Episode 97: What's the Best Workout in Menopause?

Cardio? Weight training? Neither? Both? What's the most bang for your buck when it comes to workouts in menopause and, most importantly, why? Here's the answer.

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Transcript

 | Workouts Podcast Final Tue, Jul 22, 2025 4:46PM 10:27 SUMMARY KEYWORDS menopause exercise, weight training, cardio benefits, metabolism, lean muscle mass, bone density, cortisol control, nutrition, progressive overload, muscle growth, high intensity workouts, sustainable lifestyle, dopamine release, protein intake, health impact SPEAKERS Speaker 1 
 | S Speaker 1 00:00 Welcome back to the becoming mind strong podcast, and today we are talking about one of the most asked questions that I get. And if your social media feed is anything like mine, it makes sense why it's a burning question. And that's the conversation of what's the best exercise in menopause. Again, if your social media feed looks like mine, you might be in a place where you're like, Rachel, I am scared to take my dog for a walk because there is so much fear mongering around. Should I be doing cardio? Or shouldn't I if I lift weights, am I going to become big and bulky, or do I need to lift weights in menopause? So today we're going to dive deep. We're going to talk about what is the most bang for your buck when it comes to exercise in menopause. Check it out. So as you heard me say in the intro, I don't I don't know who came up with this, but for some reason, cardio has just become this topic of fear mongering in the world of menopause. So what I want to do today, and if you've listened my podcast, you know how I love to teach. I like to zoom out and look at big picture and then zoom in and get a little bit more hands in the dirt when it comes to getting your health in check, when it comes to healing your metabolism, getting it on absolute fire. Nutrition is 90% of this game. You will hear me shout it from the rooftops in probably every podcast episode I do, it is absolutely possible to heal your metabolism and get it on absolute fire with nutrition alone, and if we want to speed the process up, if we want to think bigger picture about overall health, and we'll talk more about what that means, then yes, exercise is fantastic. Now the statement I'm about to make is true for everyone, whether you're 18 years old, whether you're 88 years old, the most bang for your buck when it comes to exercise is weight training over cardio, that statement becomes even even more true in a menopausal body, and as we get deeper in the weeds, we'll talk about why. If you've listened to past episodes about this, you've heard me use this analogy, but it's my favorite one for this, cardio is like a checking account, right? Checking accounts are great. Most of us need a checking account, right? Or that it's our money. It's in there. We use it on a daily basis, fantastic. And the money doesn't really do much for us unless we're actively putting it in there. It just kind of sits there. It's our money. We earned it, we did the work to get it, and now it just sits there. That's what cardio is. When you're doing cardio, it's great. It's great for your health. It's great for your heart, it's great for your lungs. It's burning some calories. However, weight training, we're going to pretend that high interest savings accounts still exist. Weight training is like a high interest savings account, because the way the human 

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body works is that the more lean muscle mass we have on our body, the faster our metabolism runs. So think about a high interest savings account. Yes, you did the work. Yes, you earned that money, and you put it into that count, and the money keeps working for you. Whether you're currently at your desk or you're sitting at the pool drinking a margarita, right? Your money is working for you because of that interest, because weight training builds lean muscle mass, and because the more lean muscle mass we have on our body, the faster our metabolism runs when you have more lean muscle mass in your body, your body is better at burning calories. It's burning calories, of course, when you're in the gym and also when you're chilling out, because your your metabolism is running faster. That statement is true for every human when it comes to the most bang for your buck weight training over cardio does not mean don't do cardio. Does not mean don't do cardio. Cardio is great for your heart. It's great for your lungs. It's great for burning calories, but again, I'm talking about the most impact. Now let's step in a little bit more. When you are in a menopausal body, that statement becomes even more true. Menopause is a stage of life where the statistics are absolutely jaw dropping. When you look at the rate at which we lose bone density and muscle mass, it is alarming. And I don't say that to fear monger that is, don't shoot the messenger. That's biology. That's how we were designed. The two best ways to counteract that to make sure we're keeping our bones healthy and to make sure we're keeping our muscles strong, number one, getting enough protein in which most women are not. And number two, resistance training, weight training. So this statement of weight training is the most bang for your buck becomes even more true and even more important in a menopausal body. Now I want to dig a little bit deeper into cardio and a little bit deeper into weight training when it comes to cardio, and this is where I go back to the fear mongering thing, right? Like I've, I've heard women be like, is it okay to take a walk after dinner? Yes, go for a walk with your family. Take the dog for a walk. The thing we have to be careful about with cardio, specifically in a menopausal body, is this one of the biological changes that happens in menopause. And again, this is, this is human biology. This is how we how we were created, for better or worse, is that our estrogen naturally drops. One of estrogens main jobs is controlling cortisol. So when we start hitting this menopausal stage of life, our cortisol is naturally spiking again. That is biology, 101, our estrogen drops, our cortisol spikes. So one of the biggest names of the game in menopause is, how do I control my cortisol? Nutrition is a non negotiable. Nutrition is the number one way to get your cortisol in check. Now what we have to be careful about, especially in menopause, especially with cardio, is these high intensity boot camp type workouts when you're doing high intensity cardio. This is a cheesy analogy, 

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but it's my favorite one. If you've watched my 90 minute workshop, you've heard me use it before. Let's say you buy this big, fancy sports car, and you slam the gas pedal, pedal to the metal, but the car's on e do you think you're putting more or less stress on that car, right? The vast majority, not all of them, but I would not exact science, but I would estimate non exact stat, but I would estimate about 70% of the menopausal women that we work with, they're not eating more calories in their body needs. They're eating less calories. And I'm not going to go down that rabbit hole today. I've got lost lots of podcast episodes about why. We're going to talk way more about it in this season. But if you're already under fueling your body, because calories are our fuel. Cheesy as it is, it is true, right? It's what our our body burns for energy. If you're already under fueling your body, and now you're going to go do these hit workouts, these high intensity cardio workouts. You are slamming the gas pedal on that car. You are driving your cortisol levels higher and higher. And it is very hard, understatement of the year, very hard to lose weight in a body where your cortisol is is sky high. This is, again, another 

reason nutrition is king. In our world, we say nutrition is queen, and it doesn't mean don't go for a walk. It doesn't mean don't, you know, don't walk your dog. It just means be weary. Be wary of these high intensity boot camps, especially if you suspect that you're someone who's under eating now sometimes I say that, and people say, Rachel, I've been a runner for 20 years. I don't want to give that up. My answer is, don't give it up, right? This is all about creating a sustainable lifestyle and make sure your nutrition is in check so you're fueling your body the way that it needs, especially in this menopausal stage of life. Let's talk about weight training a bit. Now we've established that it is the most bang for our buck. It's how we speed up our metabolism by having more lean muscle mass. It's how we preserve bone density. It's how we build and preserve lean muscle mass, especially in a stage of life where we are rapidly losing it. What this does not mean is that you have to go become a professional bodybuilder. What this does not mean is that you have to go enter a powerlifting competition and spend six days a week, two hours a day in the gym. What it does mean is that it is in our best interest to do a bit of what we call progressive overload, meaning pushing our muscles to do what they can't yet do. Our muscles grow by necessity. So you know this whole marketing BS of low weight, high reps. There is no truth to that. There is zero truth. If you want to get sculpted, use low weight, high reps, if you want to get bulky, that are 00, truth to that. And I get passionate about that because I don't, I don't know who started this, but it is absolutely not true. Our muscles grow by necessity. Our muscles get stronger by necessity. So if you're picking up a two pound weight and it's too easy for you, it's too light, your muscles don't have to get stronger. They already know how to do that. But if you pick up a 10 pound weight and it's, you know, always with good form, but it's a little bit heavy for you, well, now your muscles are going to say, Wait a second. She's asking us to do something we can't yet do. We better adapt. We better grow. We better get stronger in order to accommodate. We call that progressive overload, pushing your muscles to do what you can't yet do again. What that does not mean is that you have to do this major life overhaul and suddenly become a bodybuilder. In fact, I zero out of a billion. Recommend that I have a podcast episode. If you haven't checked it out, go back and listen to it, called do the bare minimum. Most of us, when it comes to exercise, we try to, we try to do this major life overhaul, zero to 100 pushing a boulder up a hill. As humans, we are pleasure seeking creatures. We hate have tos and shoulds and must. It's never going to last long term. You're going to be sore. It's going to feel like this whole pressure, nutrition pun intended. It's another thing added to your plate, right? What we need to do is create a craving in our body, if, if you're someone who works out zero right? Now, let's set a goal. I'm going to do 115 minute workout this week, right? And then our human brain is going to kick in and say, what's that going to do? 115 minute work? It's not going to do anything. Absolutely it is. Because what it's going to do is, when you do that workout and you take a minute to celebrate yourself, your brain is going to release dopamine. And if you've listened to my podcast before, you hear me say all the time, we are just glorified dopamine addicts walking around looking for our next hit. So when you get that dopamine hit, you're going to naturally say, Wow, that feels really good. I wonder what else I can do? And then we add on a little more, and then we add on a little more, and it becomes a snowball rolling down a hill. What we don't have to do, and what I don't suggest you do is try to go zero to 100 that's why I love this concept of do the bare minimum, especially when it comes to workouts. But for the purposes of today's conversation, any exercise is good exercise. People say, How much should I exercise? My answers maybe a little bit more than you are right now, right? Get that's. Ball rolling down a hill. When it comes to bang for your buck, Nutrition has to be number one. It is 90% of this game from there, weight training over cardio is always the most bang for your buck does not mean cardio is bad. Cardio is great for you. Just be weary of these heart these hit workouts, high intensity workouts, especially if you're an under eater at the end of the day, Nutrition has to come first, which is why we harp on it so much, and we're going to talk way more about it in the episodes ahead. Yeah.