The Study
Resistance training alters body composition in middle-aged women depending on menopause - A 20-week control trial
This study shows that lifting weights made women stronger, no matter if they were still having periods or not. But only the women who still had periods gained muscle and lost fat—so it’s not just about lifting, but also about hormones. We can’t say for sure that lifting caused the muscle gain because not everyone was blind to the study, but it’s the best kind of evidence we have.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Women who still have periods built more muscle and lost fat after lifting weights twice a week for 20 weeks. Women who’ve gone through menopause got stronger but didn’t build muscle or lose fat — even with the same workouts.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 569 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — strength gains are great for daily life, but if you're post-menopausal and want to build muscle or lose fat, twice-weekly training with 6–8 sets per muscle group isn't enough — you likely need more volume.
- 2Pre-menopausal women: muscle mass up by strong effect (d=1.25), fat down by moderate effect (d=0.57).
- 3Post-menopausal women: no muscle gain, no fat loss — but squat and bench press strength went up by strong effect (d=1.51–1.64).
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
BMC Women's Health
Year
2023
Authors
E. Isenmann, Dominik Kaluza, Tim Havers, Ana Elbeshausen, S. Geisler, Katharina Hofmann, Ulrich Flenker, Patrick Diel, S. Gavanda
Related Content
Claims (6)
Resistance training improves muscular strength, muscle growth, and fat loss equally in women regardless of whether they are premenopausal or postmenopausal.
Middle-aged women aged 40–60 who perform free weight resistance training twice a week for 20 weeks experience measurable increases in their maximum strength for squat and bench press, and these gains occur regardless of menopausal status due to improvements in nerve-muscle coordination, not hormone levels.
Middle-aged women who train with free weights at 6–8 sets per muscle group per week at 50–75% of their one-rep maximum gain more muscle and fat-free mass if they are pre-menopausal, but do not gain muscle or fat-free mass if they are post-menopausal, even when doing the same workout.
In middle-aged women, resistance training with free weights at 6–8 sets per muscle group per week does not reduce fat mass after menopause, but it does reduce fat mass moderately before menopause.
In post-menopausal women, resistance training with free weights at 6–8 sets per muscle group per week does not significantly increase muscle thickness in the vastus lateralis, while pre-menopausal women show a trend toward increased muscle thickness in the same muscle.
In post-menopausal middle-aged women, performing 6 to 8 sets of free weight exercises per muscle group each week does not result in muscle growth; muscle growth requires more than 10 sets per muscle group each week.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.