Menopause Training Myths

By Lilly Witten

If you spend any time on social media in your 40s or 50s, your feed has probably been taken over by doctors, researchers, trainers, and wellness influencers all telling you exactly how to eat and exercise during menopause. It’s a lot. And much of it is contradictory.

Here’s the thing: some of that advice is genuinely useful. But a surprising amount of it is overstated, oversimplified, or missing the bigger picture of what actually works. Following it can leave you working harder than you need to with less to show for it.

So let’s set the record straight on five of the most common menopause training myths circulating online right now — and what to focus on instead.

What’s Fact and What’s Not

Myth: Walking with a weighted vest is a game-changer for bone density and fat loss

Reality: Unfortunately, this one might just be more marketing than science. There’s limited evidence that walking with a weighted vest is beneficial for bone, muscle, or fat loss. Weighted vests can be used for resistance training with exercises like squats and lunges, but as with all weight training, progressive loading matters, meaning you’ll need to add weight to the vest over time.

Because all exercise is good exercise, however, if your weighted vest helps add intensity to your walks or you just like to walk with it on, go forth. The added intensity will support your cardiovascular fitness.

Myth: You shouldn’t train while in a fasted state.

Reality: Being fasted means you haven’t eaten for about 12 hours. If you’re a morning exerciser, eating before a workout might not be possible or even desirable. The truth is, it doesn’t much matter either way. 

Research consistently shows that gains in strength and body composition occur whether you eat before or after your workout. So long as you’re eating enough throughout the day, consistency matters more than timing. Do what works best for you.

---

---

Myth: For better bone health, you must jump.

Reality: If you’ve spent any time in fitness spaces lately, you’ve probably heard that jumping is critical to improving bone health. (And if the song “Jump” by Van Halen immediately comes to mind, you may indeed be the target demo.) The idea is that jumping helps strengthen bones and ward off osteoporosis — and it’s not entirely wrong.

However, if you already have bone density issues, jumping may not be the safest option. And if you simply can’t work it into your routine, here’s the good news: you don’t need to jump to build bone strength.

Working on your bone density doesn’t need to be complicated. Strength training places tension on the bone, which is what helps it get stronger and denser. We know this thanks to the LIFTMOR trial, which followed 101 women over age 55 with low bone mass. Participants were divided into two groups: one completed eight months of twice-weekly, 30-minute supervised sessions of high-intensity resistance training, performing 5 sets of 5 reps at over 85% of their one-rep max; the other followed a home-based, low-intensity exercise program. The result? The heavy-lifting group saw meaningful increases in bone mass. No jumping, just lifting.

Myth: You must lift heavy weights that cause you to reach failure within 4 to 6 reps.

Reality: The LIFTMOR study highlights the benefits of heavy lifting — but that doesn’t mean it’s the only path. When it comes to weight intensity, light, moderate, and heavy are relative terms that mean how many reps it takes you to approach failure with a given weight. Four to six reps to failure is considered heavy; eight to fifteen reps, moderate; fifteen or more, light.

All of these intensities will increase strength, build muscle, and improve bone density — as long as you’re training close to muscle failure.

In other words, it’s not about lifting the heaviest weight possible; it’s about challenging your muscles in a way you can sustain. 

Myth: Sprint training is required to maintain mobility. 

Reality: Sprinting is just one example of power training — strength expressed quickly. (Think standing from a sitting position, climbing stairs, and catching yourself from a trip.) And it turns out that muscle power is a strong predictor of how long we live, according to the CLINIMEX Exercise cohort study, which followed nearly 3,900 individuals between the ages of 46 and 75 for 21 years.

What’s more, muscle power can keep us active into old age, as found by the InCHIANTI study. The research followed 934 participants aged 65 and older, measuring grip strength, knee extension strength, and lower-extremity power every three years. Researchers found that adults with very low leg power were much more likely to lose the ability to move over time, with women being three times more likely to develop new mobility disabilities, such as difficulty walking or climbing stairs.

You can power up your muscles simply by moving quickly. Yes, that can include sprinting — either on a bike or on your feet — but it can also mean standing from a sitting position as fast as you can, doing kettlebell exercises, jumping rope or jumping in place, or climbing stairs. Power training is about moving with intent, not necessarily moving fast.

Train For What Matters

Menopause doesn’t require a complete overhaul of how you train, but it does ask for a shift in focus.

Instead of chasing extremes or trying to follow every new trend, the most effective approach is surprisingly simple: build strength, move with intention, and stay consistent.

You don’t need to jump if it doesn’t feel right. You don’t need to sprint if it’s not accessible. You don’t need to train fasted—or not. And you don’t need to lift the heaviest weight in the room to see results.

What matters most is finding a way of training that you can stick with—one that supports your body, builds confidence, and helps you stay strong for life.

Because the goal isn’t to train perfectly. It’s to keep showing up.

---

---