Picture the headline: Resistance training revolutionizes menopause health. It’s that simple.  It’s 2024. We still hear both about the use of HRT or reasons (perhaps outdated) not to. We hear about both animal protein and the plant protein advocates.  With this simple method of – humor me – hormone enhancement – there is no argument. We all know we need to be doing it. We all understand the benefits of being strong and vibrant. But lest you confuse a need to lose fat with the need to gain lean muscle, this is for you.  Lifting already? Then you’ll love these reminders. After all, the placebo effect is in full swing at all times. It’s either working for or against us. So those things you’re doing that you know are good for you, amplify them with the scientific evidence and think your way to even better results.  This episode captures the broad spectrum of positive changes resistance training can bring to menopausal women, from physical improvements like visceral fat reduction and bone density increases to more general benefits like enhanced mood and sleep quality improvements. Each of these is directly tied to signs and symptoms of menopause.  Give a Woman a Weight and Change Not Only Menopause, But Her Health the Rest of Her Life Before we dig in, in the rhythmic play off the children’s story book, “When you Give a Mouse a Cookie”… When you give a woman a weight… (or when you pick one up yourself)  You:  Enhance her strength Improve her fat free mass Reduce her total fat Reduce that deadly visceral belly fat Support overall hormone balance Alleviate symptoms of anxiety and depression Enhance her sleep Improve skin health Increase bone density Enhance Gait and Stability  Women who lift, lift the world. Theirs and the world at large. How Resistance Training Revolutionizes Menopause Health 1. Enhance muscle strength – directly tied to longevity (link to recent episode on testing your own longevity) supporting daily activities and reducing the risk of falls. Beyond that however, for bone density benefit, heavy lifting will require muscle strength.  2. Improve fat-free mass, aiding in a healthier body composition during menopausal transition. The combination of 1 and 2 together, notably known as “recomposition.” You’re not literally turning fat into muscle. But you are indeed able to lose fat and not just avoid loss of muscle, but add muscle. This does require some careful effort. For those without much consistent strength training, using a caloric deficit with a high protein intake make effective. The longer your consistent resistance training experience however, and the older you are, you may need a surplus of calories high in protein to overcome the anabolic resistance that occurs with aging.  3. Support total fat mass reduction, addressing weight gain concerns during menopause. Over 5600 postmenopausal women in one hundred studies reviewed showed exercise training effectively increased muscle mass and fat-free mass, and decreased fat mass, body fat percentage, waist circumference and visceral fat. (more on visceral fat coming up). Further this study in Frontiers in Endocrinology in 2023, found combining RE and aerobic exercise(not same session) helped increase muscle and decrease fat, while RE plus combined training – which includes doing aerobic activity and strength training in the same session – helped boost muscle mass most. The reason it likely didn’t impact fat as much I suspect is because intensity in the aerobic activity won’t be as high. You either won’t go as fast or against as much resistance even though it may “feel hard.”  4. Reduce Visceral Fat.  Resistance training has been shown to effectively promote decreases in visceral fat in the absence of caloric restriction. That is, no change other than adding resistance training. In still another study published 2023, reduction in visceral belly fat was significant compared to non-resistance trained control group whether participants did 2 or 3 times weekly RE. T