My mother in law is 64. This is the workout that changed everything.
For years my mother in law did what most women are told to do in menopause: more cardio, lighter weights, more classes. She was consistent and she was working hard, and it wasn't getting her anywhere. The fatigue, the aches, the sense that her body had stopped responding, none of it shifted.
Then she started lifting properly. Heavier weights, fewer sessions, actual progression. Two years on she's stronger than she was at 50, she sleeps better, and she says she feels like herself again.
Here's what's actually going on, and why the standard advice doesn't hold up.
What's really happening in menopause
Estrogen isn't just a reproductive hormone. It plays a role in bone remodelling and in how efficiently your body maintains muscle. When estrogen drops through the menopause transition, bone breakdown starts outpacing bone rebuilding, and researchers have documented an acceleration in muscle loss around this stage as well, on top of the muscle loss that comes with normal aging.
The specific numbers you'll see thrown around online are inconsistent, and some of the more dramatic claims don't hold up well once you separate menopause from normal aging in the data. What is consistent across the research: postmenopausal women lose bone density faster than premenopausal women, and resistance training reliably slows that loss and can rebuild it at the sites that matter most for fracture risk, the spine and the hip.
That's not marketing language. It's what shows up when you look at the trials.
Why lifting outperforms cardio here
Cardio is good for your heart. It doesn't do much for bone or muscle preservation, because bone and muscle respond to mechanical load, not calories burned. When you put real weight through a joint and a muscle, you send a signal that tells your body those tissues are still needed. Light weights and long cardio sessions don't send that signal with enough force to matter.
This is why the research consistently favours moderate to high intensity resistance training over aerobic work for bone density outcomes in postmenopausal women, and it's also why lifting has been shown to help with things you wouldn't expect a strength session to touch, like hot flash frequency and sleep quality. It's not about burning more, it's about loading enough.
If you've been doing more classes and lighter weights and wondering why nothing's changing, this is the actual reason.
What actually works: load, not volume
Fewer sessions, real weight, progressive overload over time. The overload part matters most. Your body adapts to whatever it's currently handling, so if you're lifting the same weight you started with a year ago, you've plateaued and there's no reason for your body to hold onto anything beyond that baseline.
That's the logic behind the two workouts below. 20 minutes, dumbbells only, done at home. Short because consistency with real load beats long sessions with light weight, not because short is trendy.
The full body session
20 minutes, dumbbells, full body. This is the one my mother in law does most weeks. Legs, back, chest and core in one session, so you're not carving out time for four separate workouts around everything else going on. Below is the YouTube video, but you can also access it along with tons of other workouts and programs within my app: https://app.lean-squad.com/sign-up
The upper body session
Same 20 minute format, same dumbbells only setup, focused on upper body strength. Pairs with the full body day for a simple two day split. YouTube video coming soon, but you can also access it along with tons of other workouts and programs within my app: https://app.lean-squad.com/sign-up
👉 Full strength programmes for women 40+ in the LEANSQUAD app: https://app.lean-squad.com/sign-up