your bathroom scale and watch how fast creatone can help you look leaner, toned, and sculpted. Let's get you started with 20% off your first order. Visit tonetoday.com and use my code HOLLYP for your discount. Again, use my code HOLLYP to save 20% at tonetoday.com. That's T-O-N-E today dot com. So if the solution to doing more cardio is progressive strength training, the next question is often, okay, but how exactly do I do progressive strength training? And that's a super question because the truth is not all strength training is created equally. Do you know that? Just lifting weights can mean a lot of different things. So mistake number two is that you're strength training, but not progressively. Many women say, but Holly, I already lift weights three times a week. and I lift heavy. And to that, I say, amazing. Tell me more. Because often when I examine this and I look a bit closer, I usually find that most women are doing the same weights each week, meaning the same weight load, or they're doing the same exercises in the same order and the same routine for years. And the problem here is that your body does adapt. I mean, it's a blessing and a curse because adaptation is what's also going to allow you to become leaner and stronger and build muscle. But it's all in how you approach it. And further, heavy is a very relative term, right? What does heavy mean to you? What does heavy actually mean in general? And what I found is it can mean a lot of different things to... every different woman, because it doesn't mean that you're simply working hard and or pushing. I used to take a bootcamp class in Los Angeles that was so hard. It was grueling. And I would pick up what I thought was the heavier weight. I was so proud of myself when I would use 15-pound dumbbells. And to my surprise at the time, this was in my 30s, I actually got worse. I was puffed I was fluffy and I absolutely looked less fit. I know because I've got the photos. And that's when I realized that not all hard and not all heavy is the same, especially for women. Honestly, I do think there's a lot more wiggle room for men. If men just go crush it, they get into shape. But it is not the same for us because women are not small men. Doing 10 reps of goblet squats. for one set and then resting for 60 seconds before the next set is very different from doing one exercise after another as quickly as you can in an attempt to keep your heart rate up so that you sweat and so that you crush it so that you get a hard workout. Your protocol matters. Muscle only grows when the stimulus increases or changes. And this is where popular media will confuse you because we can increase the stimulus a number of ways. And that's what progression means. We're just increasing the stimulus. It could be more reps, less rest, faster reps, more weight, pausing, slower reps, more sets, and more workouts each week. These are all an increase in stimulus, but... Only one of them really shines for women in menopause. So just this morning, I got an email from a very prominent publication, and the headline is, Want More Muscle? Try Progressive Overload. It goes on to say, By gradually increasing the weight, reps, or intensity in your workout routine, you challenge your body to adapt and get stronger over time. And guess what? That's actually not exactly true. Increasing the intensity of a workout doesn't make you stronger, it improves your VO2 max. And while that's beneficial, that's not the outcome that we're going for. And in regards to popular media, it's very important to understand that most of it is dedicated to women in their 20s and 30s. And a woman's body during and after menopause is a whole different ballgame. What I'm talking about today is building muscle because it moves the needle. And more specifically, if you can leg press 100 pounds today, progressive resistance and progressive overload in this context means that you will eventually be able to leg press more than 100 pounds at some point in the future. This is called progressive resistance strength training. and my experience, it is the best way. for women in menopause to truly build muscle, to truly change the metabolism. Without progression, you plateau. You probably already know that. But a lot of women think, I've hit a plateau and I don't know how to get out of it. You simply have to change the stimulus. That can mean a number of different things. But here, we're talking about strength and weight loads. And it means you have to choose into heavier weight loads. Even if you feel that you're stuck. Without progression, muscle growth stalls. And listen, that might not be a negative thing for some people. Some of my clients add five pounds of muscle. They're thrilled with their body composition. They're thrilled with their strength. They're happy where they are. And so what we do is we then put them into a maintenance phase so they keep the muscle they have and they don't build more. That's okay too. But without progression, Your body composition can't improve because most of the time, if you're simply losing weight, you lose muscle with the body fat, you could lose 10 pounds on the scale and your body composition might not even improve. In fact, I have had clients who have lost 10 pounds on the scale and their body composition got worse because of the muscle loss. So here is how you can do it. it right. You've got to use a truly structured program that ensures overload of resistance. So for example, every week you increase the weight load on a different exercise. Every four to six weeks, you increase the total volume and number of sets that you're completing in a given week or workout. Or number three, every four to six months, you rotate your training phases. Here's what I teach my clients. Track your weights every single workout. Do not rely on your memory because if you're in menopause, you know your memory will fail you. It's also subjective. Instead, write it down. Keep a notebook. Keep a notes tab on your mobile device. You've got to track your weight loads that you're using so that you can ensure you increase them each month. Number two, aim to improve. something every single week. Don't rely on how hard your workout feels, right? Because sometimes I've had clients say, well, I just try to work as hard as I can every single week. And that's actually not accurate either. Because again, if you're in menopause, every workout is different. Some days you're on fire and you feel great and you are strong and powerful. And some Some days you feel so tired, it worries you. I actually had this happen last week. I had been on fire for like three weeks and I showed up for a workout and I'm like, whose body is this? I felt so weak and so depleted. And despite my intention, I wasn't able to work hard like I wanted to. So you have to focus on looking for a way to actually challenge your muscles beyond where they are this week. Now, this could be shorter rest, a heavier weight load, or even a longer rest to optimize you for heavier weight. That's what I do because I will not sacrifice my weight loads. What I did last week, I have to do those weight loads again this week, and I have to increase my weight on some exercises this week. And so if that means I've got to take a longer rest, I'm okay with that because my top priority is weight load progression. Third, each month, sit down and review your notes from your workouts. First confirm that you're actually increasing your weight loads. I know this sounds so elementary, but I can't tell you how many women are like, yeah, I am. And I say, okay, how much weight are you doing on your overhead press? And how much were you doing two months ago? And so often women are like, oh, I don't know. I thought I was increasing my weight loads. You can't do it based on your memory, your recollection. or your subjective experience. You've got to make it fact. Number two, look for places where you're resting on your laurels and you know that you can actually push yourself a bit more. I see this with Bulgarian split squat, walking lunges, barbell back squat. The exercises that you hate the most are the ones that you're going to be very resistant to increasing the weight load on. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't increase your weight load. More on that in a moment. Identify the exercises where you haven't been able to increase your weight load, or maybe you've chosen not to increase your weight load because it already feels, quote unquote, so hard. And I want you to make yourself increase the weight load next time. Even if it's only by two to five pounds, you don't have to increase your squat by 25 pounds. In fact, I hope you don't because that's a fast path to injury. Any incremental increase works. And if you can't do it every week, do it every two weeks or every three weeks. In fact, for a while, I was increasing my barbell back squat by only two and a half pounds per week. That is almost embarrassing until you understand the mastermind behind it. Because here's the deal. I was really struggling with energy. and recovery. And so every time I tried to increase my weight loads too much, it would bite me in the booty. So I slowed my progressions to two and a half pounds per week on my barbell back squat. And guess what? When I add two and a half pounds, I barely feel it. But you know what? It's two and a half pounds. And get this, it's working brilliantly. And I don't care that it's two and a half pounds, because you know what? In four weeks. That's going to be a 10-pound increase on my barbell back squat. And that's amazing. And I did it without soreness, without exhaustion, without pain, without bad technique. And it's working great. So now that you know you must be progressing your weight loads, if you want to get better results from your workouts and menopause, let's define heavy.Mistake number three is avoiding heavy lifting or avoiding including some impact exercises. So as you may already know, it's super common to develop aches and pains and injuries during menopause. I think most women know that. And this is because the loss of estrogen means that your joints, your ligaments, and your tendons are more susceptible because estrogen is an anti-inflammatory. Inflammation rises and injuries or even aches, pains, and niggles, as J. Bean would say, become more common. And because of this, women tend to avoid heavy weights. They're scared of getting injured or they added five pounds to their deadlift and they felt their back muscles, right? So a lot of women avoid heavy weights. A lot avoid jumping, impact, and explosive movements. And it's really normal to believe that these types of moves are dangerous. And I do think like a little bit of danger is a good idea. You want to be very respectful and cautious of heavy exercises and impact exercises. And the truth is, while they aren't inherently dangerous, it is important to proceed cautiously, especially with impact training. That's why I have devised protocols for progression and for how much weight you should be adding to your exercises each week. I'll go over that in a moment. The thing is, it's really important to first ensure that you are strong and fit and already adapted to the exercises in your program. Because here's the irony with the whole thing. Those are the exact stimuli that your bones need. After menopause, women can lose up to 20% of their bone mass in the first five to seven years. And without the right training stimulus, bone density declines, your risk of injury increases, and therefore frailty increases. So instead, it's important to include bone building training elements like heavy resistance training. I'll go over that in a moment. impact exercises, jumping or bounding, and plyometrics where appropriate. Your bones respond to force and load. And without it, they weaken. They really do. This isn't just fear-mongering. It's true, sadly. Your body really does need effort and stimulus and hard work at times. So let's cover two things. Number one, what heavy means. And number two, when it's safe to begin, impact exercises. I'm going to keep it super simple here. Heavy means, number one, for familiar exercises that you've adapted to, you are safe to use weight loads where the last two reps of every set are hard, so much so that you begin to lose your technique. The weights are heavy enough that you can't really keep good form. That is the best benchmark. So if you're targeting 12 reps, you can't do 13 reps because of the weight load. Then number two, to progress, you want to first adapt to that weight load, whatever it is, where the last two reps start to feel easier. So you're adapting to that quote unquote heavy weight load. regardless of what it is. And then you want to add 10 to 20% of the weight load that you're using. So for example, let's say you're doing a 100 pound leg press and the last two reps are so hard, you could not do more than 100 pounds. Okay. A week or two later, as you repeat that same weight load, It's going to start to be more comfortable. The last two reps are going to start to look better and be easier. That's when it's time to increase your weight load by 10 to 20%. So the new weight load would be what? 110 to 120 pounds. That's an easy example, but it can apply to any exercise that you're doing. You might just have to do a little bit of math in your head on the fly. But guess what? That's good for your brain. And number three, you have to expose your muscles. to a new stimulus in order for them to adapt. The next thing to know is when it's safe to incorporate impact exercises for better bone density. And here is where you want to tread carefully because a little goes a long way. Please listen in. Please do not pick up a jump rope and start jumping for 10 minutes. If you don't end up with a lower leg or knee injury down the line, you will burn out. super fast. It is a terrible idea. Impact, jumping, plyometric, and explosive movements are the last thing you add when you are super fit. There's a reason why this is the last piece of the puzzle for athletes. They don't start with explosive movements. They end with it after a training cycle, impact, plyometric, explosive movements. must be started slowly, super conservatively, and incrementally. Begin with just one minute at a low effort or enthusiasm level, right? Like don't go hard. Do one minute of gentle jumping. And then each week, you can increase either the time or the effort level. So you could keep it at one minute, but jump harder, right? Or faster. Or you could keep your effort level low and jump for two minutes. If you want my exact recipe for the right way to start impact training for better bones, be sure to check out episode 70 of this podcast because I go into great detail. Check out that episode next. So to wrap up, menopause is not the problem. The problem is that most women are using the wrong strategy for this stage of life. When you focus on building muscle, progressive strength training, protecting bone density, everything improves. Your metabolism, your energy, your body composition, your longevity, everything. When you focus on building muscle and strengthening the architecture of your body, you then create the body that you need to keep up with the life that you love. You've got this. I hope you enjoyed this episode and please stay tuned for another brand new one on Tuesday of next week. Stay strong, my friend.