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Journalism of Courage
Dimple Minocha, an entrepreneur, has rediscovered not only fitness but herself at 67. Always drawn to an active life, her younger years were filled with the thrill of tennis and the fast pace of squash. In her 40s, she traded rackets for clubs, finding a new passion on the golf course. The familiar aches and creaks of the late 50s, particularly in the knees, started to set in. She thought that she was wilting with age. But it was during a visit to her daughter in Hyderabad, who enrolled her in a neighbourhood gym, that she regained her lost energy and strength bit by bit.
“What I rationalised as age-related weakness was my biggest mistake. I didn’t realise that my muscles were wasting away and that I could strengthen and build them back again by lifting a few weights. My aches and pains, and even those weak knees, have vanished. I feel strong, alive and genuinely believe I’m fitter than some of my younger friends. Strength training has transformed me completely,” she says. This is a form of exercise that uses resistance to build muscle strength and endurance. This resistance can come from weights, machines, bands, or even your own body weight. The goal is to challenge your muscles, causing them to adapt and become stronger.
Minocha and other women over 45 now follow their trainer Shona Singh who is a certified menopause coach, a crossfit trainer and a competitive golfer, at her fitness studio in Chandigarh. Realising that she could only train at 3 pm, the so-called “women’s hour”, in a gym and that most workouts were designed for men, she decided to set up a woman-friendly facility. “As a woman’s hormones change with menopause, so must her diet and physical activity. To adapt to this inevitable change, women need to completely change the way they train and fuel their bodies, focus on quality of training over volume, learn what to eat and when to eat,” says Singh.
With hormonal shifts during menopause, fasted training may not be beneficial for women. In fact, it can exacerbate stress in the body, potentially impacting stress hormones like cortisol and leading to muscle breakdown. Training without adequate fuel can lead to decreased performance, potentially hindering progress and increasing the risk of injury, particularly during high-intensity workouts. Women are more susceptible to low energy, which can negatively affect reproductive and thyroid hormones. “The recovery window post workout is shorter for women who need to eat within 30 minutes of exercising as opposed to men who can wait up to three hours. Women have high levels of cortisol after a tough workout and the body quickly eats into its muscle stores and breaks down tissues,” says Singh.
This is also the time when women need to watch the proteins in their diet, spreading them across three meals so that they can regain muscle mass.
During menopause, says Dr Balvinder Kaur Ghai, obstetrician and gynaecologist at Livasa Hospital, Mohali, hormonal changes can accelerate muscle loss and bone thinning, making women more vulnerable to weakness, fractures and functional decline. “Regular strength training, at least twice or thrice a week, not only helps preserve muscle mass and improve bone density but also boosts mood, reduces stress and supports weight management. Pairing this with a nutrient-rich diet high in calcium, vitamin D and protein can make a significant difference in energy, resilience and overall quality of life during this transition,” she says.
For 51-year-old Priti Teja, an educator, what started as an exposure to strength training turned into something so much deeper. “I wasn’t chasing a number on the scale anymore. I was chasing something real, my strength, when I felt my body rising to the challenge, rep after rep, week after week. It felt amazing. My knees, which used to ache, have started to feel strong. My energy improved, and though I didn’t lose belly fat, I am motivated to keep going, not for aesthetics or approval, but because I want to be independent when I am older.”
Neetu Katyal, 50, a fine art photographer, has been doing both strength training and mobility exercises for a couple of years. “I have gone through menopause but I feel stronger, mobile and am much more in control of my health,” she says.
Traditional training methods are not adequate for improving bone, muscle or body composition as we near the menopausal years. Flatlining hormones increase body inflammation, decrease sensitivity to insulin and cause bone density loss. Furthermore, a decrease in lipid removal rate blunts the brain signalling to utilise body fat. “Yet there is no change in the amount of body fat being stored, which is the main reason for increasing body fat that suddenly seems to accumulate around the belly and hips. These flatlining hormones also affect strength and lean muscle mass, while a decrease in estrogen impairs muscle regeneration, leading to loss of force regeneration. Therefore, during menopause transition and beyond, the body requires external stress that will cause positive adaptations. The types of training that are most effective focus on strength and power, low reps with heavy weights to improve neuromuscular integrity and bone density,” says Dr Ghai.
Research on active perimenopausal women shows that high levels of aerobic activity fail to create meaningful changes in lean body mass. On the contrary, lifting for strength during perimenopause and menopause has immense neuromuscular and cardiovascular benefits. “I have worked with people who say they feel like their sleeping muscles have been awakened. They begin to feel stronger and more confident in day-to-day activities, their posture, stability and gait improve and their reflexes become sharper,” explains Dr Ghai.
Natasha Gill, now 58, a banker, who was obsessed with tennis, running, squash, and basketball, slowed down in her 40s when she developed knee pain. The demands of a corporate career and being a caregiver to her parents left her with little time for yoga, walks or an occasional swim. With menopause, those extra two kilos around the middle showed up. “I began eating clean, took up Pilates classes and swimming. But nothing changed. With strength training, I can do push-ups, lift the heaviest suitcase on and off planes and I can do heavy gardening work. I feel anything is possible,” says Gill.
The moment women shift their mindset and start training for strength instead of just weight loss, their body starts working for them again.
