In her book, The Year of Yes, Shonda Rhimes writes about how golf became her “thing.”  I believe everyone should have a “thing” that is rooted in something physical. Strength training is my “thing”.   It’s my hobby, and I love it. I will get up early to do it. It makes me strong and powerful, keeps me energized, and is the fountain of youth.

When I show up to lift, I don’t want it to be about punishing myself for being too fat or not thin enough. I want it to be about getting under the bar to get stronger, to get better, to make improvements, and to do what I think I cannot. One of my goals is to get back to squatting 135 pounds for at least five reps. I haven’t done that in over ten years, and I want to get back to it.

This month, I attended a workshop led by one of my favorite Yoga teachers. The workshop was in the afternoon, but I didn’t want to miss my Squat session at the gym. I am determined to hit 135-pound squats by the end of the first quarter, and I am making such great progress.

Since I was already up and out of bed by 6 AM on a Saturday, I decided to do the squat workout early and the workshop in the afternoon. Six months ago, this would not have happened. I would have rationalized that I was already doing the workshop and that was enough. I decided that since the gym is right below the grocery store and near Trader Joe’s, I would do all my grocery shopping and hit up the Farmers Market. I even managed to get back home in time to take my grandma to the bank before I left for the workshop.

This squat goal is giving me new passion and energy to hit the gym, and it’s about pushing past my limits. I got new fitness headphones for the gym and also created a Squat playlist with all the old “ Drop It Like It’s Hot ” crunk anthems on it, as well as the new rap girlies encouraging us to be empowered in our bodies.

Perimenopause and my garden hose

The only social media I have these days is Reddit and YouTube. I am subscribed to the Womenover40 Reddit, and every time someone shares a problem, one of the commenters says it is Perimenopause.

While I know that my hormones are changing, I do not think that is the cause of every single problem. For instance, I was bored out of my mind and low-key depressed because of my environment. Once that changed and I started reconnecting with people I actually enjoy again, my energy levels are back to normal.

Perimenopause Labels and Limitations

I am not immune to thinking that perimenopause is the source of certain issues. It has been ten years since my garden hose has been excited about anyone. (If you want Bridgerton, then you know what I am talking about.) I figured that this was a side effect of perimenopause, and once we get past a certain age, our garden hoses just don’t work the same way they used to. Last October, I was listening to a podcast I had been following for years and had never paid much attention to its guests. Well, I looked up as the host introduced their next guest, and I just about fell out: WHO WAS THIS MAN???

He was fully clothed in a black hoodie, and I had no clue who he was or what he did. All I knew was that after ten years of mostly lying dormant, my garden hose had suddenly come alive. After that, I went right to YouTube to find out more about who this was, and it was clear to me that the problem wasn’t perimenopause. The problem was that I had been in the Sahara Desert!!!

Arnold Schwarzenegger, a champion of strength training for women

This brings me to an excellent email from Arnold Schwarzenegger’s newsletter about all of the marketing to women about perimenopause, menopause, and how it’s creating unnecessary limitations for women. I was participating in a fitness challenge last year, and on one of the forums, a woman asked if she should be drinking a protein shake after her workout because she is in menopause. The nutritionist said being in menopause has nothing to do with drinking protein shakes after workouts. While I am thrilled we are finally discussing perimenopause and menopause without shame, I also think it has become a marketing tool to get women to buy unnecessary products and place limitations on themselves.

This is why I loved Arnold’s message to women about strength training. Arnold has always encouraged women to lift weights and be strong.  He was preaching the gospel of strength training for women even before it was popular.

He wrote:

I’ve been fighting this fight for decades. For 40 years, the message has been the same: women should train. Women should be strong. Women are capable of incredible things when they step into the gym and stop listening to all the garbage about what they can’t do.

It took the world 40 years to catch up with me. Maybe that makes me stubborn, or maybe it makes me right. I think it’s both.

So when you tell me that you are someone with menopause or perimenopause, I see you starting to define yourself as someone with limits, and that’s what I want to avoid.

You are a human being who is capable of extraordinary things, and the only thing standing between you and the strongest version of yourself is the decision to start and the commitment to not stop.

 

I was so fired up that I emailed this back

I let out a shout when I read today’s Pump Club!

I am 44 years old, and I guess I’m going through Perimenopause, but I don’t know, and I don’t actually care. I’ve worked in fitness for 20 years as a group fitness instructor and trainer, have tried and failed to compete, and now I mainly train older adults, including many women who are setting PRs at 80. One of my clients is in her mid nineties and still lifting weights. I don’t believe in narratives around aging since I have a family member who is 100 years old and still going strong.

I am so tired of the perimenopause and menopause marketing nonsense. It is just as bad as when we were adolescents, and teen magazines used to market all the nonsense so we would not think we were not enough.  So many women blame every single thing in their lives on being perimenopausal and menopausal. I even started to fall for it last year, and I realized the problem wasn’t hormones; it was my environment and my mindset.

This message was much needed, and as a woman committed to strength training and wellness, I am deeply appreciative of this newsletter. I turn 45 in August, and my goal is to get back to squatting 135 pounds again. I am back to 115 pounds. I will not let age or labels stop me!

Thanks again for your message,
Geneva

Hormonal Fluctuations across the menstrual cycle don’t change how your muscles respond to training.

While these conversations about perimenopause and menopause are welcomed because we need to be talking about bone density loss, increased risk of osteoporosis, muscle loss, sexual changes, and so forth. This should not be a time for women to start placing labels and limits on themselves, or take us back to the self-loathing of adolescence.

What I really love is all of the research coming out about women’s hormonal cycles and training.

A 2023 review, a 2020 meta-analysis, and multiple systematic reviews all point in the same direction: normal hormonal fluctuations across the menstrual cycle don’t meaningfully change how your muscles respond to training.

A study led by Dr. Lauren Colenso-Semple measured muscle protein synthesis and obtained muscle biopsies from menstruating women during both the follicular and luteal phases.

The study found that resistance training significantly increased muscle protein synthesis in both phases, with no meaningful difference between them; protein breakdown rates were also identical across phases. Energy, mood, and comfort vary across the cycle, and those experiences are real, but the muscle-building machinery underneath keeps working every day, so train when you can and adjust intensity based on how you feel, not what a calendar says.

When my cycle starts, I prefer yoga and stretching, and by the second day, I am okay with strength training. Lately, it seems that lifting on my cycle works even on the first day. It really depends on the month and how I am feeling.

As always, it is important to listen to your body!

Revisiting My Health and Wellness Goals for 2026

  • Prioritizing Healthy Relationships: Reconnecting with my favorite people and meeting new favorite people
  • Reconnecting with my body: Allowing myself to feel again.
  • Living my inner mantra: I am vibrant, and I radiate vitality
  • Continue to menu plan and prepare meals to avoid coming home and not knowing what to do.
  • Fresh Fish once per week
  • Squat 135 easy for 10 reps
  • Lift at least 3 days per week
  • No more Mayonnaise: chocolate, sparkles, a hint of spiciness, and a touch of leopard.