“Your bone density results show osteopenia.”
Those words from my doctor at age 30 hit me like a truck. Osteopenia? In my thirties? Wasn’t that something that happened to women decades older than me?
As someone who’d always been active, I couldn’t understand how my bones were already showing signs of weakness – until I learned about my early menopause diagnosis.
Fast forward three years: my follow-up DEXA scan showed my bone density had not only stopped declining but had actually improved. My doctor was shocked. “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it,” she told me.
What was I doing? One hour of strategic strength training per week. Not daily marathon gym sessions. Not complicated routines. Just one focused hour of proper, progressive strength work every week.
If you’re concerned about your bone health during perimenopause or menopause (and you should be), I want to share exactly how I did it, and why it’s simpler than you might think.
The Silent Threat: What’s Really Happening to Your Bones
Here’s what nobody tells you clearly enough: when oestrogen declines during perimenopause and menopause, your bones start losing density much faster than before.
In fact, women can lose up to 20% of their bone density in the 5-7 years following menopause. For perspective, that’s roughly the same amount of bone loss that occurs over the entire rest of your adult life.
The traditional advice? Usually calcium supplements, vitamin D, and “weight-bearing exercise” (which many doctors interpret as walking).
While these have their place (and I’m sure my daily dog walk did help the bone density in my hips), they’re woefully inadequate for truly protecting your skeleton during this critical time. Walking simply doesn’t create enough stress on your bones to stimulate meaningful new growth across your whole body.
And if you’re like most of my clients, you’ve probably thought:
- “I don’t have time for complicated workout routines”
- “It’s probably too late for me anyway”
- “I’m not strong enough to do the kind of exercise that would help”
I’m here to tell you those concerns are based on myths, not reality.
The Power of 1 Hour: How Your Skeleton Responds to Strength Training
Your bones adapt to the loads placed upon them. When you create enough stress on your bones, they respond by building new bone tissue to handle that stress better in the future.
It’s really similar to how muscles grow, except you can’t see it happening.
The key is creating enough stress to stimulate this response, which is why strength training dramatically outperforms cardio for bone health. When you lift weights properly, you create forces on your bones that can reach 3-4 times your body weight. Walking, by comparison, creates forces only slightly above your body weight.
This is why just one hour of focused strength training per week can transform your skeleton, because it’s not about the time spent, but about the quality of the stress you create.
My approach was simple:
- Two 30-minute sessions per week (sometimes combined into one hour)
- Focus on compound movements that stress the most bone-dense areas
- Progressive overload (gradually increasing weight as I got stronger)
- Proper form to ensure safety and effectiveness
Within six months, I noticed changes in my strength and energy. Within a year, my DEXA scan confirmed what I hoped – my bones were actually rebuilding.
My Simple, Proven Method: Getting Started
The beauty of effective strength training for bone health is that it doesn’t mean complicated routines or hours in the gym. It just takes focus on the right movements:
Squats (and variations): These stress your spine, hips and femurs – key areas for fracture risk in menopause.
Deadlifts (and variations): Probably the single most effective exercise for bone health, deadlifts create stress through your entire posterior chain (think core, glutes and back).
Presses (overhead and chest): These movements stress your upper spine, shoulders and arms, areas often neglected but crucial for functional independence.
When starting out, proper form is far more important than heavy weight. In fact, many of my clients begin with just bodyweight or very light weights to master the movements before progressively adding load.
And that one hour per week? It’s flexible. You can do:
- Two 30-minute sessions
- Three 20-minute sessions
- Even five 12-minute sessions
The key is consistency and quality, not marathon gym sessions.
One of my clients, Jenna, thought she couldn’t possibly fit strength training into her schedule as a busy GP. She now does three 20-minute sessions per week – one at lunch in her office with resistance bands, and two short sessions at home with dumbbells. Her most recent bone scan showed significant improvement after years of declining density.
Beyond Bones: What Else You’ll Experience
While bone health might be what brings you to strength training, it won’t be the only benefit you notice.
Within weeks, my clients report:
Improved mood and mental clarity: Strength training has powerful effects on brain chemistry, helping clear the mental fog that often comes with perimenopause.
Increased functional strength: Suddenly, carrying groceries, lifting kids, or moving furniture becomes easier.
Better balance and stability: Falls are a major risk as we age, and strength training improves the neuromuscular connections that keep you upright.
A sense of empowerment: There’s something SO confidence-building about feeling your body get stronger week by week, especially during a time when many women feel their bodies are betraying them.
As one of my clients put it: “I came for my bones, but I stayed for how it makes me feel in my everyday life.”
One Hour Can Change Everything
When I tell women they can transform their bone health with just one hour of proper strength training per week, I often see skepticism. We’ve been conditioned to believe that meaningful results means suffering and time-consuming routines.
But your skeleton doesn’t need hours of your time, it needs the right kind of stress, applied consistently.
One hour a week is doable, even for the busiest woman. It’s sustainable, even when life gets chaotic. And it’s effective, even if you’re starting from scratch.
The alternative – continuing to lose bone density year after year – leads to a future where fractures limit your independence and quality of life. That’s a future I’m passionate about helping women avoid, because I’ve seen how simple the solution can be.
Ready to build a stronger skeleton and futureproof your body with just one hour a week? Let’s talk about how my approach to strength training can help you protect your bones during perimenopause and beyond.Use the links below to find out m ore about how my straightforward approach to strength training can help you build the strength, confidence, and energy you deserve.
- Download my free “2 Session Strength Kickstart” guide – the perfect starting point if you’re not sure where to begin. Download Now →
- Join my Midlife Strength Newsletter for weekly guidance on simple, effective strength training for perimenopausal women. Subscribe Here →
- Explore personalised support options:
- 1:1 Coaching: Get the same personalised approach that transformed Hannah’s fitness journey, tailored specifically to your needs, schedule, and goals.
- Strength Essentials Programme: Learn the foundations of perimenopausal strength training with a progressive programme – so you don’t have to think about what to do, you just need to show up.