Why does working out get harder as you get older?
In this article, you’ll learn why exercise can feel harder after 50 and why it’s not your fault. From menopause fatigue to recovery time, we explore what’s really going on inside your body and offer simple strategies to help you to build your strength and confidence.
Why does exercise feel harder after 50?
As estrogen and progesterone hormones decline during menopause, your ability to recover from physical exertion slows, muscle mass drops, and your energy levels become harder to maintain, as they play essential roles in maintaining functional muscle structure.
Estrogen supports muscle tone, regulates insulin sensitivity, enhances cardiovascular health, and aids in metabolic regulation, while progesterone calms the nervous system and helps with sleep, rest and repair.
When they decline, your body’s ability to repair, restore, and energise itself naturally diminishes, making movement feel more exhausting even when doing less. Resulting in exercising typically feeling more challenging after age 50 due to the natural physiological and psychological changes associated with ageing.
Why am I sore for longer than usual after workouts?
Estrogen and progesterone help reduce inflammation and regulate the oxidative stress created during exercise, which is essential for joint and muscle repair. In contrast, cortisol, often known as the stress hormone, can increase inflammation and slow down this repair process if its levels remain too high after a workout. Balancing these hormones is key to effective recovery.
Without them, inflammation stays elevated for longer, breaking down connective tissue, and muscles recover more slowly.
When Progesterone levels decline, this can further disrupt recovery by impairing restful sleep, which is when most physical repair takes place.
Together, this makes post-exercise soreness more intense and more prolonged.
I’m still exercising, but I’m gaining weight. Why?
Hormonal shifts lead to lower insulin sensitivity and muscle loss, which together slow your metabolism.
Estrogen usually helps muscles take in glucose for energy, but without it, your body stores more fat, especially around the middle. At the same time, progesterone’s calming effect on the nervous system is lost, increasing cortisol levels, which also promotes fat storage. Movement still matters; it just needs a more hormone-conscious approach that prioritises strength, rest, and blood sugar balance.
How can I stay active with low motivation to exercise?
Start small. Hormonal fluctuations can sap motivation, especially when you’re fatigued or sleep-deprived. Gentle walks, light strength training, and mobility work restore a sense of energy and capability. Every small act builds momentum, and even 10 minutes of daily movement can improve mood, insulin sensitivity, and sleep, supporting a positive feedback loop that lifts your motivation over time. If you’re new to fitness, start exercising gradually with activities you enjoy and increase intensity as you feel ready.
Are there safe exercises after menopause?
Absolutely. Weight-based strength training, Reformer, Pilates, Yoga, Swimming, Tai Chi, and brisk walking are not only safe but highly beneficial for midlife bodies.
These exercises help restore muscle mass, improve balance, boost bone density, and protect joints while also enhancing mental well-being and cardiovascular health.
For mature women, weight training and functional activation exercises are key to improving future longevity and addressing health concerns. These activities help manage menopause-related health risks, improve quality of life, and are crucial for long-term well-being.
The ideal safe level of exercise is at least three workouts per week, with the addition of daily movement like reaching 12,000+ steps.
The key is to choose movements that honour your body’s current capacity while still gently challenging you to rebuild strength and mobility.
Message From Ms Longevity
As someone who has always been active, I can honestly say that I wasn’t prepared for the hormonal shift that hit around 50. Like many of you, I thought staying fit would be enough to carry me through but suddenly, recovery took longer, energy was harder to find, and my body wasn’t bouncing back the way it used to.
What I learned and what I now share with clients every day is that this isn’t a bad thing. It’s natural. The decline in estrogen and progesterone changes how we repair, how we sleep, and how we feel after movement. Once I began to honour this new rhythm and adjust my approach, everything shifted.
You’re not alone. This article reflects both what I’ve experienced and what I help other women over 50 navigate. So as you read on, know that I’m right here with you proof that with the right support, this chapter can be one of renewed strength, purpose, and vitality.
The Truth About Why It Feels So Different
When you roll out of bed in the morning, you notice a strange tightness in your knees. You now endure days of soreness from workouts you used to breeze through. Even a short walk can feel heavier, slower, and more exhausting.
If this describes you, please know that you are not broken, weak, or lazy. Women genuinely experience more difficulty with physical activity after 50, and there are good reasons for this.
Age-related changes in muscle structure and function can make exercise feel more challenging. Additionally, menopause brings a range of new symptoms and changes that impact how your body responds to physical activity.
But harder doesn’t mean impossible. Movement can become enjoyable and energising again with the right understanding and a more compassionate approach.
Let’s look at the real reasons exercise feels harder after 50 and how to work with your body instead of against it.
Hormonal Shifts: The Quiet Revolution
Declining estrogen and progesterone levels during menopause affect far more than reproduction. These hormones influence muscle mass, cardiovascular health, insulin response, mood, and sleep.
Estrogen is a key hormone that acts as a chemical messenger in your body. It plays a crucial role in maintaining overall health by communicating with and supporting various bodily functions.
It helps maintain muscle mass and strength, contributing to better muscle tone. For joint health, estrogen aids in reducing inflammation and maintaining the integrity of cartilage and connective tissues.
It also supports cardiovascular health by maintaining healthy cholesterol levels and improving blood vessel elasticity. By influencing brain neurotransmitters, estrogen can also impact mood and energy levels.
As it drops, bones may ache, joints stiffen, and recovery slows. Furthermore, Estrogen also helps regulate insulin sensitivity, so when levels decline, it becomes easier to gain fat and harder to build lean muscle.
Menopause significantly impacts the regulation and production of osteoclasts and osteoblasts, two types of bone cells that play crucial roles in maintaining bone health. Osteoclasts are responsible for breaking down old or damaged bone tissue, while osteoblasts work to build new, healthy bone.
During menopause, the decrease in estrogen levels disrupts this delicate balance, leading to an accelerated rate of bone loss. This makes women more susceptible to conditions such as osteoporosis and fractures, particularly in areas like the hips, spine, and wrists, where bone density tends to decline most rapidly. Maintaining bone health through proper nutrition, exercise, and wellbeing becomes essential during this stage of life.
Progesterone plays a crucial role in the body, particularly for women, as it helps regulate the menstrual cycle, supports pregnancy, calms the nervous system, and promotes restful sleep.
As you approach menopause, progesterone levels naturally drop because ovulation ceases, and the ovaries stop producing this hormone. This decline is part of the broader hormonal changes that occur during menopause, including reduced estrogen levels.
Without sufficient progesterone, the body experiences several changes. Its calming effect on the nervous system diminishes, leading to increased feelings of anxiety, irritability, and difficulty sleeping.
Many women report waking up feeling exhausted, even after a full night’s rest, which can impact daily energy levels and overall well-being.
When it comes to exercise, progesterone plays an indirect yet significant role. It helps regulate the body’s stress response by balancing cortisol levels, the stress hormone.
With lower progesterone levels, cortisol can become dysregulated, making physical activity feel more taxing on the body. Women may experience slower recovery times, increased fatigue after workouts, and difficulty building or maintaining muscle.
Additionally, the lack of progesterone’s anti-inflammatory properties can exacerbate joint or muscle pain, making exercise more challenging.
In summary, the drop in progesterone during menopause not only affects sleep and mood but also has a ripple effect on energy levels, recovery, and physical performance during exercise. Understanding this shift can help women adapt their routines and explore ways to support their hormonal health during this stage of life.
Slower Metabolism & Weight Gain
Have you noticed that your body no longer responds to exercise like it used to? The same gym routine or walking habit yields different results. You may gain weight even though you’re “doing the right things.” Cardio exercise builds endurance and burns calories, which is essential for managing weight as you age.
Why?
Muscle mass declines after 50 (a condition known as sarcopenia), reducing your resting metabolic rate. Building more muscle mass helps counteract this metabolic slowdown.
Your body stores more fat especially belly fat due to hormonal shifts and lower insulin sensitivity.
Many women become less metabolically flexible meaning their bodies are slower to switch from storing fat to burning it for energy. More muscle mass also helps you burn more calories, even at rest.
This leads to menopause fatigue, a drop in motivation, and discouragement. But your goals may simply need to evolve from weight loss to energy, strength, and longevity.
Reframe the goal: Exercise is no longer solely about burning calories to lose weight. Instead, it’s a powerful tool for overall well-being, functional muscle activation, and building strength for a healthier, longer life. Regular physical activity empowers you to reclaim control over your physical health, sharpen your brain, and boost emotional resilience.
Joint Stiffness and Muscle Loss
As your body ages, muscle mass and bone density gradually decline. This can make movements feel stiffer, less stable, or even uncomfortable. We lose about 1–2% of muscle mass every year after 50 if we don’t actively build it.
What once felt easy may now feel awkward or painful. And out of fear of injury, many women begin to move less, which has the negative effect as will further accelerate the muscle loss.
But here’s the good news: resistance training, even just bodyweight or resistance bands, can rebuild muscle, support bone density, and protect your joints.
Weight training is especially beneficial for older adults, as it helps maintain bone density and supports weight management during and after menopause.
Weight training builds functional muscle, which is crucial for maintaining mobility and independence as you age.
Adding just three sessions a week targeting the major muscle groups can improve grip strength, posture, insulin sensitivity, and confidence in movement. Balance functional training is also important to help prevent falls and maintain overall safety. Tools like weighted vests can be used to enhance resistance training and further support bone health.
Energy Levels and Motivation in Midlife
When sleep is consistently disrupted with menopause symptoms such as hot sweets, these hormone fluctuations lead to waking feeling exhausted and the demands of daily life result in mental overwhelm, these powerful forces collectively drain your vital reserves.
It is OK to feel like you are walking through mud, especially in the early menopause years. You are not being lazy – it’s a natural biological shift. Progesterone’s decline makes deep sleep harder to achieve, while cortisol and adrenaline may spike earlier in the day, leaving you tired but wired.
The trick is to do any form of movement creates energy.
A short, moderate-intensity walk, a tai chi flow, or 10 minutes of mobility exercises can reboot your system.
Participating in group exercises can also help you stay motivated, as the social support and camaraderie encourage continued participation and make it easier to maintain your routine. Using technology, such as online fitness videos and workout apps, can enhance motivation and help reduce the overwhelm and confusion of what to do!
Recovery Time After 50
Remember when you were in your 30s and could bounce back after a tough workout in just a day? Now, that post-exercise soreness seems to stick around for days, making you feel every bit your age. What changed, and why does recovery take so much longer now?
- Lack of estrogen equals slower tissue repair
- Less collagen results in slower healing
- Reduced muscle mass affects function
You may also lack the anti-inflammatory support you once had, so inflammation sticks around longer.
But rest isn’t weakness. In fact, giving your body adequate downtime improves results. Gentle consistency trumps intensity. Alternating days of strength training with lighter movement (like stretching, Pilates, or walking) helps you build resilience without burnout.
Incorporating deep breathing techniques during recovery can help reduce stress and support your body’s healing process. Maintaining good balance during recovery activities is also important to prevent injury and ensure safe movement.
Emotional Weight and Life Load
Exercise doesn’t have to mean spending hours at the gym! Midlife often brings a unique combination of challenges, including caregiving responsibilities for children or aging parents, significant career pressures, and constant family demands. When you layer on common midlife experiences like fatigue, grief, or anxiety, the thought of incorporating physical activity can feel less like a form of self-care and more like another overwhelming item on an already packed to-do list.
Exercise is not merely movement; it is a profound source of emotional release and a cornerstone of resilience. Prioritising this aspect of your health isn’t selfish; it’s a fundamental commitment to your well-being and essential for long-term vitality.
When movement is framed as a gift instead of another chore, it becomes a form of active recovery not just physically, but mentally too.
Fear of Injury
With age comes caution and sometimes fear. A sore knee or twinge in your back can trigger avoidance.
You might fear: “What if I hurt myself?”
But you can enjoy safe exercises after menopause – Focus on:
- Walking, Swimming, Trekking, Cycling.
- Strength training
- Refermer, Pilates, Yoga Tai Chi
- Functional mobility exercises
As you get stronger, you can progress from exercises routines, like upper body Push and Pull, or Lower Body Squats or Thrusts. Get help, ask a personal trainer to give you a few workouts that you can do yourself, at home with some resistance bands or small weights.
These build strength, improve stability, and support longevity without overloading your joints. This is also where working with a personal trainer or physical therapist even for a few sessions can build trust and confidence in your body again.
Exercise Strategies for Bone Health
You’re not alone in noticing how your body’s needs have shifted this is simply your life unfolding as it should. For you, in this beautiful stage of life, nurturing your bones and muscles becomes as essential as any other ritual of self-care.
It’s never too late to make a difference. The truth is, your bones and muscles are still listening, still ready to respond to the love and attention you give them, helping you maintain strength, flexibility, and overall vitality.
Creating a gentle strength ritua,l whether that’s moving with your own body’ at home, embracing resistance bands, or welcoming free weights into your routine these workouts offer your bones exactly the kind of loving challenge they crave.
Think of your daily walks, those stairs you climb, even the dancing you do in your kitchen, as acts of devotion to your future self.
If you feel called to add a little more spark perhaps some gentle jumping or playful movements listen deeply to what feels right for your body today, and honor where you are in this moment.
Blending these daily rituals together creates a tapestry of functional strength that supports your whole being, keeping your bones resilient and your well-being vibrant.
This isn’t about pushing through discomfort or proving anything to anyone and showing your six pack on instagram – it’s about the quiet, consistent acts of self-care that honor who you are becoming. When you choose to invest in your bone health, you’re choosing your independence, your confidence, and the woman you’ll be tomorrow and that choice matters more than you know.
Warming Up and Cooling Down: Your New Best Friends
If you’ve ever felt your body resist you at the start of movement or carry that tender ache the following morning, you’re not alone in this especially during this season of your life when your body speaks a different language than it used to. This is why creating gentle rituals before and after you move isn’t just helpful, it’s an act of deep self-respect.
Your pre-movement ritual is about honoring where your body is today, not where it was yesterday. Even five minutes of gentle preparation a mindful walk that lets you feel your feet connect with the ground, or soft cycling that awakens your circulation can shift how your entire day unfolds.
Follow this with flowing movements that invite your body to remember its strength: gentle leg swings, arm circles that embrace the space around you, soft torso twists that remind your spine it can dance. This isn’t about perfection; it’s about showing up for yourself with consistency and grace.
After you’ve moved your body, gift yourself the ritual of transition. Let your pace slow naturally, then settle into stretches for 30secs so that you can hold space for the muscles that carried you your hamstrings, quadriceps, calves, and shoulders.
This gentle unwinding isn’t just about your muscles; it’s about teaching your nervous system that it’s safe to rest, supporting not just recovery but the deep sleep and steady mood that tomorrow’s version of you deserves.
Learning to listen to your body during these sacred moments isn’t just about exercising safely it’s about building a relationship with yourself that will serve you for decades to come. Think of your warm-up and cool-down rituals as non-negotiable appointments with your future self, because this isn’t about what you can push through today, it’s about what you’re building to support the vibrant woman you’re becoming.
Staying Safe While Exercising
Creating a safe movement practice is like building a foundation of self-care that honours where you are right now in life. Embrace the benefits of movement while protecting your body this wisdom comes naturally as you learn to listen to yourself more deeply.
Before starting a new movement routine, connect with someone who truly understands your unique journey. Reach out to Ms Longevity for personalised advice and guidance tailored to this stage of life.
If strength training calls to you, begin gently with lighter weights or resistance bands. This isn’t about proving anything to anyone, but about building a sustainable ritual that grows with you.
Let your confidence and strength bloom naturally, without rushing the process.
Remember, consistency beats perfection every single time. It’s far better to move forward thoughtfully and remain injury-free than to push beyond what serves you and face unnecessary setbacks.
When you prioritise your safety and well-being, movement becomes a daily ritual of self-respect one that supports not just your physical strength, but your mood, your confidence, and your commitment to your future self at every beautiful stage of life.
How to Reclaim Strength Gently
Exercise after 50 doesn’t mean punishing workouts. It means smarter, softer, more supportive movement. Exploring different styles of exercise, such as yoga, T’ai chi, or water-based activities, can help you find what works best for your body and preferences.
Here’s how to make movement feel good again:
- Include functional exercises in your routine to enhance mobility, prevent injury, and support overall physical health.
- Add aerobic activity, like walking, dancing, or cycling, to improve cardiovascular health, bone density, and overall fitness.
- Regular exercise at least 3 times per week supports good health and helps maintain a good quality of life as you age.
- Inactivity can lead to an increased risk of health problems such as heart disease and osteoporosis, so staying active is essential.
1. Start with Gentle Consistency
Forget all-or-nothing. A daily 10-minute walk, gentle stretches, or a short yoga session can shift your energy and mood. Early postmenopausal women especially benefit from starting with gentle, consistent exercise, as it supports bone health and overall well-being during this important transition.
You don’t have to overhaul your routine. Layer in one new ritual each week until movement becomes a habit.
2. Prioritise Strength Training
Use bodyweight, resistance bands or light dumbbells three times a week to preserve muscle and protect bones. Lifting weights is also highly effective for maintaining muscle mass and bone density, making it an important part of a strength training routine. Focus on major muscle groups: glutes, hamstrings, quads, back, core.
Strong muscles mean better posture, reduced injury risk, and improved insulin sensitivity.
3. Embrace Recovery
Recovery is non-negotiable for rebuilding your body and mind. This crucial phase goes beyond simply resting; it involves actively supporting your body’s healing processes. To truly optimize your recovery, make sure you are getting enough sleep and staying on top of your hydration and nutrition.
Additionally, you can incorporate practices like magnesium baths, restorative yoga, or breathwork to help repair your nervous system and enhance your overall well-being.
4. Walk Consistently
Walking is a powerful, underrated daily ritual. It boosts cardiovascular health, energy, mood, and mobility without stress. It supports brain health, reduces blood pressure, and lowers all-cause mortality.
Even if you’re short on time, aim for a 15 min short walks a day after meals to support blood sugar balance and digestion, or a 30-45 mins walk each morning before you start work when working from home.
5. Tune Into Your Body’s Needs Now
Let go of what used to work for you, because midlife is a time for change and growth. The routines and habits that served you in the past may no longer align with what your body and mind need today.
Midlife requires a new approach one rooted in self-awareness, flexibility, and consistency.
Begin by truly listening to yourself. Pay attention to what your body is telling you. Adjust your routines and priorities to honour the unique needs of the body you’re in right now, not the one you had 10 or 20 years ago.
Start tracking your symptoms, energy levels, and mood to better understand your patterns and rhythms. This will help you identify what works best for you at different times. Some days your body might ask for rest, signaling the need to slow down and recharge.
Other days, you may feel a desire to move, to push your limits, and to build strength both physically and mentally.
By tuning in and responding with care, you’ll create a lifestyle that respects your present self while empowering you to thrive in this new chapter.
Midlife isn’t about holding on to the past; it’s about evolving, growing, and embracing the journey ahead with intention and balance.
6. Redefine Success
It’s not about the number on the scale or how much you sweat. It’s about waking up with more energy, less pain, and greater confidence in your movements. True success after 50 means feeling in tune with your body, reducing symptoms, and adding more healthy, vibrant years to your life.
Final Thoughts: It's your time to shine...
Menopause is a word that only describes what has happened to your menstrual cycle, which just means it is the beginning of the next chapter of your life – let’s embrace it. Being over 50 doesn’t mean your best years are behind you, they’re just beginning because now you have space, freedom and the experience to be who you want to be now!
I encourage you to listen to your body and give it the new kind of space and support it needs to thrive.
This new chapter is about working with your body, not against it. With a little gentleness, consistency, and a whole lot of self-care, you can unlock a renewed sense of strength, capability, and energy. It’s time to embrace this evolution and feel more vibrant than ever.
Ready to Begin?
Join the Ms Longevity Health Hub to get clear, expert guidance on safe exercises after menopause. You’ll receive exclusive content, access to the GL and protein calculators, and support to rebuild your strength and energy with confidence.
