Optimize Exercise with Heavy Lifting and High Intensity Workouts

In this episode, Mary delves into the nuances of exercise for women during menopause and perimenopause. 

Mary discusses the physiology of exercise she learned as a student of Dr. Stacy Sims (Menopause 2.0), emphasizing the importance of both heavy lifting and high volume workouts for muscle growth, metabolic health, and overall resilience. 

This episode covers why and how exercise should be adapted for midlife bodies, examining the benefits and differences between high intensity and high volume training approaches. 

Mary also provides practical tips she gained as a certified Women's Coaching Specialist (Girls Gone Strong) on developing a sustainable exercise routine that includes cardiovascular training, interval workouts, and strength training. 

Resources

• Why HIIT Matters for Women’s Body and Brain Health by Dr. Stacy Sims
• Take your health journey during menopause further with the Midlife Belly Fat Reset, a FREE guide to help women kickstart their fitness journey. Visit https://subscribepage.io/bellyfatreset

00:54 The Psychology and Physiology of Exercise
01:18 Why Exercise is Crucial During Menopause
01:55 Adapting Exercise for Midlife Bodies
03:22 Heavy Lifting vs. High Volume Training
06:13 The Benefits of Heavy Resistance Training
08:08 High Volume Lightweights and Their Role
10:06 Combining Heavy Lifting and High Volume
11:28 Ideal Exercise Amounts for Menopausal Women
15:52 Practical Tips for Starting Your Fitness Journey
17:57 Conclusion and Free Resources

Transcript

Hey there. This is Mary, the host of the Menopause Disruptor Podcast, and if you're new here, welcome If you're returning. So glad to have you back.

It's a brand new episode. It's a brand new year, and my bet many of you are looking for a brand new you. It happens every year around this time. Historically, gym memberships go up, studio classes fill up to capacity, and personal trainers and coaches get a few more signups from clients wanting to shed some holiday l-bs.

And in all the years I have been leading group fitness classes, we're talking close to 30 years now, I can say with absolute certainty. Commitment to exercise increases in January, but sadly, it lasts for about eight weeks and then plateaus as commitment drops and old habits creep back in. And why is this?

Well, there's a whole psychology about exercise but in this episode we're diving into the physiology of exercise, and my aim is to spread a little bit of knowledge. With a little bit of education, your commitment to your exercise may just last past early March and bring you some real results.

But let's start with the end in mind, shall we? Why exercise in the first place? Well, exercise is one of the most powerful tools we have for navigating menopause, not just managing symptoms, but for protecting our health as we age, maintaining our independence. and because exercise when targeted properly for building muscle, will help prevent injury, address increased belly fat and inflammation.

These are precursors to bigger health problems, namely heart, brain, and bone. And you can go back to a previous episode to learn more about the big three health concerns in midlife, but here's the part that often gets missed. Movements in your forties, fifties, and beyond will not be the same as it was in our teens, twenties, and thirties.

As we age, our bodies change. Menopause causes a number of shifts that restrict movements such as joint pain and mobility issues. This is not failure. This is wisdom. Our bodies are signaling to us to adapt to our changing physiology.

Perimenopause and menopause involve massive hormonal shifts. Declining estrogen and progesterone impact everything from muscle mass and bone density to recovery, mood, sleep, and stress tolerance. Aging itself also changes how we adapt to training and how much we can recover from exercise. The good news exercise remains one of the most effective evidence-based ways to support these changes.

When done intelligently, when movement is tailored to this phase of life, it can reduce menopausal symptoms, preserve muscle and bone, stabilize blood sugar and metabolism, support nervous system regulation, and help feel capable, grounded and confident in your body again. So in this episode, we're going to talk about how to adapt your training wisely so it actually supports your changing physiology.

Feel sustainable and keep you consistent for the long term, not by doing more, but by doing what matters most. Because at midlife exercise is all about working with your body and building strength that lasts Today, we're also diving into a topic that splits the training world wide open. And if you've ever felt confused 

or mildly irritated by the endless debates in the fitness world. Overload versus reps strength versus endurance versus hypertrophy, which is building muscle. You are not alone. Few topics stir up more noise than this one. And now that we talked about why we should exercise, 

Let's take a look at how and how much training volume we actually need. My aim is to answer the burning question I get asked often and hear, regularly in group classes. How do heavy lifting and high volume differ and what actually builds muscle in midlife bodies? In other words, how much do I need to lift to get results?

Let's first set the stage volume versus intensity. On one side of the room, we have the high volume crowd, more sets, more work, more growth. This approach often goes hand in hand with staying a few reps shy of failure, using tools like RIR, which means reps in reserve to manage fatigue. That means how many do I have left over after performing a set of reps with good form and control to the point where I'm almost fatigued without going past.

Then on the other side, there are the high intensity purists, one brutally hard set taken to failure, maybe two, and you're done. The belief here is why do more if you can just go harder? And so who's right? Well, the answer is more nuanced. And for midlife women navigating menopause recovery and nervous system resilience, that nuance really matters.

In the strength world, one camp champions More weekly sets per muscle group equals more growth and meta-analysis consistently show that training volume predicts hypertrophy. Again, that means building muscle. On the flip side is the lower volume and high load, which for this conversation we will call intensity, but not to be confused with high interval intensity training.

This approach takes a set close to failure and calls it sufficient. And recent analysis suggests that proximity to failure, boost muscle growth independent of volume. All of this gets more interesting and more practical when we compare traditional heavy resistance with lightweight high rep modalities, like in, say, a bar style class where weights are very light.

Anywhere from 1, 2, 3, or five pounds maximum. Let's look at heavy lifting first, heavy resistance training. Think barbell squats, deadlifts, presses, rows. This is designed to stimulate true muscle hypertrophy. In this case, load matters more than reps alone heavier loads. That means working around 70 to 85% of one rep max creates microscopic muscle fiber stress that signals growth and strength adaptations.

Strength gains translate to function. So we move heavier loads to improve everyday tasks like lifting groceries, standing up from a chair, climbing stairs, and protecting joint integrity. and more importantly, heavier loads strengthen your ability to recover from a fall.

And it supports bone density. Heavy loading is one of the best stimuli we have for preserving and building bone, which is a crucial factor for women through menopause because we lose anywhere from three to 8% of bone mineral density per decade from age 30, and this is greater if there are other underlying factors, including genetics, smoking, a sedentary lifestyle or poor diet.

And then there's the metabolic impact. Muscle is the most metabolically active tissue in the body supporting several systems in the body, two of which are resting metabolic rate and insulin sensitivity. And these become more important as we age in the context of menopause. This kind of strength training is not just about aesthetics, it's about preserving lean mass, combating sarcopenia, which is muscle loss.

Supporting metabolic and hormonal balance. In short, heavy lifting drives real muscle growth, functional strength and resilience. This is the workhorse of strength, hypertrophy, and longevity. Now let's look at high volume lightweights, which by definition is more endurance and neuromuscular control. And I mentioned it earlier, bar classes, for example, and similar high rep, low resistance training differ in key ways.

Lighter loads and high reps are often very lightweights, the one to five pound range with continuous movement and minimal rest in between, which is really working the muscles to burn near exhaustion. It is low impact, so it's more accessible and joint friendly, which makes it great for mobility and range of motion and nervous system engagement in research terms.

This kind of training tends to enhance muscular endurance, pastoral control, local fatigue resistance. Movement quality, but does not drive hypertrophy the way heavier resistance training does. Here's how they stack up, because both have value, but both have different purposes.

Heavy lifting is high load, low to moderate reps, and the typical adaptions include muscle growth, strength, functional power, and bone density. Now the bar style, high volume is low load, high reps and isometric holds. Typical adoptions include muscular endurance, movement control, mobility, and toning.

Where they overlap is in resistance and repetition. both achieve neuromuscular engagement and metabolic conditioning. However, heavy lifting creates structural tissue growth, real muscle with the capacity for strength and metabolic change. 

High rep work sharpens endurance and movement quality builds stabilizer strength. And improves flexibility and body awareness. All are valuable, but not substitutes, for hypertrophy, stimulating loads. In other words, real muscle growth.

So applying this to midlife bodies here's where coaching meets real life. If your goal is muscle growth and metabolic resilience, you need heavy strength work in your program. If your goal is muscular, endurance, posture, mobility, and nervous system health, High volume work supports and compliments heavier lifting.

And if your goal is sustainable, consistency, I say layer both. Lift heavy two to three times a week and pepper in high rep. Work for muscle endurance 

Between your lifting sessions. This often produces the best long-term results. That's because heavy lifting builds the tissue and function and high rep work adds quality control and movement confidence without the systemic fatigue of high volume strength work alone. Bottom line, heavy lifting and high volume aren't enemies.

There are different tools in your fitness toolkit for women in menopause and perimenopause. Integrating both will protect muscles and bone, enhance metabolic health support, mobility, and balance, and reduces injury risk. It is not a war between volume and intensity, it's about smartly combining them so your body feels strong, capable, and resilient.

So the next thing to ask, and perhaps the most important question, and I hinted at this already, is how much exercise is ideal? The recommended amount of weekly exercise for women in menopause is 150 minutes per week.

But not just any exercise, it's moderate intensity. Physical activity such as brisk walking, moderate cycling, jogging, rowing, swimming. Think of this as your cardiovascular training. Important exercise activity that supports your heart health and targets weight gain common in menopause, particularly around the midline.

It's essential also in regulating blood sugar and cholesterol, which become critical health factors with aging. When cortisol spikes and wreaks havoc on our system. from disrupting gut microbiome diversity, decreasing insulin sensitivity, and increasing tendency to store visceral fat.

Now, researchers agree. Aim for a steady state cardio with activities you enjoy. As I said, like walking, swimming, cycling, dancing, et cetera. At least 150 minutes or 75 minutes of vigorous cardio per week spread over three to five days, and vigorous cardio differs from just moderate intensity. Because the ability to carry out a conversation is significantly reduced. And on a scale of one to 10, You're looking upwards around eight or higher, and this is where things get a little bit tricky and confusing.

The real magic happens when you pair interval training, which is short bursts of intense exercise. to your cardio based training. Don't leave it all to cardio training at that steady state level, which is also known as zone two training because it has a reverse effect on women. Zone two training, which is where you could probably carry out those conversations and rate your cardio workout, say around a four to a six, seven level.

It is very helpful in moderation, especially for stress relief, but menopausal women don't benefit from long-term endurance training at this level compared to our pre perimenopausal years. 

Leading researchers in exercise physiology like Dr. Stacy Sims points out that most Zone 2 research is based on men. Women are already more metabolically flexible and efficient at burning fat. We are naturally well-adapted for endurance type exercise and have a higher mitochondria density than our male counterparts. As she says, to quote - “we are endurance queens built for the steady state grind!’ I’ll share that article in the show notes. 

What this means then women benefit more from higher-intensity work that provides the stimulus to keep progressing. On top of that intensity interval training provides protection for muscles, bone, and metabolism but there is fascinating new research coming out. 

Intensity interval training is nuanced. There are two types - HIIT and SIT. HIIT involves 30, 45 or even higher bursts of energy typically at 85-90% max effort with a rest interval in between at about the same duration. SIT goes harder and shorter - 20 or 30 sec all out (think that puking feeling) and a much longer rest interval. 

The great thing about interval training at intensity A typical session of all out HIIT or SIT is 4-5 sets - perhaps 30 seconds with 2-3 minutes of (SIT) or 2 minutes on 2 minutes. Add in a proper warm up to prepare the body and nervous system for training and finish with a cool down and stretch and - you are in and out in  approx 30 minutes. 

And when paired with resistance training to build muscle and strength, you have the winning combination. Resistance training is recommended anywhere from two to four times per week. If you're new to strength training, even once a week is sufficient to start reaping rewards and achieving all the gains.

Focus on full body workouts and compound lifts, such as squats, rows, and pushes. Use weights. You can use machines although I'd advise to use dumbbells first. Because body alignment in machines, if you're new to them, can often be confusing or you risk misalignment and of course you have your own body weight, whatever you have lying around the house.

To create resistance without sacrificing control is effective. And like we said earlier, include some sets that are close to failure where you have one or two reps in reserve. And when I train with women, we always test the one rep max one rm, which is finding the heaviest weight possible.

 that can be executed in an exercise with good form and good control. With that feeling that you could probably push off one, maybe two if you really had to try. That would be your one rep max, and we work around the 80% area for muscle hypertrophy, building muscle. No matter where you are in your training regime, whether you're just starting out or returning after many years or coming back from an injury or a long break, give yourself permission and the grace to start small.

It's better to take an all or something approach rather than an all or nothing. Even a few minutes of movement each day can have a huge impact. So do the things that you love to do. Walk, dance cycle. Just move, but move with a new wisdom about your body. She's not 20 something anymore, but it ain't broken either.

Exercise and midlife is about developing consistent habits, not perfection. So if it's starting a fitness class, joining a gym or hiring a coach, commit, show up and do what you can and always listen to your body. Your ideal plan is the one that works for you and not what Instagram influencers tell you it should be.

My biggest takeaway for you is this heavy resistance and high intensity interval training yield better hormonal, cognitive, and metabolic benefits. Working with a menopause informed coach helps support safe and effective progress, and as a menopause doula and a woman's strength coach trained under Dr.

Stacy Sims and the Girls' Gone Strong Coaching Program. I help clients see that strength isn't about chasing after an ideal body, it's about developing resilience. Being consistent and having self-respect. I coach from a place of deeper values and not just the aesthetics of being athletic, trained to feel grounded during menopause and beyond.

Build strength to model self-love and build energy to pursue your passions that go beyond the gym. And I also like to ask this, and it's an important question you should ask yourself. What kind of life are you lifting weights to live. Train wise. Build strength, move confidently. I encourage you to check out my Midlife Belly Fat Reset program.

This is a free seven day plan to get you started on your journey to longevity and vitality Without the perfectionism mindset that can often render you paralyzed on where to begin.

In this guide, you will get tips, tricks, and strategies to incorporate resistance training and high intensity interval work into your exercise program. Plus, there's a full week's worth of meals to support your training, including snacks. That's seven days of food ideas to fuel properly and. As a bonus, I offer simple, easy, daily rituals to support nervous system regulation and recovery.

Because recovery days in your strength training regime are equally as important for achieving results in minimizing over training, burnout, or injury. Grab your guide. It's free linked in the show notes. 

This episode was all about education, to give you the power and the confidence to start to just move forward 

Until next time, my lovelies stay strong, stay safe, stay informed. And if this episode brought you value, please share it with a friend. Often the simple act of sharing can be a game changer in someone else's life.