That distinction matters. Women do not need five unrelated definitions of strength as they move from adolescence to postmenopause.
We need one sound training process that can meet a woman where she is and evolve with her.
The exercises matter. The decisions around them matter more.
What actually counts as strength training?
Strength training means working your muscles against resistance. A squat to a bench, a machine row, a push-up to an elevated surface and a barbell deadlift can all be strength exercises.
The equipment does not decide whether the training is effective. The important questions are whether the movement is appropriate, whether the effort is sufficient and whether the programme creates a way to progress.
A workout can feel hard without being a strength programme. Fatigue is an experience, not an adaptation.
A programme turns exercise into training by recording the exercise, range, repetitions, sets, resistance and effort, then using that information to decide what comes next.
Pilates is not the same thing as strength training
Pilates can be valuable for movement practice, control, mobility and muscular endurance. It may also improve strength in people who are new to exercise.
But many ordinary Pilates classes do not expose the major muscle groups to sufficiently challenging, measurable and progressively increasing resistance for muscle and strength development to be the programme’s primary job.
That is not an attack on Pilates. It is a demand for accurate labels.
A reformer spring creates resistance, but resistance alone does not make a complete strength programme. If the load, repetitions, range and effort are not recorded and progressed as the woman adapts, the class may keep feeling hard while the strength stimulus stays largely the same.
CrossFit and HYROX are sports
CrossFit and HYROX deliberately combine strength-related tasks with substantial conditioning. CrossFit is a high-intensity functional sport with both anaerobic and aerobic demands.
HYROX is a running-focused hybrid sport built around repeated one-kilometre runs and exercise stations. If your goal is to become a better CrossFit or HYROX athlete, that combination is specific to your sport.
If your primary goal is muscle and strength, however, sport performance and strength development should not be treated as identical. Racing the clock changes the task because the clock rewards you for finishing quickly, not necessarily for producing your best repetition.
Without a sufficient strength and skill base, fatigue can encourage you to rush repetitions, shorten your range or lose position and control. Once speed and fatigue outrun your skill, those repetitions can become risky quickly, particularly when the load or movement is demanding.
Frequent variation also makes your progression harder to see.
What this study teaches us about building muscle at every life stage
A 2023 study of women aged 40 to 60 found that strength improved in every group. Measurable muscle growth appeared in the premenopausal women, but not in either postmenopausal group at the amount and intensity of training used.
Within this trial, the postmenopausal women were the hardest group in whom to build muscle. The researchers suggested they may need more than two strength sessions each week, more than six to eight sets per muscle and loads heavier than half of their maximum strength.
In plain language, when muscle is harder to build, light resistance twice a week may not be enough. You may need more weekly work and more chances to lift loads closer to your heaviest with good technique.
That does not make this an over-40 training approach. We build our programming standard around the woman who finds it hardest to build and preserve muscle, then adjust the starting point and dose to you.
At 20, that standard can help you build a juicy set of glutes that fills out your bikini. Through pregnancy, postpartum and perimenopause, it gives you a measured way to stay strong, rebuild and progress as your body and capacity change.
By postmenopause, your goal may be protecting muscle, quality of life and independence. Your goal changes, but the need for a measured and progressive muscle-building dose does not.
A strength programme should be able to tell you:
- which movement and range you are training;
- how many sets and repetitions you performed;
- how much resistance you used and how hard the set was;
- what will progress when the current dose is achieved;
- how weekly volume and recovery support the outcome; and
- when the programme will deload, test or reassess.
If those answers do not exist, you may still be exercising. You may be improving fitness, skill or muscular endurance.
But you should not assume you are building muscle or strength effectively.
At our women-only studio in West End, Brisbane, that decision process is the Evolved Method. We use PRIME to coach the movement: Posture, Range, Identify, Measure, Evaluate and Evolve.
If a movement is not yet proficient or comfortable, we may reduce the range, add support, change equipment or return to the previous proficient variation. Regression is not failure.
It is how we preserve the training effect while improving the skill.
Perimenopause, a 100 kg deadlift and HYROX with her daughter: Johanna’s story
For the complete map across strength, nutrition, sleep and recovery, and mindset and confidence, use The Complete Guide to Women’s Strength and Transformation Across Every Life Stage.
About Megan Brown
Megan Brown is co-owner and head coach at The Evolved All Female Gym in West End, Brisbane. She has coached women through strength training since 2013 and holds a Certificate IV in Fitness, including pregnancy training, and a Certified Metabolic Nutritionist qualification.
At The Evolved, she leads coaching standards and trainer development.
Research behind this article
- Controlled trial of measured free-weight training in women aged 40–60
- Systematic review of CrossFit evidence and outcomes
- Study of HYROX demands and performance
Research shows us what happened across groups of women, not exactly how you will respond. The Evolved Method explains how we turn that evidence into coaching and programming decisions for the woman in front of us.
