Why Strength Training Stops Working When You Believe “It’s Just Menopause”

Strength training used to support your life.
If it stopped working in menopause, this conversation matters.

Strength training in menopause can feel confusing and frustrating.
Workouts that once gave you energy now leave you sore, tired, or injured. Labs come back “normal,” yet your body doesn’t feel normal at all.

In this episode of The Midlife Method, menopause health and fitness coach Cam Allen explores why strength training often stops working in midlife and how the story we’ve been told about menopause quietly changes the direction everything moves.

This is a conversation about:
– why the old strength training rules stop working
– how language and belief shape the body’s response
– why “it’s just menopause” shuts down progress
– what it looks like to rebuild strength in a way your body can agree with

This isn’t about pushing harder.
It’s about changing the directions so strength can work again.

If these questions matter to you, you’re in the right place.

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

Foundational 4 Supplements | Menopause Nutrition Made Simple
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Free Menopause Home Gym Guide | Strength Training at Home
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Wins Beyond the Scale | Free Checklist for Midlife Women
https://www.camoyler.com/wins

Chapters:
00:00 It's Just Menopause Misconception
05:53 Beliefs Shape Actions and Outcomes
07:29 Empowering Language Shapes Identity

Transcript

0:00

If strength training used to make you feel strong, but now it just leaves you tired, sore and frustrated. This episode is for you. Because a lot of women in midlife strength training didn't stop working because their body failed. It stopped working because of the story we were told about midlife. Hey there, My name's Cam Allen. Welcome back to the midlife method. Somewhere along the line, we got introduced, ah, it's just menopause. It's the midlife. You're just getting old, got introduced. And actually that sentence changed the direction everything moved. If you put the wrong address in your phone's gps, it really doesn't matter how well you drive, you're going to end up at the wrong place. That's what I hear when women are told, eh, it's just menopause. You see, strength training used to work. It gave you energy. It made you feel strong and useful and capable and confident. And maybe you're finding now it just doesn't. Your recovery's off, your energy disappears, like halfway through the day. And you're dealing with weird injuries you never used to have, like achy joints and sore knees. Your labs came back normal, but you know that your body doesn't feel normal at all. And I want to say this really clearly before we go any further. That is not rare. That is very common for women to go to the doctor, get their labs drawn, feeling horrible, and the doctor says, nah, it's normal just the way it is. And when this starts happening, most women don't think something about the story I'm telling myself changed. That's not what they think. Instead they. They think something's wrong with them. And that's where it's just midlife or it's just menopause is actually the turning point. When that starts happening, most women go look for answers, so they bring it up at the doctor's office and maybe your doctor completely gaslights you and thinks, ah, no, it's just normal, that's just the way it is. Or maybe you have a group of friends, so you bring it up to your friends and they are all experiencing the same thing, so it just feels normal there. Or maybe you go search online at night when you can't sleep, and somewhere along the way they hear the sentence that sounds so simple it's almost reassuring. Huh, it's just menopause. But I want you to listen how final that sounds. Just menopause. There's nothing to explore, there's no questions to ask, there's nothing to adjust except your expectations. The sentence completely Shuts down all your curiosity. Instead of asking, what does my body really need right now? Women start asking, well, how do I live with this? I guess this is just the way it is. And that is a really important shift. This is where I think about the body. Like a gps. If you put in the wrong address in your gps, it really doesn't matter how well you drive. You can follow every single turn perfectly and still end up somewhere you never wanted to be. Language works the exact same way. The words we hear and repeat are the directions our body's going to take. So when the directions become it's just menopause. That's just normal. The body treats that like an instruction. We lower our expectations. We stop asking questions, we brace ourselves and. And then we wonder why it starts to feel harder instead of clearer. And here's the part that really matters most Women actually know what they want. I bet you know what you want. You clicked on a podcast about strength training and menopause. Women want to feel strong. They want to have energy that lasts all afternoon, and they want to feel capable and steady in their body. They want to get down on the floor and play with their grandkids and then stand up and carry them with confidence. Or maybe you want to carry all your groceries in in one trip. That's a destination. And that's how I think about intention. You see, your intention is your word. Where do you really want to go? Do you want to go? It's just menopause. Is that where you're going? Don't go there. Because your intention is your word, and your word is your integrity. And it reminds me of this book, the Four Agreements. In fact, the very first agreement is be impeccable with your word. Being impeccable with your word means mean what you say and say what you mean. It's actually my favorite of the four agreements. So be very clear with your destination. Make sure it is honest. So why do so many women feel like they're driving in circles? And that's where your beliefs and your actions and your feelings come in. And that's where the system happens. We all have beliefs, and most of the beliefs that we have are automatic. Science says we make 40 to 60,000 decisions a day, and those decisions are hardwired and automatic, like 95% of them. And just pause for a second and think about the energy it would take to consciously make 40 to 60,000 decisions a day. That's exhausting. So these beliefs are hardwired and they're running in the background. And those beliefs Shape the actions in the real physical world. So if you believe it's just midlife, that's just the way it is. That's what's running in the background and making your automatic decisions. Our feelings, on the other hand, are the feedback we get from the actions that we take in the world. The beliefs are the address you type into your gps. The actions that you actually do in the world are the turns that you're taking on your map. And the feelings tell you whether you're getting closer or further away from where you really want to go. And that's when belief becomes this is decline. And the rest of the system organizes around that. And the actions that you take lead you to this is decline. Now look how this plays out with strength training. If you believe that in midlife your body is breaking down, you have two choices. Some women push harder and they fight it, or you pull back because it it feels pointless. Like this is decline. Some people might over train to prove something. I did that in my 40s when I was going through a divorce. Don't do it. Or maybe you under eat to control your weight. And the funny thing about undereating in midlife, typically that backfires and the scale goes up. Maybe you just quit lifting altogether because it actually hurts too much. Your knees, your hips, whatever. And you decide that I'm just going to walk instead of build muscle because it just feels safer. And from the outside, it looks like inconsistency, but from the inside, what you're telling yourself, it makes absolute perfect sense. And the feelings that follow are not random. That frustration disconnection with yourself, that quiet shame. What's wrong with me? And I just want to say something about shame. We use shame to control ourselves. Not really a good strategy. That's why I'm also very intentional about language. You will not see my Instagram or my TikTok post anything degrading about aging or menopause. You will not find it on my page. I don't joke about falling apart or this is the downhill slide. Not because I don't have a sense of humor, but actually our nervous system doesn't hear the sarcasm. What happens is your unconscious mind doesn't know that you're joking. It hears the repetition, it hears the certainty. The language becomes the instructions for your body. And when you repeat that message long enough, it turns into your identity. So no, I don't normalize decline as humor because I care about where I and where other women are being directed. So here's the reroute. So let's reroute this whole thing. Let's go to the same destination, same desire to feel strong, but have a different belief. Menopause is not a sentence. It's just information. Your body's not failing. It is simply asking for a different approach. And when that belief shifts, actions change naturally. Shorter workouts, heavier for you, weights recovery that actually restores instead of depletes you. And then something really important happens. The trust starts to return. Your brain and your body get on the same page. Your confident rebuilds and your strength begins to work again. Not because you forced it, but because of the directions finally match the destination. I want to be strong and this is how I get there in midlife. And this part I really want you to remember. Your intention was never wrong. The destination was always clear. You knew what you wanted. The directions, the little steps along the way were actually the problem. I believe that menopause does not take your power. It's actually the most empowering time of life. However, unquestioned language does. And when you change your language, the route changes. And when the route changes, your body responds. So I want to leave you with this. What directions are you asking your body to follow right now? Old ones that were written for younger you or new ones that are written for menopause. You be sure to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode of the Midlife Method. Thanks for being here.