Strength Training for Women Over 45: How to Build Muscle After Menopause

Strength training after menopause isn’t about doing more. It’s about doing what actually works for a midlife body.

In this episode, Cam Allen shares her Menopause Fitness Protocol. A four part approach designed to help women over 45 build muscle, support metabolism, and feel strong again without ending up exhausted or injured.

After surgical menopause, Cam learned firsthand that old workouts stop working. This episode breaks down exactly what to do instead.

You’ll learn

• How much strength training women over 45 need each week
• Why “heavy for you” weights matter more than long workouts
• How daily movement supports hormones and metabolism
• Why rest and recovery are non negotiable in midlife
• A smarter approach to cardio using HIRT training

If you want to build muscle after menopause and stop fighting your body, this episode will change how you think about fitness.

Menopause Minis | 10-Minute Strength Workouts for Women 45+
https://www.camoyler.com/meno-minis
Use CAMYOUTUBE to save $20

Free Menopause Sleep Guide
https://www.camoyler.com/opt-in

Strong Bones in Menopause | Free Guide for Women 45+
https://www.camoyler.com/boneguide

Foundational 4 Supplements | Menopause Nutrition Made Simple
https://www.camoyler.com/supplements

Free Menopause Home Gym Guide | Strength Training at Home
https://www.camoyler.com/gym-equipment-guide

Wins Beyond the Scale | Free Checklist for Midlife Women
https://www.camoyler.com/wins

Try a free Menopause Mini workout and see how you feel 
https://www.camoyler.com/offers/euvZAADZ

Chapters:
00:00 Midlife Fitness: Adapting Post-Menopause
04:19 Midlife Hormone Control & Activity
07:31 Midlife Fitness: Listen to Yourself

Transcript

0:00

7 years ago this month, I had a hysterectomy which sent my body into surgical menopause overnight. Before that, in my 40s, I was CrossFit cam. I lifted weights, I did workouts, I ended up on the floor in a puddle of sweat. My recovery was good and after my surgery, once I healed and tried to return to CrossFit, I quickly learned that postmenopause me and CrossFit did not mix. Maybe you've had the same experience. It's really frustrating to go back to your old ways, go back to what always worked and realize that's not working anymore now that you're on this side of menopause. For the past seven years, I have fine tuned what I call the Midlife Muscle Protocol and there are four keys to Midlife Fitness and today's podcast is going to break it down so you know exactly what to do and what not to do to get results without ending up on the couch and exhausted, so sore you can't even walk. Hey there, I'm Cam Allen. Welcome back to the Midlife Method. This episode is going to change how you view fitness and menopause. Let's get right to it. Key number one has to be strength training. We know that we naturally lose muscle if we're not lifting weights. So lifting weights is a non negotiable. I call it the Midlife Muscle Protocol for a reason. We know that having more muscle on your body and is like throwing gasoline on your metabolism's fire. We also know that more muscle helps regulate your blood sugar which is a huge deal when it comes to belly fat and unwanted symptoms, if you will, of menopause. When it comes to lifting weights, the guideline is about 60 minutes of heavy for you weights a week. Now I used to do 30 minute workouts but this whole last year I've been doing 10 minute mini workouts. 10 minute mini workouts. Using heavy for you weights will help you build muscle, get results, have more energy for your day without being exhausted and too sore to even move on the couch. The key is heavy for you. So how do you know if you're using a weight that is heavy for you? I find that many women tend to use the same weight day in, day out for years without challenging their muscles a little bit more. When you're doing a set, the last few reps of each and every set should feel challenging. That means you're keeping your form and there's a lot of effort. May feel breathless, you may notice getting a little bit sweaty looking for those signs Will help you know that you're using a heavy for you weight that will actually change your muscle composition. When you get to the end of the set and you feel that effort and you feel the muscle burn and you're working really hard to keep your form, then you know you've hit the heavy for your weight. Heavy for you is the thing that's actually going to improve your body composition and help you build more midlife muscle. Just because you're in menopause does not mean you can't build muscle. But we know for a fact that if you don't lift weights, you're going to actually lose muscle. So strength training is a non negotiable 60 minutes a week heavy for you weights. You got this key number two, be an active human. That means don't set up camp on your couch and not move. For me I have a walking desk. I ended up getting a walking pad because some days are just like loaded with zoom calls and I noticed I was sitting way too much. Being an active human is not exercise. This actually falls in the non exercise activity bucket which is about 15% of your daily calorie burn. The non exercise activity part of your metabolism is actually three times larger than the exercise calorie burn. I bet you didn't know that. I know I didn't know that. Diet culture told us we had to move more and eat less in order to change our body composition. But really the truth is walking, parking further away, taking the steps, all of those actions add to our daily movement. Our daily steps if you will. For me, I find that 7,500 steps non negotiable no matter what is my sweet spot. And did you know by the way, that 10,000 number was completely made up? I find that most women do really well with 7,500 steps a day. Make it a non negotiable in your new year and watch your body composition change. The cool thing about doing steps or moving more during your day, it keeps two hormones under control. Your cortisol and your hunger hormone. And those are two hormones that we actually can control in midlife. When all the other hormones like estrogen, takes a hike and it reaches its lowest level. Those two hormones we actually can control. In fact, taking a walk might be part of your stress management plan. I know it helps me if I go walk in the woods with my girlfriend or I take my dogs on a walk or I walk with my husband after dinner, I come back with a new attitude. Does that happen for you too? So so far we have key number one, strength training, 60 minutes a week using heavy for you weights. Number two, be an active human. Do not set up camp on your couch and not move all day. Number three, rest and recovery. Now, this one was a really hard one for me to learn and so I actually added it as one of the four keys. It is okay to rest during your workout. That means if you do a set of 12 front squats and and you find yourself, oh, that was heavy. I'm breathless. I need to take a second so I can go again and use my best form and use the best heavy for me weight. Take a break. It is okay to rest within your workouts. That being said, it's also okay to take days away from your workouts. We also want to rest between our workouts. So you don't want to do front squats Monday, back squats Tuesday, goblet squats Wednesday. That's not going to help you in midlife. We need more time for rest and recovery. In fact, if you are like a Monday, Wednesday, Friday exerciser, you may notice you get better results. If you're like a Monday, Thursday exerciser, if you're doing longer workouts, again, we're trying to get 60 minutes of strength training a week and you may notice you need an extra day of recovery. Again, this was a really hard lesson for me to learn and so that's why I added it to the protocol. You can rest within your workout, you're not lazy and you may need an extra rest day between your workouts if you're doing full body workouts. And that leads me to key number four, a dash of cardio. If you were like me, Diet culture told us that the only way to change our body composition was to exercise more and to eat less. And it had to be cardio. Well, here's the thing. Too much cardio may be too stressful for your system at this stage of life. In fact, I find that many women that rely on HIIT training, high intensity interval training actually push their cortisol too far. They may notice weird injuries. They may notice more belly fat, they may notice slower recovery. So what I've done is I've taken the idea of interval training and I've added more rest to it, which is key number three. Remember, rest and recovery is part of the protocol. So I call it hurt high intensity repeat training. It is so simple. Let me explain. For hurt workouts, you do six to ten rounds. When you're working, the work session is around 20 seconds and it needs to be about 80% of today's. Effort. So I really want you to get after it 80% of today's effort. Here's the key. Then you rest. Lower your heart rate. Rest until you can go again. At that same effort, you may find that you need a minute of rest for your heart rate to lower for you to go again. And here's the best part about hurt workouts. Let's say you get to round eight and you notice your intensity is falling off during the work session. That is an indication that you've hit your limit for the day and your workout is over. Who cares if it says do 10 rounds? If you're on round eight and you notice your intensity is falling off, you're done for the day. The thing I find about the Midlife Muscle Protocol, it totally meets you where you're at. Every single day feels a little bit different when we're in menopause because hello, we're in menopause. Our hormones are changing and we are a brand new us compared to who we were when we were younger. Following the four keys to the Midlife Fitness will allow you to get, know, love and appreciate your body for today. And you're actually gonna see more results in the mirror. So a quick review of the four keys strength training non negotiable 60 minutes a week. Use a heavy for you weight. Number two be an active human. Get your daily steps. Make sure you're getting your 7, 500 steps every single day. Number three rest and recovery. It's okay to rest within your workout. It doesn't mean you're lazy. And it's okay to take rest days between your workouts. And number four, a dash of cardio. You gotta give hurt a try. Hurt allows you to rest until you can go again and it gives you permission to call it a day when you feel your intensity fall off. If you found this episode helpful, please comment below. Share this with somebody that needs to hear it and it would be an honor if you subscribe to this channel. Be sure to subscribe so you never miss a video. Thanks for being here.