Most commonly the challenge is gaining lean muscle. Doing all the things but can’t seem to gain muscle? Then tune in and go through this like a check list of 12 strength training mistakes in menopause that could be the reason.

It just takes one. But if there are multiple, it’s compounded and in this case, not interest but penalty!

Join us at Metabolism Makeover 2.0 to support your journey avoiding the 12 strength training mistakes in menopause.

1. Overworking Small Muscle Groups [00:02:20]

You need fewer of these small muscle group-focused exercises in your routine if you prioritize the major muscles like chest (pectoralis) and back (trapezius and Latissimus Dorsi). If the secondary (biceps and triceps) muscles are going to get a workout most of the time, these will rob you of time and energy that is better spent on major muscles if you aren’t getting in the adequate volume there.

1. Skipping the Warmup [00:06:40]

Nearly a decade ago, I began sharing the fact that if you skip the warmup, you also miss an opportunity to increase total energy expenditure during a workout. It’s not only about injury prevention. There’s an increased blood circulation, improved energy expenditure, mobility and you can work closer to your capacity. If fitness and longevity are truly goals, “exercising” is not the same as working at your capacity and safely, sanely raising the roof on your fitness level so that age doesn’t automatically result in slowing down or gaining weight.

1. Not Resting Between Sets Long Enough Before [00:13:10]

Rapidly moving from one exercise to the next, was yesterday. The “metabolic conditioning workouts” are a nice anomaly, a change in pace.

Rest between sets of strength training. Reach complete muscle fatigue or within 2 reps of it. If you do HIIT, separate the sessions so you get the best benefit from it and from strength. If you are not getting stronger, not increasing muscle, and these are your goals (in order, perhaps to improve body fat % ultimately), it’s a “how” you’re doing it problem.

Plan Your Routine to Avoid 12 Strength Training Mistakes in Menopause

1. No Organized Plan [00:17:30]

You either default to using what’s available at the gym or doing the same exercises in the same sequence every time. If you’re not careful you won’t change the stimulus (by changing the sequence and sets/rep combination) and may also not be getting enough sets per muscle group in each week.

It doesn’t mean that all sets for a muscle group must be all the same exercise. A super set of 6 different exercises for the triceps works. The next workout you may just do 3 and you’re still covered… if you planned it that way.

1. Not Sleeping Enough or Not Changing the Workout When You Don’t Sleep [00:20:50]

The sleep you get will determine the benefit you get from exercise. If you don’t prioritize, your workouts will suffer too. You’re also at risk for injury, not only because your body isn’t fully doing the repair job or releasing testosterone and growth hormone in deep cycles of sleep as it should, but because coordination suffers.

1. Treating Soreness or Worn Out an Indication of “Good Workout” [00:22:40]

When you work muscles, it’s normal to feel sore, even if you’re extremely fit. Some muscles like quads and glutes are used to a lot of activity and tend to get sore less often.

But there are two genes associated with soreness and you may either be predisposed to be sore or not. It’s not a good indication of whether you worked hard enough. If you reached muscle fatigue or came close, you gave the muscle enough stimulus.

The first sign of poor recovery was soreness after workouts, the second was reduced performance during workouts.

12 Strength Training Mistakes in Menopause to Avoid and Nurture Your Body

1. Dependence on Supplements and Negating Balanced Whole Food Meals. [00:27:00]

If you’re all too willing to jump to EAAs, or BCAAs but won’t eat regular meals that result in satiety, chances are your lack of micro and macronutrients will catch up with you. “Food first”, then allow supplements to take you the rest of the way.

I don’t like to “count” calories on a regular basis but a snapshot is very helpful for checking in. Often for knowing when you’re eating too little.

1. Taking Too Much Advice (or Too Little From Too Many People) [00:30:20]

It often takes even gurus a while to come around.

You have to love Vonda Wright and Mary Haver sharing their own menopause journeys. We need more women like them. They’re open about not knowing what they didn’t know about menopause, as physicians and women.

You have at your fingertips access to women who learned the hard way, so you don’t have to. Just don’t jump in the middle. You need an onramp.

1. Ignoring Nutrition Needs. [00:32:30]

The talk is “calorie deficit.” Yet, 80% of women in our community under-eat for their mere existence (resting metabolic rate) and then try to put their foot on the accelerator for exercise causing a bigger caloric deficit. Then they stay there for years, under-fed and under-fueled (processed food, diet food), the metabolism will come to a halt, along, potentially with adrenal and thyroid function.

Figure your calorie needs. Use an app to track your actual intake for 3-5 days.

12 Strength Training Mistakes in Menopause That Hinder Your Progress

1. Thinking Small, Skinny, or Numbers That Don’t Matter Instead of That Do [00:36:20]

Your size and your weight on the scale do not tell the story of your fitness and health. Though they might hint at your likelihood of sarcopenia and osteoporosis, fall and fracture risk.

When women focus on weight or size they sacrifice muscle. When they lose muscle, they lose strength, longevity and independence. A woman who has her ideal weight or size is constantly thinking about it and a step away from a fall or fracture. A fracture that results in bedrest, weakness and loss of more muscle. The beginning of the end. Those falls are not devastating just because of the breaks, but because of brain bleeds or other internal damage.

1. Too Heavy to Start [00:38:20]

The first 6-8 weeks, and up to 12, of a resistance training program, the benefits are due to the neural connection. That isn’t rushed by going heavy.

But loads too great for your ligaments, tendons and joints or muscles can cause weakness, undue soreness, and a weak foundation leading to injury.

We, in the fitness industry, need to be more careful. We have sometimes lost our way in regard to where to START, and how and at what pace to PROGRESS.

1. You Add Something But Don’t Remove Something Else [00:40:30]

I’ve experienced this temptation myself. When I started training for triathlons at 40, I was compelled to figure out how to run even while I was adding biking or swimming to my schedule.

I soon realized I was sabotaging the quality of every workout and just putting those “junk miles.” A woman will lose muscle because of the added stress, inability to recover.

That’s an extreme example, but if you’re adding and never subtracting/replacing, you’re probably going to experience similar results.

References for the 12 Strength Training Mistakes in Menopause:

For dropping in the references.. Ideally just the single line link.. Vs long for the podcasts and posts - however if the research is really: within last 10 years, features female subjects.. Then it should be added to the research document. Nothing else should ever be used in our content.

#1 Cheng AJ, Jude B, Lanner JT. Intramuscular mechanisms of overtraining. Redox Biol. 2020 Aug;35:101480. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2020.101480. Epub 2020 Feb 26. PMID: 32179050; PMCID: PMC7284919.

#2 Afonso J, Brito J, Abade E, Rendeiro-Pinho G, Baptista I, Figueiredo P, Nakamura FY. Revisiting the 'Whys' and 'Hows' of the Warm-Up: Are We Asking the Right Questions? Sports Med. 2024 Jan;54(1):23-30. doi: 10.1007/s40279-023-01908-y. Epub 2023 Sep 2. PMID: 37658965; PMCID: PMC10798919.

#3 https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19691365/#:~:text=Conversely%2C some experiments%20have%20a demonstrated,be%20safer%20and%20more%20reliable

#4 Hughes SL, Seymour RB, Campbell RT, Whitelaw N, Bazzarre T. Best-practice physical activity programs for older adults: findings from the national impact study. Am J Public Health. 2009 Feb;99(2):362-8. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2007.131466. Epub 2008 Dec 4. PMID: 19059858; PMCID: PMC2622796

#4 Brickwood KJ, Ahuja KDK, Watson G, O'Brien JA, Williams AD. Effects of Activity Tracker Use With Health Professional Support or Telephone Counseling on Maintenance of Physical Activity and Health Outcomes in Older Adults: Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2021 Jan 5;9(1):e18686. doi: 10.2196/18686. PMID: 33399541; PMCID: PMC7815450.

#5 https://www.somnologymd.com/2024/09/sleep-womens-health/

#6 Romero-Parra N, Maestre-Cascales C, Marín-Jiménez N, Rael B, Alfaro-Magallanes VM, Cupeiro R, Peinado AB. Exercise-Induced Muscle Damage in Postmenopausal Well-Trained Women. Sports Health. 2021 Nov-Dec;13(6):613-621. doi: 10.1177/19417381211014134. Epub 2021 May 27. PMID: 34039086; PMCID: PMC8558998.

#6 https://sheffieldphysiotherapy.co.uk/muscle-soreness-mean-youve-effective-workout/

#7 & #9 Erdélyi A, Pálfi E, Tűű L, Nas K, Szűcs Z, Török M, Jakab A, Várbíró S. The Importance of Nutrition in Menopause and Perimenopause-A Review. Nutrients. 2023 Dec 21;16(1):27. doi: 10.3390/nu16010027. PMID: 38201856; PMCID: PMC10780928.

#7 Lentjes MAH. The balance between food and dietary supplements in the general population. Proc Nutr Soc. 2019 Feb;78(1):97-109. doi: 10.1017/S0029665118002525. Epub 2018 Oct 30. PMID: 30375305; PMCID: PMC6366563

#10 Martinez, B.P., Batista, A.K.M.S., Gomes, I.B. et al. Frequency of sarcopenia and associated factors among hospitalized elderly patients. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 16, 108 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-015-0570-x

#10 Sakuma, Kunihiro, Yamaguchi, Akihiko, Sarcopenic Obesity and Endocrinal Adaptation with Age, International Journal of Endocrinology, 2013, 204164, 12 pages, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1155/2013/204164

#11 Kraemer WJ, Ratamess NA. Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Apr;36(4):674-88. doi: 10.1249/01.mss.0000121945.36635.61. PMID: 15064596

#12 Caplin A, Chen FS, Beauchamp MR, Puterman E. The effects of exercise intensity on the cortisol response to a subsequent acute psychosocial stressor. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 2021 Sep;131:105336. doi: 10.1016/j.psyneuen.2021.105336. Epub 2021 Jun 18. PMID: 34175558.

#12 Woods NF, Mitchell ES, Smith-Dijulio K. Cortisol levels during the menopausal transition and early postmenopause: observations from the Seattle Midlife Women's Health Study. Menopause. 2009 Jul-Aug;16(4):708-18. doi: 10.1097/gme.0b013e318198d6b2. PMID: 19322116; PMCID: PMC2749064. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2749064/#:~:text=Early laboratory studies of hot,in our earlier report5.

Resources:

5 Day Flip: https://www.flippingfifty.com/5-day-challenge-new/

Lunges: Love 'em or Leave 'em https://www.flippingfifty.com/lunges-muscles-squats-variations-benefits

Protein Products: https://www.flippingfifty.com/protein

Other Episodes You Might Like:

How to Exercise with High or Low Cortisol in Menopause: https://www.flippingfifty.com/high-or-low-cortisol-in-menopause

8 Strength Training Mistakes Wasting Your Time (fix them): https://www.flippingfifty.com/8-strength-training-mistakes

Fit or Fat? Training and Measuring Fitness in Menopause: https://www.flippingfifty.com/measuring-fitness-in-menopause