Most women in perimenopause and menopause are doing the wrong type of cardio, and it’s leaving them exhausted, stressed, and frustrated. Dr. Stacy Sims break down why moderate-intensity workouts don’t deliver the results you want, the hidden hormonal reasons behind it, and how to train smarter (not longer) for real changes in strength, fat loss, and energy.
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Continue learning with these related videos:
The Truth About Women’s Training & Nutrition | Dr. Stacy Sims on Andrew Huberman Podcast
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👩🔬 About Me:
I’m Dr. Stacy Sims, exercise physiologist, nutrition scientist, and author of ROAR and Next Level. My mission is simple: stop training women like small men. I help you understand and work with your physiology – for better performance, health, and longevity.
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In conclusion, you need polirizing effects 1 min on 2 min off. How is that different from HIIT?
I’m now in perimeno and strength training gives my body so much stress I can no longer take it. Up for 48 hours due to cortisol and adrenaline. Terrible. Pilates and walking does it for me
I love Body Attack, I have so fun doing it. I used to do it twice a week, but now that I’m 46 I’ve reduced it to once a week for these reasons. I lift heavy weights on the other days.
I still don’t understand what women 40+ need to do. Too much talk and no exact answers or guidance to apply.
So what is your definition of intensity? Near max effort over short intervals?
@drstacysims : for a women over 40+ who does strength training and wants to try an intermittent diet to lose weight but gain muscle mass. I'm trying to figure out the diet plan and when to eat for a 8-5 job lifestyle. Would you suggest eating breakfast with low/no carb or skip breakfast to lower cortisol, then having a lunch meal at noon, and i go strength training after 5pm , so i would have dinner at 6 or 630pm and no meals after dinner? would love any advice.
What do you think of Pilates both mat & reformer
Curious about what's best for heart health and whether that has different implications.
I come from a competitive track sprinting background, and I was wondering what happens if I do more than the 5 recommended reps? Right now, I can easily do 5 30 second dead sprints with one minute 30 seconds rest, and I don’t feel like I have done anything. And as a follow up question: how should I feel after a workout? I made a shift to running 5ks, but still did a fair amount of speed work… things like 12xquarter mile repeats at my goal mile pace with one minute rest between reps…. It’s at a fast pace but not a dead, after burner kind of sprint. Is there a place for those kinds of workouts? Or mile time trials?
I dint beleive anything that they say. This is not rocket science. We are not training to get a metal in acontast!!! If a woman is consistent with her diet and excercise with some lifting cardio and stretching and with some progressive overload in all of these things you dont need all these detailed cardio and zones they are talking about!! Whatever you do if go home and eat 3.000 calories of course you ll get belly fat!
Hi Dr Sims – can I ask what you think of ‘HILIT’ training? I’ve been mixing this into my routine and really enjoy the classes. For context, I am a 37 year old female.
How would these recommendations change for a peri-menopausal woman with ME/CF? Or who is a reliable source for this info?
Currently my sleep has tanked. I am getting in 20K steps a day which includes my weightlifting workout. I do this 5 days a week, rest 1 day and on the other day I do an extra-long walk. Perhaps I'm jacking up my cortisol too much? I'm not overweight but I'm noticing I'm losing how lean I once was and more fluff around my tummy that I didn't have before. I am 2 years post meno and 54. Could the steps be too much regardless of intensity?
So what about Japanese interval walking? I’ve read that it’s beneficial for belly fat. SIT training is hard because elevating heart rate so high within 30 seconds requires so much intensity that you end up getting hurt.
It is so annoying how my heart rate goes back down so quickly, it’s like harder and harder to get it to the levels I’m hearing about here.
Has Dr. Sims or anyone from her team replied to any of our questions here? All I’ve seen so far are other women who know her training well, giving advice. It’s much appreciated but I thought these videos were monitored by her or her team to give feedback to questions that naturally come up after watching it….
Lifitng weights makes me soooo hungry. I love it, but Im starving after.
This is vague. What would an average week look like? I love running and spinning and strength training. And hot yoga. Is that ok at 55?
Hi Dr. Sims — I’m a long-time fan (33F) and love your clear, science-backed tips. Your protein coffee idea was a game-changer for me — still working on quitting fasted workouts, but getting there!
Quick request: could you share more content for women in their 30s (30–40)? Many of us are already facing challenges similar to the 40+ group and would love practical, short tips on:
structuring workouts (strength vs cardio vs recovery)
nutrition priorities (protein, timing, supplements)
simple meal-planning ideas
period-aware training
steps to take now to set up for a strong 40s
Huge thanks for everything you do — really appreciate your time! 😊
New to the higher zones as I was told to stay away from the higher zones due to autoimmune history. Can someone pass along or tell me where to review quality information on the higher zones and people with autoimmune issues.
For me
3 days lifting
1 day HITT
1-2 days biking/machines
1day rest
GOOD
It’s so surprising how cardio changes for women over 40. What used to feel energizing can suddenly leave you more fatigued and storing belly fat. Once cortisol stays elevated, the usual “more exercise = better” rule just backfires in midlife.
I love step aerobics, I can’t find a class, so I do it with cdorner on YouTube
yes! I started teaching Zumba on my days off from nursing and I gained weight, got unhealthy. Walkie low and slow over long time — proof is in the blood glucose levels!
I walk 5 milesX2/day for my mental health and lymphedema. I don't expect to lose weight or gain muscles from it. If I want to lose weight I eat less, if I want to get muscles+strength I lift weights.
So what level/zone fat burns? I must have missed it.
Love both of your work!! Thanks for sharing!
If you want to do HIIT she says 1-2mins at 80-85% of max HR, with 2-4 mins rest while your heart rate comes back down and do that 3-5 times. SIT is 90-95% of max heart rate, going all out for 30 seconds and then resting for 2ish minutes until your HR gets back to a recovered state. Doing that 3-5 times. And doing this in whatever you want. Could be sprinting, jump rope, walking super fast on an incline on treadmill, or bike intervals. But depending on which you are doing, monitoring your HR to make sure you are keeping it in those zones when you are working hard and then recovering. She recommends 2 times per week of these types of workouts. I do one HIIT and one SIT workout per week plus the weights a couple times a week that she always recommends :). Hope this helps. This is from her videos, putting bits and pieces together from different talks 😊
I’ve found that lifting heavy weights is cardio. My heart rate increases and I feel out of breath.
This is so fascinating. I have been doing the Beach Body (now "Bodi") app and doing the MBF ("Muscle Burns Fat") 8 week program. I am recently turned 40yrs old and notice my body is definitely changing. I did this same program 4yrs ago and had such great results. So I started it again 2 weeks ago and feel like it's a fitting workout for where I'm at now. It's kind of a CrossFit HIIT type of workout and I like it a lot. It seems like it hits some of the recommendations Dr. Stacy is giving. So we'll see how my body continues to respond! Thank you for sharing this information!
So this is the same as Burn Boot Camp? No good for post menopausal woman? Is this why I'm not seeing results I expected?
Dr. Sims do you think you could make a workout video? Something that incorporates these tips and is available to a 60 year old woman who is looking to build some muscle foe health purposes?
I'm trying to make sense of how can I adapt this advice into long distance running (half-marathons, marathons, ultra marathons). It's giving me so much joy and I'd like to make it work. My training usually consists of 80% zone 2-3 running and 20% of intervals/tempo/fartlek. Then of course strength training, pilates, yoga, mobility. All of which is beneficial for running and staying injury-free, but I feel like there is a piece missing. The longer I run, the more I notice my mid section growing – I'm not losing weight, though I am becoming stronger and more toned. Maybe I should add more speed work, more intervals?
So what I'm getting from this is that to get the maximum benefits, we need to be training in Zone 5. Did I get that right?
So I run and was hoping this would be my hitt but it seems it’s only done 3-4. Strength training doesn’t get me to zone 5, but run and sprint intervals does. How many times should I be doing this a week?
What do you think about jump roping …. using weighted ropes like Crossrope?