20/10/2025
It’s World Menopause Day today!
As a man I’m not going to pretend I fully understand the symptoms & individual experiences of many women.
However, most of my clients are women who show up to their sessions not feeling as good as they used to.
• 95% of them are working mums who have little time to rest from work & family roles, never mind deal with the effects of changing hormone levels in their bodies
• 80% of them have experienced body composition (muscle to fat ratio) changes.
• 100% of them leave feeling better after exercise.
Q. So does exercise really help offset the symptoms of the Menopause?
The SWAN (Study of Women’s Health across the Nation) study:
In the 1990’s, various health professionals in America carried out a large observational study on 000’ of women in the 40’s-60’s age range at different stages of their Menopausal transition. The results of the study highlighted key physical & cognitive changes women of different ethnicities experienced.
Here’s two of the biggest ‘physical health’ changes women experienced:
Bone density loss:
• “Bone loss is fast for about 3 years, & continues in post menopause, albeit more slowly”.
Loss of lean muscle & an increase in body fat
• “During the menopausal transition, women tend to gain fat mass & lose lean muscle” (quicker than someone who’s not in this transition).
See link to the study below >>>
I’m not a medical professional, but as an exercise professional staying within my remit, I know from experience that:
- Resistance training will increase both muscle size & bone density, once progressive.
- The right combination of resistance training & cardiovascular work will tap into stores of body fat quicker than say, going for a run.
- Both of these results will accelerate positive body composition changes, as you will have less body fat leaving your lean muscle more visible.
So, if you’re already experiencing symptoms, or you just want to make some changes to your exercise routine in advance, the SWAN study is worth a read.
If you want to see what a session would look like that increases muscle & bone density while also burning body fat comment FREE TASTER SESSION below.
https://www.swanstudy.org/
