Are These 3 Things Keeping You From Seeing Results in Perimenopause?

The New Year is here—happy 2026!

This time of year is powerful. Not because it’s negative degrees here in Minnesota (although that does come with some bragging rights), but because it’s the season when many women who’ve long said, “Fitness just isn’t my thing,” feel a spark of motivation to finally get started—or to try again.

If that’s you, I want you to know this: this moment matters. How you start matters.

And for women in perimenopause, starting the right way can be the difference between lasting results and another frustrating reset next January.

Let’s talk about the most common reasons women in perimenopause struggle to see results from their fitness programs—and how to avoid them.

Why Fitness Feels Harder in Perimenopause + Beyond

Perimenopause changes the rules of the game.

Hormonal shifts—especially fluctuating and declining estrogen—affect how we build muscle, recover from workouts, manage stress, and even perceive effort. What once worked in your 20s and 30s may suddenly feel ineffective and/or exhausting.

When results stall, many women assume they’re doing something wrong or that they lack motivation. In reality, most are simply missing a few critical pieces.

Mistake #1: Skipping the Foundations

This is one of the most important—and most overlooked—parts of any strength training program, especially in perimenopause.

I wish I had something saucier to share with you, but lasting results start with foundations.

We see endless messages telling women to lift heavier (which isn't wrong - but it's not where we start), but very few talking about practicing balance, building ankle mobility, learning how to align the body properly, connecting breath to the pelvic floor, or breaking down movements like squats, deadlifts, and push-ups.

Foundational training includes:

• Stabilization and balance

• Addressing muscle imbalances from daily life

• Learning proper alignment and posture

• Building mobility

• Practicing basic movement patterns with intention
  

These steps ensure muscles fire in the correct order, reduce injury risk, and allow you to actually benefit from lifting heavier later on.

Skipping this phase often leads to pain, plateaus, and frustration—not faster progress.

The 3 S’s of Getting Started With Strength Training

When women join Fit After 40 Small-Group Personal Training, the first month focuses on what I call The 3 S’s.

1. Stabilization and Balance

Stabilization is non-negotiable for functional, hospital-free aging.

It helps correct common imbalances created by sitting, leaning, favoring one side, or standing with a hip popped out. More importantly, it ensures that when we eventually lift heavier weights, our muscles are firing in the proper sequence and alignment—minimizing injury while maximizing results.

2. Strong, Functional Core

This is not about endless crunches.

Your core is a muscular box: abdominals in the front, glutes and paraspinals in the back, the diaphragm on top, and the pelvic floor and hip musculature at the bottom. These muscles stabilize the spine and pelvis during every functional movement.

Building a functional core starts with developing a neuromuscular connection—learning how to brace and support your body during movement.

Foundational core work includes breathing, dead bugs, glute bridge holds, bird dogs, side planks, and prone cobras.

3. Solid Form

Exercise is a skill.

Solid form comes from practicing movements—often with bodyweight or light loads—while breaking them down into manageable pieces.

Just like any skill, proficiency comes from practice. And the payoff is feeling stronger, more capable, and more confident in your body.

If you are interested deep diving check out my Fit After 40 podcast on the 3 S's.

Mistake #2: Taking On Too Much All at Once

This is especially common at the beginning of the year.

Instead of choosing one highly doable habit, many women try to change everything at once—workouts, nutrition, steps, water intake, morning routines, insert health habit here.

While each habit is healthy on its own, stacking too many changes on top of an already full life often leads to burnout and resentment.

The result?

Women start to believe they’re not motivated enough, that health isn’t for them, or that everyone else can do it—but they can’t.

None of that is true.

A better, more lasting approach is choosing one measurable, 9-out-of-10 doable habit and sticking with it until it becomes automatic. Once it feels as easy as brushing your teeth, that’s your cue to add the next habit.

This slower approach may feel boring—but it’s exactly how sustainable health is built.

Why Consistency Is the Real Game-Changer

One of the biggest challenges women share with me is inconsistency.

This is why small-group training works so well. In groups of five women, it’s obvious when someone misses a session—and easy to course-correct. Accountability is built in, and no one falls through the cracks.

Consistency—not perfection—is what drives results in perimenopause.

Mistake #3: Not Following a Progressive Strength Program

One of the core principles of strength training is progressive overload.

Without a program designed to gradually increase challenge over time, results eventually stall.

Traditional group fitness often falls short because workouts change constantly, don’t repeat movements long enough to build skill, don't train the foundations we talked about earlier, and aren’t designed with muscle building in mind.

In Fit After 40, clients move through phases: stabilization and balance, muscle endurance, and then hypertrophy (muscle building). Once in a muscle-building phase, exercises are repeated for several weeks, allowing progression through increased reps, heavier loads, or reduced rest.

Progress comes from getting stronger at specific movements—not constantly doing something new.

A traditional hypertrophy workout (aka muscle building) involves 3-6 sets of 1 exercise for 8-12 reps with :30-:60 rest.

There are other ways to achieve hypertrophy, but this is tried and true and keeps it simple.

The Bonus Pitfall: Wanting Fast Results

Quick-fix promises are everywhere—but they rarely lead to lasting change.

Progress is not about perfection. It’s about consistency.

It’s about working with your body, not against it. Life will be lifey—and when it is, you start again tomorrow.

You are not fragile. You are a lifelong artwork in progress.

Final Thoughts

If you live in the Twin Cities and want help getting started the right way with building strength in perimenopause and beyond, book your complimentary 10-minute discovery call to see if Fit After 40 is the right fit for you.

If you'd like to deep dive further into these 3 Pitfalls and how to avoid them check out this episode of the Fit After 40 Podcast!

You and your body are worth the effort—now and for the long haul.

Until next time—AROO!