In this episode of The Hole Shebang, Kristen sits down with Chloe Lewis, a women's health physiotherapist with 12 years of clinical experience working within the UK's National Health Service. Chloe holds an MSc in Women's Health and is currently completing a PhD investigating resistance training during the menopause transition. Alongside her clinical and academic work, she teaches, speaks, and creates educational content aimed at improving standards in women's health and translating research into practice. She has also set up group based resistance training classes for menopausal women at the doctor's surgery where she works.
What You'll Learn:
This conversation covers the real reasons menopausal women aren't lifting weights and what actually helps them start. Chloe breaks down the barriers, including time scarcity, the fragility myth, non inclusive gym environments, and the cultural belief that strength training is only for younger, more athletic bodies. She also shares the facilitators that work, like group based exercise, lower cost options, and motivators rooted in long term independence rather than aesthetics.
Chloe explains the just released ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) resistance training guidelines, updated for the first time in 17 years, and why they represent a shift toward accessibility. She provides a concrete four exercise starter program: overhead press, vertical row, a push movement like bench press, and a lower body movement like a squat or deadlift, done for two to three sets at a challenging weight, at least twice a week.
The conversation then tackles one of the most persistent myths in pelvic health: that lifting worsens prolapse or incontinence. Chloe breaks down the intra abdominal pressure research and explains why training at the edge of symptoms, rather than avoiding exercise entirely, is how we build tolerance and capacity.
Chloe also shares her PhD direction. Her goal is a four arm intervention study comparing resistance training alone, resistance training plus pelvic floor exercises, pelvic floor exercises alone, and a control group over 16 to 20 weeks to determine whether progressive strength training improves pelvic floor function.
Theme Song: "Can't Hold Us Down" by Christina Aguilera
Key Topics Covered:
Barriers and facilitators to resistance training in menopause, the updated 2026 ACSM resistance training guidelines, a beginner friendly four exercise program, intra abdominal pressure and the prolapse lifting myth, musculoskeletal syndrome of menopause, why menopause specific exercise programs can be predatory marketing, pain education and DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) for new exercisers, progressive overload and building confidence through group training
Resources and References Mentioned:
ACSM Position Stand: Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults (2026)
Stuart Phillips, PhD, McMaster University (referenced re: resistance training in menopause)
Anthony Lo (referenced re: breath strategies and movement modification for pelvic symptoms)
Connect with Chloe Lewis:
Instagram: @chloelewisphysio
LinkedIn: Chloe Lewis
Connect with The Hole Shebang:
Visit blueberrytherapy.ca
Subscribe to The Hole Shebang Podcast
Instagram: @blueberrytherapypelvichealth
