Why Strength Training Is One of the Best Things You Can Do for Your Hormones and Metabolism (Especially during Perimenopause)

Written By Melanie Custodio

When most people think about metabolism, they often think about how many calories a person burns at rest, and this is often only brought up in the context of weight loss. However, this is only a tiny slice of the picture. Metabolism is more like your body’s full energy management and communication system- and hormones are the messengers that run that system. 

So what is Metabolism, really?

  • How you convert food into useable energy

  • How you store energy (fat, glycogen)

  • How you use energy (movement, brain function, cell repair, immune activity)

  • How you build and break down tissues

So how does muscle mass impact metabolism and blood sugar? Every time you eat carbohydrates, your blood sugar rises. Your body releases insulin to help move that sugar into your cells to be used as fuel. 

Think of muscle like a sponge that soaks up blood sugar 

  • More muscle = bigger sponge

  • Less muscle = smaller sponge

If the sponge is small, sugar stays in the bloodstream longer, and over time this can lead to insulin resistance.

Lifting weights and building muscle makes that sponge bigger and more efficient at picking up sugar in the blood. Research shows that strength training can significantly improve insulin sensitivity, even without weight loss. (Strasser & Pesta, 2013),  and more recent studies continue to support its effectiveness for improving metabolic health, particularly in midlife and older women (Lopez et al., 2021; Grgic et al., 2022).

Benefits of Strong Muscles with Perimenopause and PCOS

Hormones like estrogen and progesterone rise and fall throughout the menstrual cycle and they obviously signal important messages related to reproductive health. However, that is NOT their only job and I would argue that these hormones deserve their own blog post. 

But to be brief…  the balance between progesterone and estrogen impacts so much:

  • How you process stress

  • What kind of fuel your body prefers (think carbs, protein, fat)

  • Your social energy

  • Your environmental sensitivities

  • How you perceive and make meaning of the world around you

The relationship between these hormones is important throughout the lifecycle, but become especially critical during perimenopause and after menopause. The decline of estrogen levels creates a natural reduction in muscle mass. As muscle decreases the body becomes less good at soaking up that blood sugar, insulin resistance goes up, and when insulin resistance goes up it dampens the message of estrogen and progesterone even further. How do we offset this? We lift weights to interrupt this cycle to preserve and build muscle, and help reduce some of the physiological symptoms of menopause. 

This principle also applies to conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). This insulin resistance cascade is a hallmark for PCOS and can result in higher androgen levels and disrupt ovulation. Improving muscle mass helps decrease insulin resistance and reduce some of the hormonal disruptions associated with PCOS. 

By improving insulin sensitivity, increasing muscle mass, and supporting a healthier balance between muscle and fat tissue, resistance training helps regulate the systems that influence long-term health. In this way, strength training is less like a short-term fitness strategy and more like a long-term investment in how the body functions… and might make for smoother sailing during cycles and seasons of hormonal changes. 

Key things to take away:

  • Muscle is metabolic insurance. The more you have, the better your body handles blood sugar and energy.

  • Strength training improves insulin sensitivity, even if the scale doesn’t change.

  • Hormonal health is influenced by body composition. More muscle creates a better environment for hormones to function.

  • Perimenopause is the time to start (or double down). Waiting makes it harder to rebuild later.

  • It’s never too late. You can build strength, improve metabolism, and support bone health at any age.

References:

Grgic, J., Schoenfeld, B. J., Orazem, J., & Sabol, F. (2022).
Effects of resistance training on muscle size and strength in older adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Sports Medicine.

Lopez, P., Taaffe, D. R., Galvão, D. A., Newton, R. U., & Nonemacher, E. R. (2021).
Resistance training effectiveness on body composition and metabolic health in older women. Obesity Reviews.

Messier, V., et al. (2011).
Menopause and sarcopenia: A potential role for sex hormones. Maturitas, 68(4), 331–336.

Nasution, M. S., & Akbar, A. (2025). Resistance training has an effect on lowering insulin resistance based on HOMA-IR examination in polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) patients: A meta-analysis. 

Strasser, B., & Pesta, D. (2013).
Resistance training for diabetes prevention and therapy. BioMed Research International.

Melanie Custodio