The onset of menopause can feel like you’re losing control of your body. The combination of mood swings, hot flashes, weight gain, and loss of sleep are enough to throw you off your game, leaving you overwhelmed and uncertain about how to manage it all. Fortunately, there is a powerful counter to the effects of menopause that can help ease its symptoms, allowing you to regain control of your body and remain strong and confident.

That counter is exercise.

Adding the right exercises to your daily routine can be a menopause game-changer, allowing you to navigate this life transition with grace and strength. This article explains how exercise can help you fight the symptoms of menopause and lays out some sample workouts to get you started.

Understanding Menopause and Its Effects on the Body

Menopause usually begins when a woman is in her late 40s or early 50s. It signals the end of her reproductive years. It is preceded by a transition phase known as perimenopause, during which the levels of hormones like estrogen and progesterone begin to decline.

The most common symptoms of menopause are:

1. Hot Flashes and Night Sweats
2. Weight Gain
3. Mood Swings
4. Fatigue and Low Energy
5. Joint Pain and Stiffness
6. Loss of Bone Density

These changes are driven by hormonal fluctuations that slow the metabolism, making it easier to gain weight and harder to lose it. Lower estrogen levels also make it more difficult to maintain muscle mass, leading to a loss of strength and endurance.

Estrogen helps your bones absorb calcium, so lower levels can negatively affect bone density. Changes in cholesterol levels, blood pressure, and fat distribution may also increase the risk of heart disease.

The Benefits of Exercise for Menopause Symptoms

Regular exercise helps to counter many of the symptoms of menopause. Let’s drill down on how working out will improve your physical and mental well-being, helping you manage weight, reduce hot flashes, strengthen bones, and stabilize your mood during this transition:

1. Improving Mood and Reducing Anxiety

The fluctuating hormone levels that menopause brings on can lead to emotional problems, including irritability, anxiety, and depression. Aerobic exercises like walking, dancing, or cycling trigger the release of brain chemicals known as endorphins that improve mood and reduce stress.

2. Managing Weight Gain

During menopause, your metabolism slows down, making you more likely to gain weight. The extra fat tends to accumulate around the abdomen. Regular workouts burn off those excess calories while also strengthening and toning your muscles. As a result, your metabolism will increase, so that you are burning more calories, even at rest.

The best forms of exercise for weight control are cardiovascular activities such as swimming, jogging, and cycling.

3. Boosting Bone Density

Weight-bearing exercises, such as weight training, walking, and running, place stress on your bones as your muscles pull on them. This causes an adaptive response, strengthening the bones and making them denser.

4. Enhancing Sleep Quality

You are likely to experience sleep disturbances during menopause. Regular exercise promotes a healthy sleep pattern. Activities like yoga and gentle stretching before bed can also help calm the mind and body, making it easier to get to sleep.

5. Reducing Hot Flashes

Regular exercise helps regulate the body’s temperature control systems, which may reduce the frequency and severity of hot flashes. Exercise's previously mentioned ability to reduce stress and improve mood also helps to offset the intensity of hot flashes.

Types of Exercises to Combat Menopause Symptoms

The most effective workouts to combat the symptoms of menopause will incorporate a variety of exercise types. Here’s what should be included:

Cardiovascular Exercise

Cardio workouts that get you puffing will help to manage weight gain, boost your heart health, and increase your energy levels.

Steady-state cardio involves performing aerobic exercise at a moderate pace for a sustained period of time. With this type of exercise, you should be able to converse with some difficulty.

Steady-state cardio includes walking, jogging, swimming, cycling, and dancing. Walking, swimming, and cycling are low-impact options for people with joint issues.

Strength Training

The reduced levels of estrogen that come with menopause lead to an elevated risk of muscle and strength loss. Strength training counters these effects by preserving and building muscle mass. Because muscle is very energy-dense, you will also boost your metabolism through strength training.

Strength training may involve bodyweight exercises such as push-ups, air squats, lunges, and planks. Resistance bands offer a cost-effective form of resistance training that you can do at home. Weight lifting with barbells, dumbbells, cable machines, or kettlebells will also help you maintain muscle, boost your metabolism, and increase bone density.

Flexibility and Balance Exercises

Joint stiffness and balance issues are common during menopause. Flexibility exercises promote joint health and stretch the muscles, while balance training increases stability.

Here are some examples of balance and flexibility exercises:

1. Yoga
2. Tai Chi
3. Stretching Routines
4. Pilates

High-Intensity Interval Training (HIIT)

HIIT workouts involve short bursts of intense work interspersed with brief rest periods. These short, sharp workouts are a great way to burn fat, rev up the metabolism, and improve aerobic fitness.

The original HIIT protocol, known as Tabata, involves 20 seconds of all-out sprinting, followed by a 10-second rest. This pattern is repeated eight times. The original Tabata program was performed on an exercise bike, but it can also be done on the treadmill or while sprinting on the track.

Circuit training is another form of HIIT workout in which you perform a series of bodyweight exercises like push-ups, squats, burpees, and jumping jacks in quick succession. Once you complete a round, rest for up to two minutes and then go through the circuit again.

Mind-Body Exercises

Mind-body exercises help manage the emotional symptoms of menopause, including anxiety, mood swings, and impaired sleep. One such exercise is Pilates, which is great for improving flexibility and core strength. Pilates emphasizes controlled breathing to reduce stress and improve mental clarity.

Meditation, combined with gentle movements such as yoga, can also help relieve stress and promote mental calmness.

Creating A Menopause-Friendly Exercise Routine

Your menopause-fighting exercise plan needs to balance intensity, variety, and frequency. Let’s break each factor down:

Frequency

Managing menopause systems through exercise requires consistency. You should aim for a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio exercise or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise each week. In addition, you should be doing strength training workouts 2-3 times per week.

Each cardio session should last for 30-45 minutes. Strength training workouts should be 20-30 minutes long. Dedicate 10-15 minutes daily to stretching, yoga or balance training.

Intensity

The intensity you bring to your workouts should align with your experience level. If you are new to exercise, begin with shorter, low-intensity sessions where you concentrate on perfecting your exercise technique and recovery. Your goal at this stage is to establish a sustainable routine that is consistently achievable. You don’t want to overexert yourself or risk injury.

If menopause is causing you joint stiffness or pain, opt for low-impact cardio that is joint-friendly. These include walking, cycling, swimming, and Pilates.

As you progress through your workouts, you should aim to increase the intensity of your sessions. This can be achieved by:

1. Reducing rest between sets
2. Performing more rounds or circuits when doing HIIT
3. Increasing the duration of your cardio workout
4. Increasing the incline or elevation that you are working on
5. Performing more repetitions
6. Increasing the resistance

Variety

A well-rounded menopause-fighting exercise program should include the following forms of exercise:

1. Cardio
2. Strength Training
3. Flexibility and Balance Training

Here’s a sample training schedule that covers all three types of exercise:

Sample Workout Program:

Strength Training - Upper Body (Day 1)

1. Push-Ups (3 sets x 10-12 reps)
2. Dumbbell Chest Press (3 sets of 10-12 reps)
3. Dumbbell Rows (3 sets of 10-12 reps)
4. Overhead Shoulder Press (3 sets x 8-10 reps)
5. Bicep Curls (3 sets x 10-12 reps)
6. Triceps Pushdowns (3 sets of 12-15 reps)

Strength Training - Lower Body (Day 3)

1. Squats (3 sets x 12-15 reps)
2. Lunges (3 sets x 10 reps per leg)
3. Glute Bridges (3 sets x 12-15 reps)
4. Seated Leg Curls (3 sets of 12-15 reps)
5. Calf Raises (3 sets x 15-20 reps)

Strength Training - Full Body Circuit (Day 5)

1. Bodyweight Squats (30 seconds)
2. Push-Ups (30 seconds)
3. Mountain Climbers (30 seconds)
4. Plank Hold (30 seconds)
5. Burpees (30 seconds)

Repeat the circuit 3-4 times with 1-2 minutes of rest between rounds.

Cardio HIIT (Day 6)

1. Jumping Jacks (20 seconds)
2. Rest (10 seconds)
3. High Knees (20 seconds)
4. Rest (10 seconds)
5. Burpees (20 seconds)
6. Rest (10 seconds)
7. Sprints (20 seconds)

Repeat for four rounds, resting for 1 minute between rounds.

Flexibility Routine (Daily)

1. Cat-Cow Stretch (1 minute)
2. Child’s Pose (1 minute)
3. Standing Quad Stretch (30 seconds per leg)
4. Hamstring Stretch (1 minute)