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We know lifting heavy, doing plyometrics, and adding intensity to our routines help us stay strong and powerful as our bodies change during the menopause transition. But where do we start? What if we can’t jump? How do we lift heavy if we don’t have heavy weights? Longtime trainer and now one of the leaders of the Menopause for Athletes Alumni group, Kerry Ann Madden digs into the nuts and bolts o...

In the year and a half since we started this podcast, many women have gone from being afraid to take hormone therapy to being afraid not to take hormone therapy, as some in the menopause field are saying that menopause is really a “hormone deficiency” and we can’t age well without it. This week we dive in on what hormone therapy is; what it can do (especially for performance and health); what it c...

Kirsten Lewis, at the age of 57, just ran her fastest 5K time–post-menopause, less than two years after she was ready to hang up her racing shoes and walk away from it all while in the throes of the menopause transition. She credits feeling stronger, happier, more grounded, and winning her age group in recent sprint and Olympic distance triathlons to the process of “rewilding menopause”: going bac...

If you’re a woman, someone somewhere has a diet to sell you. If you’re a menopausal woman, that diet is likely to paint carbs as the root of all your woes–and the elimination or restriction of them as your midlife salvation. This week we sat down with dietitian and “undiet” advocate Jenn Salib Huber, RD, ND, to dive into the ketogenic diet, intermittent fasting, food phobia, and how diets can have...

Whether you’re training for a tri, into CrossFit, or just want to be strong for life, barbells are the most effective way to get full-body strong in very little time. Barbell lifting also builds bone and muscle, improves stability and mobility, and makes you feel like a complete badass. This week we talk all about why barbells are the best training medicine and how to get started with coach and co...

Need glasses for the first time in your life? Contacts suddenly feel too tight? Are your eyes dry and itchy? Menopause and midlife can usher in a cascade of vision and eye health changes. Thankfully there are many ways you can sharpen your sight and keep your eyes healthy (and more comfortable!). We dig into all that and more with this week’s guest, Christine Begley, OD. Christine is an optometris...

Dim the lights. Pour a drink. Light some candles. And get ready to…row! Yep, row. Indoor rowing can be an exercise in meditation, says this week’s guest and rowing aficionado, Sarah Fuhrmann. It also uses 86 percent of your muscles and can be an ass-kicking workout when you want it to be. This week we dive into the benefits of rowing, especially for women in the menopausal transition who need to H...

Even if you brush, floss, and get regular dental check-ups, if you’re like many athletes—especially those in the menopause transition—you may still struggle with tooth decay and oral health woes. That’s because both athletics and hormone decline can lead to conditions that set the stage for dental disease and mouth discomfort, both of which can put a damper on your performance (and your pocketbook...

Anyone who’s ever hit the wall at mile 19 of a marathon or fizzled out on a Fran at CrossFit, knows how important glucose (aka sugar) is for energy–both mentally and physically. As women in the menopause transition, we also know that managing generally healthy blood sugar levels can be more challenging as we can become more carbohydrate sensitive and insulin resistant as our hormones decline. This...

We all want to belong. That desire can increase during the menopause transition, when having a community to share experiences with helps us feel less alone. But making those connections isn’t always easy, especially when culture doesn’t include you. This week’s guest, long time athlete Elizabeth Allen, who identifies as a Black, plus-sized GenXer (who is also now firmly in the menopause transition...

For far too long, many of us have defined ourselves (or worse our self worth) by the size of our thighs and the circumference of our waistline, setting ourselves up for a lifelong battle with our bodies and an underlying discontent with who we are based upon a largely unattainable “ideal.” That can get worse during the menopause transition when our body shape starts to shift. This week’s guest, Ka...

Sometimes life sidelines us, knocking us off the path we thought we’d be on forever, or at least for the foreseeable future. Menopause can certainly trip us up. But so can many other random, sometimes terrible, events we never saw coming. And sometimes we end up contending with all of it. This week’s guest, Jennifer Maxwell, knows all about that and talks about how she has maintained her athletici...

What do you do when menopause turns you into a nearly unrecognizable version of yourself? If you’re Gina Ransom, you pore through every resource you can find, advocate for yourself and others in the same situation, and form a community so you all can keep on kicking ass.  Gina is a lifelong fitness professional who was blindsided by depression, anxiety, anger, as well as a host of physical sy...

It’s easy to look at the barriers we face and think, “I can’t.” Leah Goldstein is here this week to show you, you can. Leah won the Race Across America (RAAM) outright last year at age 52, beating the next closest man by 17 hours. But that barely scratches the surface of her myriad accomplishments and the indomitable spirit that we dive into on the show this week. Leah was the World Kickboxing Cha...

Running is a coping mechanism for many trauma survivors. You lace up and put one foot in front of the other for solace and escape. But what happens when you hit menopause and the demons start to catch up? This week’s guest, coach and endurance athlete Athena Farias talks about all that and more this week as she unpacks how the symptoms she’s facing during the menopause transition are magnified by...

Menopause can be a wet blanket for competitive athletes. How do you keep showing up to start lines when you’re managing hot flashes, heat intolerance, poor sleep, and watching peers walk away from the sport? This week’s guest has some answers. A lifelong athlete and self proclaimed triathlon addict, Julie Dunkle, now in her mid 50s, has had to navigate a number of physical and emotional challenges...

Most of us–even the most active among us–are limited in how well we move. Sure we can run or ride a bike or lift heavy sh*t, but can we balance on a beam or jump over fallen logs? Can we move with strength and fluidity in every direction? Can we go over, under, and through obstacles with ease? Unless we practice, the answer is likely no. This week’s guest, Dr. Julie Angel, who has completed the wo...

Your brain is your largest--and arguably your most important--sex organ. It’s also the most overlooked, especially during the menopausal transition when we spend a whole lot of time talking about our vaginas (which are important, too, of course!). This week’s guest Kelly Casperson, MD, talks about all of it in a show that drives home the mind-vagina connection during menopause and midlife. Dr. Cas...

Hormone therapy for menopause is rife with confusion, fear, misunderstanding, and outright misinformation. Even doctors, who are often relying on long debunked research, can be at a loss to help women make educated choices for their health, well-being, and performance during this time. This week’s guests, Drs. Avrum Bluming and Carol Tavris, authors of Estrogen Matters go to great lengths to descr...

Longevity in sport takes determination, curiosity, and the ability to adapt to what your mind and body needs as time goes on. That’s the embodiment of professional triathlete, mountain bike racer, coach, and 5x world champion Melanie McQuaid, who continues to kick ass through the menopause transition, placing 3rd at Ironman Chattanooga and 10th at Xterra World Championships in Maui this year. Mela...

“Who am I now?” That’s an identity crisis many of us face during the menopausal transition, especially if we end up taking a step back from our primary sport or activity to figure out what we want from athletics in this next phase of life. This week’s guest, life and wellness coach Lisa Hesse, helps active and athletic women define themselves and find solid ground during the “lifequake” of menopau...

“Menopause Is Hell. It Also Made Me a Better Climber.” That’s the title of a feature article written in Outside magazine by this week’s guest and legendary outdoor sport athlete Jeannie Wall. We dig into what that piece is all about and address topics of fear, anxiety, rage, hot flashes, night sweats, fatigue, and the power, yes the power, of invisibility. Jeannie spent decades as a world class sk...

Joint pain, hot flashes, night sweats, crushing fatigue. Menopause can usher in a host of symptoms that make daily life challenging, let alone daily life on top of training and racing as a recreational athlete, being a mom, and managing a business. But with knowledge, practice, and patience, it can be done. This week’s guest, Registered Sports Nutritionist, ultra-runner, mom of four, and owner of...

Women make testosterone. It works in concert with estrogen and progesterone to maintain healthy muscles and bones and fires up your sex drive and helps protect your brain. Yet there are no FDA approved testosterone products for women and “T” is not included in standard menopausal hormone therapy. So women are left to their own devices, and reasonably have a lot of questions about when they might n...

Our performance nutrition needs change during the menopause transition. Few know that better than women who both teach it and live it as athletes and sports dietitians, like this week’s guest ​​Lauren Antonucci, RDN, CSSD, author of High-Performance Nutrition for Masters Athletes. Along with being a sports nutritionist, Lauren is a runner, an Ironman athlete, and a mom of three. Once she hit perim...