If you’re searching for the most effective exercise plan after menopause, you’re not alone—and you’re in the right place. In this article, we’ll walk you through exactly what works (and what doesn’t) when it comes to fitness during and after menopause.
Many postmenopausal women feel like their bodies have changed overnight. The things that used to help you lose weight in your 20s and 30s—like jogging, HIIT workouts, or spinning—just don’t work anymore. At Trinity Transformation, we’ve helped over 7,000 women in their 40s, 50s, and 60s break through that plateau, build back strength, and drop 1–2 dress sizes in just 12 weeks—without cutting calories or spending hours at the gym.
In this blog, we’ll explain why traditional workouts fail during menopause, how hormonal changes affect your results, and what the most effective exercise routine after menopause really looks like.
Why Exercise Feels Harder (And Less Effective) After Menopause
During perimenopause and menopause, your body goes through a huge shift. Your hormone levels, particularly oestrogen and progesterone drop significantly. These hormones play a major role in how your body stores fat, builds muscle, and handles stress.
As a result, you might notice:
- Weight gain around the belly and hips (even if your habits haven’t changed)
- Feeling more bloated, tired, or puffy than usual
- Struggling to recover after workouts
- Not seeing results from exercise routines that used to work
Here’s why this happens:
- Loss of oestrogen reduces your body’s ability to build and maintain lean muscle, which means your metabolism naturally slows down.
- High-intensity workouts or long cardio sessions can raise cortisol, the stress hormone, which encourages your body to store fat — especially around the middle.
- Your body becomes more insulin resistant, meaning it’s harder to manage blood sugar levels and easier to gain weight, even on fewer calories.
So if you’re still doing the same routines you did in your 20s or 30s, it’s likely they’re working against your body instead of with it.
“Through the Trinity program I have lost 2 stone within 4 months to get to my target weight (9 stone). I am now 56.2Kg/8 stone 12lbs and have been maintaining this ever since. The program introduced me to a ‘3 workout per week’ routine. I have never failed to do a workout whilst on the program despite travelling, events, holidays, life! I am eating a healthier diet. I have seen a shift in how much weight that I can lift. I am getting stronger. Trinity has had a profound and life changing impact.”
– Sarah Needham, Trinity Client
Benefits of Post-Menopause Exercises
These hormonal changes have a knock-on effect on how your body stores fat, builds muscle, manages stress, and even how well you sleep. That’s why many women suddenly find themselves gaining weight around the middle, feeling weaker, or struggling to recover from workouts.
This is where exercise comes in — not just to burn calories, but to directly counteract the effects of hormonal shifts and restore strength, balance, and confidence.
Here are some of the key benefits of exercising during and after menopause:
Improved Fat Loss:
Hormonal changes often lead to increased fat storage, particularly around the abdomen. The right types of exercise, especially strength training, help preserve muscle mass and boost metabolism, which makes it easier to burn fat even at rest.
Stronger Muscles and Bones:
With age, women naturally lose muscle and bone density. Exercise helps maintain and rebuild both — which is essential for preventing osteoporosis, reducing the risk of falls, and maintaining independence as you age.
Better Mood and Energy
Exercise boosts endorphins and reduces cortisol (your stress hormone), which helps with anxiety, mood swings, and fatigue — common issues during and after menopause.
Improved Sleep and Recovery
Gentle movement, especially walking and strength training, has been shown to improve sleep quality and reduce hot flushes. Recovery-based workouts also reduce inflammation and help the body bounce back from stress.
Hormone Balance and Craving Control
Exercise improves insulin sensitivity and helps regulate blood sugar, which makes it easier to manage hunger, reduce cravings, and avoid emotional eating.
Put simply: the right exercise doesn’t drain you, but instead it recharges you. But only when it’s tailored to your new hormonal environment.
The Most Effective Exercise Plan After Menopause
To see real, sustainable results after menopause, especially if you want to drop 1–2 dress sizes, your exercise plan should focus on balancing hormones, building strength, and supporting recovery.
Here’s what that looks like:
1. Strength Training: 2–3 Times Per Week
If you only focus on one type of exercise after menopause, it should be strength training. It’s not just about “toning up”, it’s about protecting your body, boosting your metabolism, and fighting the natural effects of ageing.
As oestrogen and other key hormones decline, your body starts to lose muscle mass more rapidly. This loss can begin as early as your 40s and speeds up after menopause. Studies show that 20-30 minutes of strength training 2-3 times a week can reduce the risks of common issues like cardiovascular disorders, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis and sarcopenia.
And when you lose muscle, you lose more than just strength — your metabolism slows down, your posture worsens, your joints lose support, and your body fat increases, especially around the middle.
That’s why strength training is the single most important form of exercise for women at this stage of life.
Many women avoid strength training because they think it means hours in the gym or lifting heavy weights. But you can build strength at home with minimal equipment. All you need is 30 minutes, a couple of dumbbells or resistance bands, and the right plan.
Start with just 2 to 3 full-body workouts per week.
Focus on compound movements, which work work multiple muscles at once, so you get more benefit in less time.
Aim for 8 to 12 reps per set, and 2 to 3 sets per exercise. This is the sweet spot for building strength and lean muscle without overloading your body.
Keep your rest between sets short (around 30 to 60 seconds) and focus on form, not speed. You should feel challenged by the final reps, but not completely exhausted or out of breath.
2. Daily Low-Impact Movement (7,000–10,000 Steps)
Your body no longer benefits from long cardio sessions or extreme workouts that leave you exhausted. In fact, these can raise your stress hormone (cortisol) and lead to more fat storage, especially around the belly.
Instead, focus on daily low-impact movement. This helps your body burn fat without the hormonal disruption that comes from high-intensity workouts.
Walking is one of the most effective tools post-menopause. It’s low stress, easy to recover from, and improves blood sugar regulation.
Try this:
- Aim for 7,000–10,000 steps per day
- Break this up into 10-minute walks (morning, lunch, evening)
- Take walking meetings or walk while listening to a podcast
- Light housework or gardening counts too — the key is simply to move more and sit less
If you’re not hitting 7,000 steps yet, start by tracking your current average and increase gradually each week.
3. Core, Mobility & Flexibility Work
Many women over 40 start to experience aches, stiffness, bloating, and poor posture, especially if their core muscles are weak or they sit a lot during the day.
Including short daily routines that target your core and improve joint mobility helps with:
- Reducing back and hip pain
- Improving posture and alignment
- Supporting your pelvic floor
- Decreasing bloating and improving digestion
Think of it as maintenance for your body, even 10 minutes a day of light stretching, yoga-style movements, or core activation can improve how you feel dramatically.
” Trinity has been a gamechanger for me, I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt just a couple of weeks into the program and although I had initially signed up for 3 months, it spurred me on to join for a full year. Once I got into the swing of the workouts combined with the nutrition and macro targets I was amazed at how strong I felt and how quickly the weight started to shift which motivated me to keep going.”
– Sarah Hetreed, Trinity Client
4. Stress-Reducing Movement (Instead of Stress-Boosting Workouts)
Because of the change in your hormones after menopause, your body becomes much more sensitive to stress.
Your body doesn’t distinguish between a tough HIIT class and a shouting match with your teenager. It processes it all the same way — by producing more cortisol, your main stress hormone.
And one of the most common mistakes women make during and after menopause is continuing with the same intense workouts that used to work in their 20s and 30s.
These workouts often include things like high-intensity interval training (HIIT), long runs, or back-to-back spin classes. While these might have helped you stay fit in the past, they can now be doing more harm than good.
Instead try:
- Walking or hiking – Gentle, steady-state movement like walking is incredibly effective for fat loss and hormone balance. It helps reduce cortisol levels, improves circulation, and supports your mental health without draining your energy.
- Pilates or yoga – These types of exercise build strength and flexibility while promoting relaxation. They also improve posture, reduce stiffness, and help calm the nervous system — something many women over 40 desperately need.
- Rest and recovery – This is often overlooked, but absolutely essential. During rest is when your body repairs, rebuilds, and makes progress. Without proper recovery, your body stays in a constant state of stress, and results stall.
Final Thoughts on The Most Effective Exercise Plan For Menopause
It’s not about doing more — it’s about doing what works for your body now. Strength training to rebuild lost muscle, low-impact movement to support fat loss, and enough rest to let your body recover. That’s the formula.
No more punishing workouts or cutting calories to the bone. If you’ve been putting in effort but not seeing results, it’s time for a new approach — one built around you.
The next step? Join a coaching programme like Trinity, where we guide women over 40 to lose weight, feel confident in their clothes, and take back control of their health. We’ll build you a personalised plan that fits your life — and gets results that last.
How Trinity Can Help You With Your Exercise Plan
When you follow the right kind of plan, one designed specifically for women in menopause, your body will finally start responding again.
At Trinity, we’ve helped over 7,000 women drop 1–2 dress sizes in just 12 weeks and this is what you can expect:
- A personalised training plan built around Low Impact Strength Training (LIST), designed specifically for women over 40
- Nutrition guidance tailored to your goals, lifestyle, and hormonal needs — no extreme dieting or calorie counting
- 1-to-1 coaching support to keep you accountable, motivated, and on track
- Weekly check-ins with expert coaches who understand the unique challenges of menopause
- A flexible schedule that fits around work, family, and everything else life throws at you
- A private community of like-minded women for support, encouragement, and real connection
- Tools to track progress so you can see exactly how your body is changing — and celebrate your wins along the way
In fact, 97% of women see results in the first 12 weeks, and 96% would recommend it to a friend. If you’re looking for coaches who understand what you’re going through, get in touch below.
Frequently Asked Questions:
How to lose weight post menopause?
Focus on strength training, balanced nutrition, and managing stress to support hormone health and boost metabolism.
What is the best way to workout after menopause?
Low-impact strength training, walking, and regular recovery days help reduce stress and support sustainable fat loss.
What is the best fitness plan for menopause?
The best plan combines strength training, gentle cardio like walking, and rest — tailored to support your body’s hormonal changes.
