Finding your strength. Finding your bliss.

Our mothers suffered in silence.

Over the last decade, thanks to the tireless work of specialists, experts, advocates and everyday women, peri/menopause has been thrust to the forefront of women’s health. Women are now able to talk openly about the life changing transformation that takes place in midlife and what they can do to move through this transition with strength and power.

The research base has grown exponentially – we now have a much clearer understanding of exactly what happens to women’s bodies during peri/menopause and why. We have a much better basis for understanding critical training, nutrition, hormonal and lifestyle interventions for women during this time.

In 2026, we have the power to make a choice around how we move through midlife and beyond to become active participants in the quality of our future health.

I don’t feel like myself

Perimenopause is best understood as a set of symptoms that occur to signal the beginning of the end of our reproductive years. These symptoms and timing vary for every woman, with first symptoms beginning after age 35 and more concentrated symptoms beginning in our early 40’s. For many, perimenopause overlaps with the last decade of their reproductive years.

Alice entered perimenopause at a time when menopause was rarely discussed. In her early 40’s, she started having a very heavy period. Her period became so heavy that sometimes she couldn’t go to work. When she went to see her family doctor for tests, all her results came back as normal. Next came the brain fog. Alice had prided herself on her ability to remember even the smallest details. She started to forget client names, she couldn’t find her keys, and she paid the same bills twice.

All of a sudden, she was dealing with waves of anxiety, then the hot flushes began, her hair started to thin, and her joints started to feel stiff. Golf outings she had enjoyed for years became more challenging as her joint pain worsened. After years of pain, she gave up golf altogether. Feeling socially isolated, she was prescribed anti-depressants. She started to carry weight that she previously had not – particularly in the midsection. After her period stopped, she understood she must be going through menopause.

For decades, women have presented in Doctors’ offices, knowing something was wrong and that they didn’t feel like themselves. They have been brushed off by doctors and not been taken seriously. Alice’s story was the norm for a generation of women; we trust – this experience will soon be relegated to history.

Estrogen, our powerhouse hormone

Estrogen is women’s powerhouse hormone and widely understood to be the driver of women’s reproductive cycle. What is not as often understood is the key role that estradiol (one of the most potent forms of estrogen) plays in supporting key metabolic, neural and physiological functions.

Estradiol is responsible for muscle growth, cellular energy, inflammation regulation, blood sugar management, appetite, mood, temperature, blood pressure, bone density and vaginal health.

Zone of chaos

When estrogen/estradiol and progesterone (estrogen’s sidekick hormone) start to fluctuate in perimenopause, we enter what Perimenopause and Menopause Specialist Dr. Mary Claire Haver calls, the “Zone of Chaos”. During this time, a woman’s body is shifting from decades of hormonal stability and into hormonal instability/chaos.

During this time, the metabolic, physiological and neural systems estrogen is responsible for are sent into a tailspin. Once we understand all the critical functions estrogen/estradiol drives, we better understand what is happening to our bodies.

Why strength matters

Dr. Stacy Sims, exercise physiologist, nutrition scientist and author of Next Level (co-written with Selene Yeager, 2022), has been at the forefront of understanding how women’s bodies respond to training and nutrition during and after the perimenopause transition. Dr. Sims has helped us understand that women are not small men — and that the training and nutrition interventions that work for men do not work for women, particularly in midlife. Her research has shown that women over 40 require high-intensity, heavy resistance training to counter the hormonal shifts of perimenopause. Mechanical tension — the force exerted on muscles when working against heavy, challenging loads — is the most potent stimulus for muscle growth and maintenance for women in this stage of life.

Dr. Gabrielle Lyon, author of the groundbreaking book Forever Strong (2023), laid out the evidence based on muscle as a key driver of metabolic and physical health. During perimenopause, our ability to build muscle and bone density becomes significantly compromised. We also become more insulin-resistant. Strength training during this time supports muscle and bone growth and helps to manage insulin resistance.

Lifting heavy weights also helps to control blood pressure, maintain body composition and improve our immune system. It steps in and helps to drive forward the functions that estrogen and estradiol were previously responsible for.

Finding your strength. Finding your bliss.

For many women, the perimenopause transition arrives without warning and without a roadmap. Symptoms that were dismissed for years suddenly have a name. And with that name comes something powerful — the understanding that you are not falling apart. You are in transition.

Strength training is not a punishment. It is not about chasing a body you once had. It is about building the infrastructure that allows you to show up fully in your life — at fifty, sixty, seventy and beyond. It is about discovering, perhaps for the first time, what your body is truly capable of.

For many of the women I work with, the gym becomes the place where they find themselves again. Where the brain fog lifts. Where the anxiety quiets. Where they feel strong, capable and entirely like themselves.

That is bliss.

If today’s article resonated with you, I’d love to stay connected. Visit https://suziegeriafitness.com/ to learn more about evidence-based strength coaching for women in perimenopause and beyond — or find me on Instagram at @coach.suziegeria.

Your strongest chapter is still ahead.