Hiring a personal trainer for women over 45 needs to be done thinking about the specific needs of this stage of life. If you’ve ever walked into a gym and been approached by a young, possibly male trainer who just hands you a workout plan with sets and reps, most likely this is a universal plan being used for most people who walk into the gym. The truth is, most trainers today don’t understand the menopausal woman.
Whether you’re perimenopausal or post-menopausal, our physiological needs are different. We can certainly — and are meant to — lift weights, do cardiovascular training, mobility, and all forms of exercise. But we need to take into account where our body is at this stage in life.
I work specifically with women in their post-reproductive years, meaning they have gone through that stage of life where the focus is childbirth, child-rearing, and so on. And I see this over and over again: women who are smart and capable are just handed an exercise programme, they trust it and follow it, and yet they’re not getting the results they were promised or hoping for. It’s not their fault. It’s simply that we need a different plan today than we did in our 20s, 30s, and 40s. There is a real reason you’re gaining weight after 40.
So today, I’m going to walk you through five things women over 45 need to know before hiring a personal trainer — and help you understand why most fitness advice stops working after menopause.
1. Our Hormones Have Changed
We are not the same person we were in our 20s, 30s, or even early 40s. We are on the other side, which means we have gone through hormone fluctuation and quite literally gone off a cliff. Estrogen, progesterone, and most likely testosterone and other hormones in our body have dropped significantly.
This means we need more recovery — recovery from workouts, recovery between sets, recovery from one exercise to the next. Think of it as a micro plan: day-to-day, then weekly, then monthly, then annually. How are we organising our training to maximise what we need at this stage in life?
Our metabolism is also changing. We may not feel as naturally motivated to move as much, which slows things down. Our bodies become less efficient at burning calories and using energy. Energy output and energy input matter a lot more now, and our training really just needs to change to reflect that.
2. More Cardio and Less Food Backfires
This is something I hear a lot, and the research backs it up: cutting food and exercising more does not work for us at this stage. When we reduce energy coming in — meaning calories and food — our energy output also decreases. This is where metabolism comes in. It doesn’t work, and it only slows metabolism, increases muscle loss, and raises stress on the body.
This is also where women really struggle with visceral fat. We can actually end up gaining more fat around the belly at this stage, due to blood sugar dysregulation and insulin resistance. This is why so many women choose to go on GLP-1 medications — and while that is one option, it is not the only way.
GLP-1s work partly by slowing gut motility, meaning you feel less hungry. But we can achieve similar outcomes through food choices and the right workouts, helping your body become more insulin sensitive and more efficient at burning fat for fuel.
3. Strength Training Is Non-Negotiable
Strength training is foundational. Muscle loss happens to everyone, and even if you’re already strength training, we need to make sure we’re doing it effectively and efficiently for this time in our life.
High-intensity workouts like Orange Theory and similar classes may feel great, but they don’t necessarily promote muscle retention or gain — which is what we actually want. And to be clear, I’m not talking about gaining size. I’m talking about muscle.
Here’s a useful visual: a pound of muscle is roughly the size of your little finger. A pound of fat is the size of your fist — much bigger. So we want to burn fat and build muscle, because muscle takes up less space in the body and is the organ of longevity.
To do this, we need strength training with efficient, effective programming — a structure that supports metabolism and improves insulin sensitivity. It doesn’t have to mean lifting huge amounts of weight, especially when you’re starting out. You start where you are, but you start.
4. Your Nervous System Is a Key Player
Your nervous system truly drives results, and this is something many trainers overlook. If your nervous system is in a stressed state, your body will not respond to stimulus. Nothing will change.
A good trainer should be asking: How are you sleeping? What is your day-to-day stress load like? Are you doing anything to manage stress — breathwork, meditation, taking moments throughout the day to check in with yourself?
Most of us are chronically stuck in a sympathetic (fight-or-flight) state, when we want to be in a calm, parasympathetic state. When cortisol is consistently high, it drives fat to our middle. The body is essentially saying, “I need to store reserves,” because that’s how it creates a sense of safety. But most of us are not truly in danger — we just need to teach our bodies that we are okay.
This starts with how we talk to ourselves. How are we treating ourselves?
If you haven’t slept well for a few nights, you should not be going in for a V02 max workout, hill repeats, or a very heavy strength session. That will only compound the stress, reduce recovery, and leave your body running on reserves — and when you’re running on reserves, you store fat.
5. Personal Training Needs to Actually Be Personal
Personal training needs to be personalised — hence the word “personal.” It should not be random workouts or a generic plan written on a board that everyone does regardless of where they’re at. This principle is at the core of my menopause coaching program.
It has to be based on you and your bio-individuality. A good programme will build in progression: increasing your load over time, varying your workouts, improving your cardiovascular endurance, and adjusting based on how your body is responding. Everything should be rooted in your body and your physiology at this stage in life.
If your body isn’t responding, just know — it’s not you. It’s the approach.
Hopefully this gives you the information you need when you’re looking to hire a personal trainer. The right person will understand your hormones, your nervous system, your metabolism, and your individuality — and build a plan that actually works for the woman you are today.
