Once upon a time, a little cardio, a few squats, and cutting calories got the job done. You felt good, your pants fit, and the scale played nice.
Now? You’re sweating through your sheets, not your workouts. You’re dragging after exercise instead of getting the rush. The same old workout? It’s ghosting you harder than your last Hinge match.
Welcome to midlife, where your hormones are calling the shots—and they’re demanding new rules.
Let’s talk about why your pre-menopause workouts may no longer serve you—and what to do about it. Spoiler: there’s a smart solution that takes just 30 minutes a day and kicks off with support you can access now.
1. Your Hormones Are Different Now
Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone—your original fitness besties—start to drop in midlife. These shifts impact three important things: how you build muscle, burn fat, and recover from workouts.
Old-school training often ignores this. Instead of helping, it may spike cortisol (your stress hormone BFF turned frenemy) and sabotage your results.
The truth is that even though it’s common to gain fat and have a harder time losing it during menopause, it’s not mandatory. Changing your exercise can have a profound effect on supporting your adrenals and cortisol levels, which is the easy way to break through a plateau (or avoid one).
2. You’re Exercising the Wrong Way for Fat Loss
More cardio is not more helpful—it’s often the opposite. Long, hard sessions raise cortisol (in a way that doesn’t rebound), break down muscle, and leave you feeling depleted.
Women in menopause need smarter, not longer, workouts that include strength, intervals, and the right kind of rest.
Even if you entered menopause fit and endurance-trained, you may have found yourself with some “exercise intolerance.” It’s actually a diagnosable term that occurs in some women during menopause. For some, it feels like asthma when they’ve never experienced it before. They’ll feel like they have no stamina for even distances that would have felt short and easy just recently.
Whether that’s you or you have a limited amount of time and energy to spend, you want to optimize it on exercise that increases your metabolism and not those that break down muscle and slow metabolism.
3. You’ve Been Conditioned to Do “More”… When You Should Do Less (Better)
Pushing harder used to get results. Now it just gets you sore, inflamed, and frustrated. Your recovery needs are different, and “listen to your body” isn’t just a cute Pinterest quote anymore—it’s required reading.
Estrogen receptors are everywhere in the body. With less estrogen in your system, you could be more prone to aches and pains and injuries if you just proceeded to exercise as if you were 20. Those injuries can also come from increased sitting and moving too infrequently, though.
Finding the “Goldilocks” not too little, not too much is the best way.
4. Your Muscle is Melting—Unless You Act Fast
If you’re not intentionally building lean muscle now, you’re losing it. And muscle is everything—from metabolism to mood, balance, bone density, and yes… a better butt.
But you don’t need hours. You need a strategy.
Anabolic resistance – that is, inability to gain muscle or even maintain it – is not just a thing for the “old.” It begins at 30 if we’re not consciously doing something about it. By 50 and 60, we’re dealing with a cumulative effect.
5. You’re Doing This Alone
Fitness during menopause requires expert guidance—ideally from someone who knows the science and understands the hot flash-fueled rollercoaster you’re on.
It’s not enough to follow influencers and try to determine if “science says” is just a term they loosely throw out or if they know peer-reviewed science and how to interpret studies.
Cue the Hot Not Bothered 10-Day Challenge—a genius reset designed by 40-year Strength & Conditioning Coach and Medical Exercise Specialist Debra Atkinson, who’s helped tens of thousands of women in menopause feel strong, sexy, and sane again.
So… Now What?
If your workouts leave you drained, confused, or plateaued, don’t guess your way through menopause. Join this 10-Day Hot Not Bothered Challenge from Flipping 50®—built exclusively for women in midlife and beyond.
Here’s the scoop:
10 days of workouts + “work-ins” (mindful movement that boosts results) Only 30 minutes a day Kick-off access starts May 14 Challenge runs June 1–10 Private Facebook group support Registration is just $69 Finish all 10 days, and that $69 gets credited toward your next step!
PLUS… a breakthrough session afterwards so that you know how to proceed on your own, or with a little help.
Let’s be honest—you’ve spent more than that on a pair of stretchy pants that never made you feel this good.
Final Word
If you’re ready to start, restart, or reset, this is it. No guesswork. No gimmicks. Just real movement that respects where you are and where you want to go.
Join the Hot Not Bothered 10-Day Challenge today and finally feel like your workouts are working for you, not against you. This opens May 14, 2025, with early access. The 10-Day challenge is June 1-10. You can participate from anywhere in the world. Doors for enrollment close May 31, 2025.
