The truth about weight gain after 40, and the most effective way to fight back

By Natalie Rivier, RHN

Whether you’re used to doing Peloton workouts from home, HIIT workouts, bootcamps, training for marathons, or just want to be lean and strong in life, barbells are the most effective way to get full body strong, fast!  Barbells are the easiest way to load the body with a lot of weight to create the stimulus a woman’s body needs to burn fat and build muscle, especially when hormones such as estrogen and progesterone are on a precipitous decline.

Here’s why…

During a woman’s reproductive years, estrogen, or estradiol, the body’s most potent form of estrogen, has a dramatic impact on the development of lean muscle mass.  Once estrogen begins to drop and eventually flatline at menopause lifting heavy weights reproduces the same kind of stimulus on the muscle cells that estrogen once did.

Lifting heavy weights is the best way to burn fat because muscle is metabolically active tissue meaning it requires a lot of calories just to keep it alive.

Estrogen also helps take sugar (also known as glucose) that’s been broken down from carbohydrates consumed from your bloodstream into your muscle cells to be stored as energy.  As estrogen diminishes it becomes harder and harder for your body to get that sugar into your cells because dwindling estrogen leads to insulin resistance.  

To understand insulin resistance, imagine your cells have gates and estrogen holds the key to those gates.  Insulin, produced by the pancreas, would typically carry sugar from the bloodstream to the cells where the gates would unlock and allow the sugar to enter.  Sometime after the age of 40 the gates don’t always open to allow sugar in – they resist the entry of sugar.  Sugar floating around in the bloodstream for too long can be harmful to our blood vessels so the body must find somewhere to put it.  If the muscle cells are not open to receive the next best place to store it is in the fat cells.  This, of course, contributes to weight gain.

Lifting heavy weights improves the function of insulin and blood sugar storage by creating an environment where the muscles want to be prepared to lift heavy weights, so they adapt by allowing sugar in.  In other words, weight training improves insulin sensitivity and prevents carbohydrates from being stored as fat.

For strength training to have this positive impact on fat loss and muscle building the weights need to be “heavy”.  Heavy is all relative, of course, but it means you cannot lift the weight more than 6 times without having to put it down.  Doing sets of 12-15 repetitions will not produce a strong enough stimulus to see real results during perimenopausal and postmenopausal years.  For large muscle groups, like the legs, using a barbell is likely the only way to load enough weight on the body to challenge the legs for 4-6 repetitions. Back squats and deadlifts would be the most effective movements for the lower body while bench press and shoulder press would be the most effective movements for the upper body.

Adding heavy strength training into your workout routine doesn’t have to be too time consuming.  Choose a couple of different barbell exercises to do 3 times per week and you’ll be well on your way to a lean, strong, feminine body.

Not sure where to start when it comes to heavy lifting?

H2C: Hesitant 2 Confident with a Barbell in Just 4 Weeks is an online interactive program designed specifically for women who are new to weight training or who are looking to improve their technique so they can launch their journey to a lean, fit, feminine physique.

The program is divided into four online, work-at-your-own-pace modules that will teach you through instructional videos all the major lifts and provide 1-4 weekly workouts to be done on your own in your home gym, your regular fitness facility or wherever you exercise. It begins with 2 self-paced workouts the first week and increase each week thereafter; however, you can choose the number of workouts that fit into your life.  More is not necessarily better.

We believe in the power of heavy weight training for women, and we know that it can be intimidating to get started. That’s why we’ve created a supportive and empowering environment to help you achieve your goals. Find out more by visiting this site

Natalie Rivier is a fitness trainer who unapologetically helps active women over 40 get lean, build muscle tone, and be badass. No BS training…that works.  Download her free ebook “The Perfect Workout Blueprint for Women Over 40”