How to Build Muscle for Women Over 35

Muscle Is An Investment in Your Health Bank

Are you a woman over 35 wanting to optimize your training and nutrition to be stronger, leaner and have better overall health?

I’ve got you! Keep reading for some golden nuggets on female specific training, nutrition, and lifestyle tips based on your hormonal changes.

When you reach perimenopause and menopause, you experience a gradual decline in estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. These hormones affect everything from memory, mood, energy, sleep, libido to body composition. They help us manage stress, balance blood sugar, maintain and gain muscle mass, maintain bone density and more. When these hormones decrease in perimenopause/menopause, we may have to tweak how we eat and move to work with these shifts, rather than against them.

As a result of estrogen, progesterone and testosterone declining, we are more sensitive to stress aka cortisol (associated with belly fat storage), and less sensitive to insulin. This results in a larger blood sugar rollercoaster, think energy swings.

We can manage this by reducing/coping with stress in better ways: restorative activities like meditation, breath work, gentle walks, yin yoga, stretching, talking with friends, sauna, massage, and adequate sleep.

And becoming more insulin sensitive through things like: heavy weight lifting, eating protein with carbs aka no naked carbs, eating sufficient protein to maintain or even gain muscle, getting enough fibre, limiting/cutting alcohol and limiting caffeine.

When we exercise (all kinds), the body releases cortisol, and adrenaline/noradrenaline to help us mobilize. When we strength train the body also:

-releases testosterone, which helps build muscle, is fat burning, and libido enhancing

– releases human growth hormone (HGH), which has anti-aging benefits, and well as assists in muscle building

-increases insulin sensitivity aka makes us more metabolically flexible

To limit excessive cortisol being produced from exercise, and to optimize the release of testosterone and HGH, the most effective type of training is weight training. Workouts should be kept to one hour or less, as above this time, cortisol continues to be produced, as the body undergoes stress and fatigue, however testosterone and HGH are maxed out. To optimize testosterone and HGH production, lifting to near failure aka 1-3 reps in reserve (RIR) is key. This means lifting heavy enough that you could probably squeak out a couple more reps, but they would be sloppy and slow.

Muscle mass is your metabolic power house, and the more of it you have, the more calories you burn at rest. This makes you more metabolically flexible to manage things like days off, and indulging without derailing your progress. While cardiovascular exercise is important for weight loss and overall health (I am the daughter of a Cardiologist), strength training is necessary to alter body composition.

Even if your goal is to lose weight, you should focus on gaining muscle, so that your metabolism works more efficiently. Over time, as you add muscle, it will become easier to release fat.

Weight training has a myriad of benefits including: helps to increase bone density, improve joint health, increase stability, athleticism, and enhance body image through a more toned appearance. In order to build muscle, you must eat at maintenance or even surplus by focusing on protein and complex carbohydrates.

If you focus on eating enough protein (1g/lb of body weight, aim for min 30 grams/meal)), drinking 2-4 Litres of water/day, calories will take care of themselves.

I do not count calories, macros or weigh myself. After protein, focus on fibrous foods like vegetables, fruits, complex carbohydrates, limit or cut alcohol, and limit highly processed foods. Getting sufficient sleep, min 7 hours/night, is crucial for regulating blood sugar, and reducing cravings caused by the production of grehlin, the hunger hormone.

“Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you’ll land amoung the stars”. “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good”.

Although you can’t spot reduce fat, aka the back of your arms, you can spot build muscle, aka triceps resulting in a more toned appearance.

In order to build muscle, hypertrophy, there are some common principles:

Specificity: you must train the muscles you want to grow
Volume: usually 6-12 reps per set, 3-6 sets per workout
Overload: weight must be sufficiently heavy to stimulate adaptation aka break down and repair stronger
Tempo: moving slower in a controlled manner recruits more muscle fibres
Working to Near Failure: 1-3 reps in reserve (RIR)
Recovery: working major muscle groups min 2x/week

Balance heavy weight training workouts (70-80% of your weekly exercise) with more restorative movement like walks. Increase Non Exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT) i.e take stairs, park further away etc.

My grandfather who lived to 103, said the secret to a long life is to eat dessert and take the stairs!

If it’s beautiful where you live and you want to do more outdoor cardio, by all means go biking, hiking, and running. Just ensure to get in a couple weight training workouts/week.

Note: if you attend group classes that move through many exercises very quickly, you won’t have time for enough overload to build muscle in the same way as doing slower, heavier workouts. This also applies to combo movements using the same weight for upper and lower body. Your legs are only challenged by the weight your arms can lift. I am a huge fan of full body superset workouts, doing lower body/upper body mains, supplementals, accessories and core during each workout.

If you’re a woman over 35 and want to optimize your training and lifestyle habits to feel more vibrant, confident and empowered, while simultaneously improving your strength and metabolic health, reach out, I’m here to support you on this journey!

We get to do this together!

Megan