Muscle mass tends to drop as women move through menopause. A Finnish study followed 234 women from perimenopause into early postmenopause. Body scans showed modest drops in lean mass and thigh muscle size. Biopsies in a smaller subset didn't show clear fibre-size changes. Menopausal status was linked with those losses. Higher physical activity was linked with less loss on several lean-mass measures (Juppi et al., 2020).
That second part is the useful bit. You can't stop menopause, but you can train. Strength work with a coach is how we handle it at our studio in Concord, Vaughan.
Please read first. This post is general information, not medical advice. It doesn't cover hormone therapy or any other treatment for menopause symptoms. If you have a medical condition or an injury, talk to your doctor before you start a new training plan. If something hurts sharply during an exercise, stop and get medical care.
Strength training still works after menopause
A 2026 meta analysis pooled 126 studies with 4,019 women, about two thirds of them postmenopausal. Strength gains from resistance training were large in both groups, and the pooled sizes looked similar (standardized mean difference 1.50 before menopause, 1.46 after, with no statistically significant difference between the groups). That doesn't prove the responses are equivalent. Fat mass went down and functional mass went up in both groups (Isenmann et al., 2026). The authors' take is that general training guidelines can apply to women, with the plan set for the person in front of you.
Strength gains before and after menopause
From a 2026 meta analysis of 126 studies with 4,019 women. Bars show standardized effect sizes, where bigger means a larger change. Pick a view.
Source: Isenmann E, et al. J Sci Med Sport 2026;29(10):1174-1185. Read the study. Numbers in brackets are 95% confidence intervals. A standardized effect size is not a percent change.
A secondary analysis of a Swedish randomized trial shows what a few months can do. Postmenopausal women who weren't exercising did supervised resistance training three times a week for 15 weeks. On MRI, muscle volume in the training group went up by about 4%, with a clear difference versus the control group, where volume didn't change much. Strength went up in every muscle tested in the training group; that strength result wasn't a controlled comparison (Thorell et al., 2026). Forty-four women were scanned, so it's a small sample, but the volume finding is clear. We come back to this same trial in the hot flush section.
Bone is the other reason to lift through this stage. We cover that in our post on osteoporosis and lifting weights.
Hot flushes and lifting: mixed evidence
The evidence here is mixed, so we'll be careful with it.
That Swedish trial was first set up to study hot flushes. It picked women with at least 4 moderate or severe hot flushes or night sweats a day. Half did 15 weeks of resistance training three times a week. Each session had 8 exercises done for 2 sets of 8 to 12 reps, and the loads went up as they got stronger. The other half kept their activity the same. Within the training group, daily hot flushes dropped by 43.6% on average, versus 2.0% in the control group. The between-group difference was about 2.7 fewer moderate or severe flushes a day (Berin et al., 2019).
Hot flushes: one trial and one review
Pick a view to compare a single strength training trial with a larger review of exercise trials.
Sources: Berin E, et al. Maturitas 2019;126:55-60. Read the trial. Liu T, et al. Climacteric 2022;25(6):552-561. Read the review. This is general information, not medical advice.
The bigger picture is less tidy. A 2022 review of 21 trials with 2,884 participants found exercise in general may ease how severe hot flushes feel, but the certainty was very low. When studies with a high risk of bias were taken out, that effect shrank and was no longer clear. The same review found no significant effect on how often hot flushes happened; that isn't proof of no effect, and the finding had high certainty (Liu et al., 2022). A 2023 review of 12 resistance training trials (452 women) suggested possible benefits for hot flushes and day to day function, but rated its evidence low to very low certainty. No serious adverse events were reported in those trials, though the samples were small (Sá et al., 2023).
So lifting may help some women with hot flushes. We wouldn't promise it. The stronger reason to train is the muscle and strength you keep.
How often to train
Canada's 24 Hour Movement Guidelines ask for muscle strengthening activities that work the major muscle groups at least twice a week, plus at least 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity (Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology, n.d.; Ross et al., 2020). The trials above used three sessions a week. Two coached sessions is a solid place to start, and three is where the hot flush trial landed.
How many strength sessions a week?
Move the slider to see how your week lines up with Canada's guidelines and the trials in this post.
2 sessions a week
Based on the Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines (CSEP) and the 15 week Swedish trial (Berin et al., 2019; Thorell et al., 2026). See the guidelines.
Here's how we'd set it up in the studio:
- Start lighter than you think. If you haven't lifted in years, the first few weeks are about form. A coach picks the starting loads.
- Add load on a plan. The trials raised the weights as people got stronger. That's what drove the gains, and a coach tracks it for you.
- Cover legs and hips first. Squats and hinges work the leg muscle the Finnish scans linked with modest loss. Upper body pulls and presses fill out the week.
- Tell the coach what's going on. A bad night's sleep or a sore joint changes what a good session looks like that day.
- Keep protein in the picture. If you want help with eating around your training, see our nutrition coaching in Vaughan. If you're curious about supplements, our post on creatine and strength training covers what the research found in women.
Come lift with a coach in Vaughan
Our small group classes are capped at 16, so a coach can watch your form and adjust the weight. We're open weekdays 5:45 AM to 8 PM and weekends 8:30 AM to 4 PM at 11-411 Confederation Pkwy, 2nd floor, with parking on site.
If you'd like a plan set just for you, look at personal training in Vaughan. We also offer one on one training focused on balance and strength.
Try the $30 seven day trial (+ HST). Join by day 5 and your $30 is credited toward your membership. Call (289) 536-8066 or email g-squad@innerg.ca and book your first class this week.
References
- Berin, E., Hammar, M., Lindblom, H., Lindh-Åstrand, L., Rubér, M., & Spetz Holm, A. C. (2019). Resistance training for hot flushes in postmenopausal women: a randomised controlled trial. Maturitas, 126, 55-60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2019.05.005 | PubMed
- Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology. (n.d.). Canadian 24 Hour Movement Guidelines (official title shortened). https://csepguidelines.ca/guidelines/adults-18-64/
- Isenmann, E., Geisler, S., Havers, T., Siegert, F., Hemke, F., & Held, S. (2026). It's never too late: the impact of resistance training on strength and body composition in females across the lifespan: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 29(10), 1174-1185. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2026.03.002 | PubMed
- Juppi, H. K., Sipilä, S., Cronin, N. J., Karvinen, S., Karppinen, J. E., Tammelin, T. H., Aukee, P., Kovanen, V., Kujala, U. M., & Laakkonen, E. K. (2020). Role of menopausal transition and physical activity in loss of lean and muscle mass: a follow-up study in middle-aged Finnish women. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9(5), 1588. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm9051588 | PubMed | PMC
- Liu, T., Chen, S., Mielke, G. I., McCarthy, A. L., & Bailey, T. G. (2022). Effects of exercise on vasomotor symptoms in menopausal women: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Climacteric, 25(6), 552-561. https://doi.org/10.1080/13697137.2022.2097865 | PubMed
- Ross, R., Chaput, J. P., Giangregorio, L. M., Janssen, I., Saunders, T. J., Kho, M. E., Poitras, V. J., Tomasone, J. R., El-Kotob, R., McLaughlin, E. C., Duggan, M., Carrier, J., Carson, V., Chastin, S. F., Latimer-Cheung, A. E., Chulak-Bozzer, T., Faulkner, G., Flood, S. M., Gazendam, M. K., ... Tremblay, M. S. (2020). Canadian 24-Hour Movement Guidelines: an integration of physical activity, sedentary behaviour, and sleep (official title shortened). Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism, 45(10 Suppl. 2), S57-S102. https://doi.org/10.1139/apnm-2020-0467 | PubMed
- Sá, K. M. M., da Silva, G. R., Martins, U. K., Colovati, M. E. S., Crizol, G. R., Riera, R., Pacheco, R. L., & Martimbianco, A. L. C. (2023). Resistance training for postmenopausal women: systematic review and meta-analysis. Menopause, 30(1), 108-116. https://doi.org/10.1097/GME.0000000000002079 | PubMed
- Thorell, S., West, J., Lindblom, H., Hammar, M., Borga, M., & Spetz Holm, A. C. (2026). Effects of resistance training on postmenopausal women's muscle strength, muscle volume and muscle fat infiltration: a secondary analysis of a randomised controlled trial. Maturitas, 207, 108856. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.maturitas.2026.108856 | PubMed