Every article about menopause — including most of ours — says resistance training twice a week is the highest-value thing you can do. Almost none of them tell you what to actually do on the first day if you have never set foot in a gym and your body currently hurts. This is that missing page.
Where we stand: Menova is an independent publication. We sell no programs, equipment, or supplements. We are not your doctor, trainer, or physiotherapist, and this is general education, not medical or fitness advice. A couple of links below are Amazon affiliate links — Menova may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you.
Read this first if any of these apply
Talk to a clinician before starting if you have a heart condition, uncontrolled high blood pressure, osteoporosis or a fracture from a minor fall, significant joint problems, a hernia, retinal problems, or you have been inactive for a long time and are unsure.
Two specifics worth asking about: with osteoporosis, loaded forward-bending of the spine is usually avoided, so the exercises need adapting — ask rather than guess; see bone health in menopause. And if you leak urine with effort, that is common, treatable, and not a reason to avoid training — see pelvic floor and bladder changes.
Week one: the whole session is eight minutes
The most common failure is starting too hard, being unable to move for four days, and never going back. So the first week is deliberately, almost insultingly easy. That is the point — you are establishing that this happens, not achieving anything.
Two sessions this week. Each is these four movements, one set each:
- Sit-to-stand. Sit on a dining chair, stand up, sit down with control. 8 repetitions. Use your hands on your thighs if you need to
- Wall push-up. Hands on a wall at shoulder height, step back a little, lower your chest toward the wall, push away. 8 repetitions
- Hip hinge. Stand with feet hip-width, hands on hips, push your bottom backward while keeping your back flat, until you feel a stretch in the backs of your thighs. Stand up. 8 repetitions
- Standing march. Hold a counter, lift one knee to hip height, then the other. 10 each side
That is it. Eight minutes, no equipment. If it felt easy, good — do not add anything this week.
Weeks two to four: add one thing at a time
- Week 2: two sets of each instead of one
- Week 3: add a carry — pick up two shopping bags or water bottles, walk 20 metres, put them down. Twice
- Week 4: move the wall push-up to a kitchen counter (harder), and add heel raises — stand, rise onto your toes, lower slowly. 12 repetitions
You should finish each session feeling you could have done a bit more. That is the correct level for months, not a beginner's phase to rush through.
When to add weight
Once two sets of everything feels comfortable — usually around week four to six — add resistance. Options in ascending order of cost:
- Household objects. A 2-litre bottle of water is 2kg. A full backpack works for carries and squats
- Resistance bands — inexpensive, joint-friendly, and they travel
- A pair of adjustable dumbbells — covers years of training in a cupboard
How heavy? Heavy enough that the last two repetitions of a set of eight to twelve are genuinely hard, while your form stays the same. If you could do twenty, it is too light — and light weights for high repetitions is the most common way midlife women end up training for a year without much changing.
Progression: the whole method in one line
Write down what you did, and beat it slightly next time. More repetitions, a bit more weight, or a harder variation — one change at a time.
Without a record you cannot progress deliberately, and progression is the entire mechanism. A note on your phone is enough. This is the single habit that separates people who get stronger from people who exercise.
Go slower than you want with load increases. Tendons adapt more slowly than muscles, and the classic midlife injury comes from adding too much too fast or returning after a break at the level you left; see why you keep getting injured in midlife.
What to expect, honestly
- Weeks 1–2: some muscle soreness a day or two after. Normal. Sharp pain during a movement is not — stop and reassess
- Weeks 3–6: everyday things start feeling easier before anything looks different. Stairs, shopping bags, getting off the floor
- Weeks 8–12: measurable strength change. Take a photograph and a waist measurement on day one, because the scale will not show what is happening; see menopause belly fat
- Months 3–6: this is where the bone, metabolic and mood benefits accrue. It is a long game, and the return keeps coming
Eat enough, or you are doing the work and skipping the payment
Protein requirements rise with age, and most women fall short at breakfast specifically. Training without adequate protein and calories builds much less than it should — and severe restriction alongside training actively costs you muscle. See eating for menopause.
The obstacles that actually stop people
- Hot flashes while exercising. Train in a cooler room or at a cooler time, and dress in layers; see hot flash triggers and relief
- Exhaustion. If you are too tired to train, get ferritin and thyroid checked before concluding you are unfit; see low ferritin in perimenopause
- Broken sleep, which blunts the adaptation you are training for; see perimenopause sleep problems
- Joint pain, which usually improves with loading rather than rest — but morning stiffness over an hour or visible swelling points elsewhere; see menopause joint pain
- Feeling self-conscious. Doing this at home for the first three months is a completely legitimate route, and it removes the obstacle entirely
- A delayed crash after exertion. If effort reliably wipes you out for a day or more, this programme is not right for you as written — see fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue
Worth spending money on once
A session or two with a qualified trainer or physiotherapist to check your form. Not a package — one or two sessions. It is the cheapest insurance available for a decade of training, and it is particularly worth it if you have any joint or back history.
The reframe
You are not training to lose weight or to look a particular way. You are training so that at 75 you can carry your own shopping, get off the floor unaided, and survive a fall without a fracture. That goal responds to eight minutes twice a week, starting this week, far more than to an ambitious plan starting Monday.
If fatigue or aches are what has stopped you before, those are worth mapping rather than pushing through — the free 2-minute Menova self-check turns them into a printable summary, and the free visit prep sheet gives you a page for the lab requests above. No account, not a diagnosis, and your answers never leave your device.
This article is general education, not medical or fitness advice for your situation. If you have any health condition or have been inactive, talk with a licensed clinician before starting, and stop and seek advice for chest pain, severe breathlessness, dizziness, or sharp joint pain.
Sources: Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans, Bone Health & Osteoporosis Foundation — Safe Movement, The Menopause Society, and NHS — Strength Exercises.