You know the expression “pushing shit uphill”? That is exactly what maintaining cardio fitness, strength, and bone density feels like at the ripe old age of 42. In the five years leading up to my recent break, maintaining fitness and building strength had already become noticeably more difficult.
I now come away completely buggered from a workout that was relatively easy a year ago. My running speed is decreasing for the same—often higher—levels of exertion. My strength, while not outright decreasing, certainly isn’t increasing the way it did in my younger years. And probably the worst thing? I have fat appearing in places it never was before, despite doing absolutely nothing different! The reason, I’m told, is the same thing that has been the bane of my existence for most of my life: HORMONES.
Now I completely acknowledge that Perimenopause has undeniably become the latest marketing gold rush, with the wellness industry slapping the label on everything from teas to tracking apps. But if you can look past the commercial hype, the actual physiological data is impossible to ignore. Understanding this hormonal shift completely changes the picture. It changes how we fuel, how we recover, and why the generic gym advice we followed in our twenties will actively break us in our forties
Then for me, we add roughly ten weeks off, resulting in very visible muscle deterioration in my mostly unused leg. I’m left wondering how hard this recovery is going to be, and what a realistic return-to-training plan looks like for someone in my predicament.
Betrayed by Evolution: The Hormonal Audacity of My 40s
So, let’s be strengths-based to begin with and be grateful for the fact that I am no longer of childbearing age. My body has spoken, and the world has agreed: three of my offspring in the world is more than enough!
However, this transition also means my body is starting to wind back its estrogen production. Evolution seems to think my sole role as a woman is reproduction, completely disregarding the fact that we are no longer in the dark ages. I have a much longer lifespan ahead of me, and estrogen has a number of other vital, non-reproductive jobs. It regulates muscle repair, bone remodelling, joint function, fat storage, mood, sleep, and brain function.
When estrogen declines, our blood vessels become stiffer, meaning my poor heart has to work significantly harder. A previously ‘easy’ training session suddenly becomes a full-on slog. To make matters worse, cortisol levels can easily shoot through the roof, locking the body into a chronic internal state of ‘fight or flight’.
The brain receives a very clear message: ‘We need to store resources – aka Fat.’ Combine an environment of elevated cortisol with a body that is naturally trying to offload muscle, and we have a perfect explanation of why the gym has become more exhausting and seemingly less effective.
Ten Weeks on My Arse: A Masterclass in Muscle Eviction
Then I stopped moving. Actually, I stopped using one of the main weight-bearing limbs of my body entirely, and the muscle quickly shrivelled into something resembling the Wicked Witch of the West after she gets hit with water. The ‘fast-twitch’ Type 2 fibres disappear most rapidly. They just happen to be the ones needed for speed and power over endurance.
Then there is the cardio side of spending 10 weeks on my arse. My VO2 max is shot. Right now, the cardio session that I thought was hard three months ago would likely result in me back in an ambo. My body has gotten used to requiring less oxygen because I have been doing nothing to elevate my heart rate. When I give my lungs and heart the shock of a lifetime by pushing them, they resist. It is hard!
But, sticking with the strengths-based stuff, there is a wonderful biological phenomenon called “myonuclei retention.” Among us layfolk, it is more commonly referred to as muscle memory. This is the saving grace: the muscle remembers the potential it holds inside. With the right support and nurturing, it can bloom back into a wondrous, strong lump of cells much faster than it took to build it the first time around.
The ‘Try Not to Die’ Return-to-Gym Blueprint
Figuring out the actual exercise plan is tricky. I utterly hate Zone 2 cardio—the boring, long-distance plod where you can comfortably chat for hours on end. I’m also aware that prolonged, moderate-intensity training can send my cortisol levels through the roof if I endure it for too long.
This is something a lot of women my age seem to get wrong or have simply never heard of. With chronic, moderate-intensity exercise, a perimenopausal body perceives chronic stress. It spikes cortisol, which tells the body to hold onto fat, resist insulin, and stall recovery—reflected directly in everybody’s favourite stat, a plunging HRV. Additionally, the science states that midlife training in the middle zones should never be done fasted. This is great news for me because I absolutely love cooking a full breakfast at 4 am (not).
The challenge is though, I’m not entirely sure my ankle is ready for high-impact Zone 5 HIIT sprints yet, so I have to go back to that old ‘within reason’ chestnut.
For the past few sessions, I’ve been testing the waters in that moderate range just to get a feel for movement again. I’ve strictly kept it under 30 minutes and mixed it with unilateral (single leg), bodyweight, or lightweight strength work focusing on stability. I think I will keep this structure for the next few weeks. I might eventually alternate it with a zero-impact “Sims Tweak” session – using 20-to-30-second flat-out bursts on a stationary bike followed by 2 to 3 minutes of complete recovery—depending on whether I can afford to die later that day or not.
I think rather than mapping out a rigid, long-term plan, I’m going to play it as I see it. I’m back at the ortho clinic in mid-August, and there is a high likelihood I’ll be back under the scalpel to have some of the hardware pulled out. There is simply no point in planning a perfect journey that might quickly get derailed by things outside my control.
Fighting Anabolic Resistance one protein shake at a time
To make this comeback effective—in a way that improves my wellbeing rather than destroying it—I need to be really mindful of my nutrition. This is sort of annoying, if I’m honest. I only want to make one lifestyle shift at a time so I actually stick to it. Having to change up my food as well isn’t something I am entirely ready for.
But it’s not a full diet overhaul. I just need to overcome “anabolic resistance,” which means giving my body a massive, undeniable signal to actually repair and build muscle. Consuming at least 30 to 40 grams of high-quality protein per meal is now the biological baseline required to trigger muscle protein synthesis and wake up my shrivelled leg fibres. Yes, that’s roughly 5 eggs!
I also need to ensure I am actually allowing space and time for recovery. There is no point in me smashing the gym and depriving myself of sleep, because elevated cortisol will just rip up the handbrake on any muscle gains I may have made.
The other big change is the ultimate mindset pivot. The days of trying to beat my 30-year-old running speeds or lifting PRs are officially behind me. Success now looks like playing the long game—shifting the metric from raw ego numbers to optimizing my healthspan, bone density, and functional power. It’s about building a body that can walk, run, and play with the next generation (god, that’s a scary thought). I now know too well what it is like to not be able to do that stuff, and I want to put off going back there for as long as I humanly can.
So whilst the hill I am pushing shit up has got steeper and the hormones are fighting back, I am armed with knowledge and science on how to get the most out of my body without destroying it. Let the gains begin!
You’re very inspirational Tracey.