Strength training

Any exercise that makes your muscles work harder than usual against a resistance. The NHS website describes it as using your body weight or working against a resistance, and lists lifting weights, resistance bands, heavy gardening, climbing stairs, dance, push-ups, squats and yoga as examples.

In Urdu there is no settled word for strength training. What women say is wazan uthana, lifting weights, which is close enough.

It is not the same as walking. In the Pakistan Menopause Society's table on exercise, walking appears as aerobic activity and as weight-bearing exercise for the bones, and strength training has its own row (Table 6).

Why the guidelines single it out for these years comes down to muscle and bone.

NICE NG23 recommends that doctors explain to women going through the menopause how important it is to keep muscle mass and strength through physical activity (1.2.5). The British Menopause Society's tool on weight says that as estrogen falls, lean muscle reduces and metabolic rate slows, and that more fat settles around the middle.

The Pakistan Menopause Society names limited physical exercise and a high osteoporosis burden among the key challenges for menopause care in Pakistan (4.1). Its recommendations call weight-bearing exercise essential for bone health, and particularly important for that reason (Table 6). See osteoporosis and bone health.

The Pakistan Menopause Society

Table 6 of the 2026 recommendations lists strength or resistance training using body weight exercises, free weights or resistance bands, next to weight-bearing exercise such as walking and low-impact aerobics. It says regular physical activity improves muscle strength and flexibility and reduces sarcopenia, the loss of muscle with age. The recommendations also ask doctors to ask women about joint and muscle pain and loss of strength, and to encourage resistance exercise (Table 2).

The NHS

The NHS website's advice for menopause lists regular exercise, with a focus on weight-bearing exercise to build strength, as one way to help protect against weakening bones. To protect the bones, it names exercise where your feet and legs carry your weight, such as walking or dancing, and resistance exercise, such as using weights.

Its strength exercises page is built for home. Several moves use a sturdy chair without wheels or arms: standing up from sitting, mini-squats holding the chair back, calf raises, a press-up against the wall, and arm curls with light weights, where filled water bottles will do. It says the exercises are gentle, and to build up slowly.

The British Menopause Society

The BMS tool on nutrition and weight gain says regular, consistent resistance exercise builds muscle and raises metabolic rate. It encourages moderate, regular strength work over the occasional intense gym session, and names simple moves such as squats, box press-ups and biceps curls. Our page on weight management has more from the same tool.

Without a gym

None of the guidance above requires a gym. A chair, a wall, a staircase and a pair of water bottles cover most of the NHS home routine. You can do it in shalwar kameez, at home, with the door shut. For anyone who wants a class, women-only sessions are worth asking about locally.

How much and how often are numbers the NHS and the PMS both print. We leave them out here: your doctor or a physiotherapist can set a starting point that fits your body.

Talk to your doctor first if you have a heart condition, osteoporosis or a past fracture, joint problems, or have not exercised for a long time. Ask which moves suit you.

If you already have osteoporosis, The Menopause Society, in the US, says two things worth knowing. Exercise cannot reverse osteoporosis by building new bone, though regular exercise that builds strength and balance can mean fewer falls. And women with osteoporosis, especially after a fracture in the spine, should avoid lifting or pulling while bending forward or twisting, and may do well with exercises that strengthen the muscles along the back.

Mention it if you have noticed a loss of strength, or have had a fall. The Pakistan Menopause Society asks doctors to ask about loss of strength and to consider falls risk and fracture history as part of long-term health (Table 2).

For many women the hard part is not the exercise. It is the time, and the sense that time on yourself is time taken from someone else. The Pakistan Menopause Society lists shared healthy habits with your husband and family as part of menopause care (4.2.6), which may be all the permission a household needs to hear.