Understanding Hormone Health and How to Train for Energy

Hormones influence nearly every system in the body — from metabolism and mood to sleep, muscle mass, and energy levels. For women entering perimenopause and menopause, hormonal shifts can feel sudden, confusing, and frustrating. Workouts that once felt empowering may suddenly feel draining. Energy dips can become more common. Recovery may take longer.

The good news? Exercise is still one of the most powerful tools for supporting hormonal health, but it needs to be approached differently than before. Understanding what’s happening inside the body (and working with a knowledgeable personal trainer) can help women train in ways that restore energy instead of depleting it.

Perimenopause: The Transition Years

Perimenopause can begin in your 40s (sometimes earlier) and may last several years before menopause officially occurs. During this time, estrogen and progesterone levels fluctuate unpredictably. Rather than a steady decline, hormones rise and fall in uneven patterns.

Common symptoms include:

• Irregular cycles
• Sleep disruption
• Mood changes
• Brain fog
• Increased belly fat
• Reduced stress tolerance
• Energy crashes

Many women describe feeling like their body no longer responds the way it used to. That’s because hormonally, it doesn’t.

Estrogen plays a role in insulin sensitivity, muscle repair, inflammation regulation, and even serotonin production. When estrogen becomes inconsistent, energy levels can feel inconsistent too. Some days feel normal, while other days feel like you’re running through mud. This unpredictability is often what makes traditional workout plans frustrating during perimenopause.

Menopause: A New Hormonal Baseline

Menopause is officially diagnosed after 12 consecutive months without a menstrual cycle. Estrogen and progesterone levels settle into a lower, more stable state.

With this shift, women may notice:

• Decreased muscle mass
• Increased fat storage (especially abdominal)
• Reduced bone density
• Slower recovery from workouts
• Greater fatigue after high-intensity sessions

Lower estrogen affects how the body processes carbohydrates and how efficiently it builds and maintains lean muscle. Cortisol (the stress hormone) can also have a stronger impact, making intense training feel more taxing than it once did.

What worked in a woman’s 20s and 30s — back-to-back high-intensity workouts, fasted cardio, pushing through exhaustion — can now backfire. Now, instead of building energy, it drains it.

The Shift: Moving from “Burn More” to “Build Better”

For many women, fitness has long been centered around calorie burn and intensity. During perimenopause and menopause, however, the goal has to shift.

As hormones change with age, it’s important for women to work toward:

• Building and preserving lean muscle
• Supporting bone density
• Stabilizing blood sugar
• Managing stress
• Enhancing recovery
• Improving long-term energy

Developing and working towards these goals requires an intentional, personalized approach that can grow with you over time. This is where working with a personal trainer becomes especially valuable.

How a Personal Trainer Can Support Hormonal Health

A knowledgeable trainer understands that more intensity is not always better. Instead of pushing clients to exhaustion, they can design programs that support the body’s changing physiology. Let’s take a look at how your personal trainer can work with you to meet your body where it’s at, working with your hormones instead of fighting against them.

Prioritizing Strength Training

Strength training is one of the most powerful tools in this stage of life. It can help preserve and build muscle, support bone density, improve insulin sensitivity, and boost your resting metabolism.

Structured strength sessions a few times per week can help increase both your muscle mass and energy levels. When your muscle mass increases, the body becomes more metabolically efficient, which often translates into steadier daily energy. A trainer ensures proper form, progressive overload (a gradual, manageable increase in the volume, difficulty, and/or intensity of your training), and appropriate recovery time. Working with a personal trainer ensures proper form, progressive overload, and appropriate recovery time.

Managing Intensity Strategically

High-intensity workouts aren’t off-limits, but they need to be programmed thoughtfully. If you and your trainer agree that high-intensity workouts are a good fit for you, you’ll work together to take a specialized approach that prevents cortisol overload and protects you against burnout. Generally, it’s recommended that perimenopausal and menopausal women limit intense training sessions to one to two days per week, with an emphasis on active recovery days.

Monitoring Energy, Not Just Performance

Progress during perimenopause and menopause isn’t just measured by heavier lifts, faster mile times, or the number on the scale. Stress levels, sleep, and energy all matter, and your personal trainer will work with you to ensure that your training is positively impacting your life — not the other way around. If your energy is consistently low following your workouts, your trainer may need to work with you to adjust your program. Training should build resilience and boost energy, not create chronic fatigue.

Letting Go of the “Push Through” Mindset

One of the biggest mindset shifts during this phase of life is releasing the idea that exhaustion equals effectiveness. Fatigue after every workout is not a badge of honor. It’s often a sign that the body needs something new. After your workout, you should feel accomplished and strong. When workouts are properly aligned with your hormonal health needs, your energy should improve (both inside and outside of the gym).

The Big Picture: Strength for the Next Chapter

Perimenopause and menopause are not the end of vitality — when managed effectively, they mark a transition into new phases of strength. At Fitness Together, we understand what it takes to support you through all of life's changes, and your personal trainer will be with you every step of the way. With the right strength training strategy, you’ll be able to build lean muscle, protect bone density, stabilize your metabolism, and feel more confident in your body. Reach out to your local Fitness Together today to get started and learn more