Have you ever asked yourself, why are my workouts getting harder, mid-workout?
You’re not alone.
One of the most common things I hear from former athletes and high-achieving women in their 40s is this: “I’m doing everything right but my workouts feel harder and I’m not getting the results I used to.”
It is not in your head. And it is not because you are lazy, broken, or need to double down on discipline. It is because your body has changed and the way you have been trained to think about fitness has not.
A few years ago, I was in the same place. I was doing the workouts that had always worked. I was tracking food, doing cardio, following the plan. And I still felt like I was spinning my wheels. Not only were the results stalling, but my energy was tanking, my recovery took forever, and I was frustrated beyond belief.
That is why I created my free 10-minute masterclass: The Fitness Rules You Have Been Sold Are Wrong. It breaks down why your go-to routines have stopped working and what to do instead.
In this post, I am walking you through the three biggest mistakes I cover in that masterclass. Because when you understand how your body actually works in midlife, you can stop guessing and start getting results.
Let’s break them down.
All-or-Nothing Eating is Tanking Your Energy and Metabolism
If you have ever skipped breakfast in the name of discipline or tried intermittent fasting because it worked for someone else, you are not alone.
But here is the problem. Most of those nutrition trends were studied in men. And our bodies respond very differently.
For women in midlife, especially in perimenopause, skipping meals is more likely to raise cortisol levels, increase muscle breakdown, and disrupt blood sugar regulation. This leaves you feeling hungrier, moodier, and more fatigued than before.
A 2023 study published in the journal Obesity found that women who followed restrictive eating patterns without adequate fuel intake experienced higher levels of stress hormones and lost more lean mass than fat. Translation Your body is not trying to sabotage you. It is trying to survive.
And let me be clear. This is not just about fasting. It is the whole idea that being good means eating less. That progress means being hungry. That results come from pushing through exhaustion.
If you are under-eating, your body is not going to let go of fat. It is going to hold onto it.
That is why your workouts feel harder. You are trying to perform without fuel.
Your Workouts Don’t Match Your Current Physiology
If you are still doing the workouts that worked in your 20s and 30s, you may be accidentally working against yourself.
Long sessions of cardio. Fasted bootcamps. High-rep circuits with low weights. These used to feel empowering. Now they leave you sore, drained, and spinning your wheels.
The reason is that your hormone profile has changed. Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone all play a role in energy production, muscle recovery, and performance. As these fluctuate or decline in perimenopause, your ability to bounce back from stress also shifts.
According to Dr. Stacy Sims, an exercise physiologist and researcher specializing in female physiology, women in perimenopause need to lift heavier weights, prioritize protein, and recover more intentionally in order to build muscle and maintain metabolic health.
So if your workouts feel harder, it is not that you are not trying hard enough. It is that your training strategy is not aligned with what your body needs right now.
Instead of pushing through and hoping it will click, what if you started training smarter? What if you focused on building strength and power, not burning calories and chasing soreness?
That shift is where the results start to happen.
You Don’t Have a Real Recovery Plan
Here is the honest truth. You cannot out-train poor recovery.
And yet, so many women I work with are doing just that. They are sleeping six hours a night, skipping meals, and wondering why their body feels like it is breaking down.
The answer is recovery. But I am not talking about taking a rest day or doing a yoga class once a week. I am talking about daily strategies to help your nervous system and physiology reset.
That means consistent sleep. Not screen time until midnight and crashing with anxiety. Not five hours and caffeine to push through.
Recent data from the Journal of Women’s Health shows that women in perimenopause need more sleep to support hormone regulation and mental health. In fact, many experts now recommend up to nine hours for optimal function during this transition.
That also means eating enough to support repair and managing stress so your body does not stay in a constant fight or flight mode.
When you recover better, your body performs better. Your joints stop aching. Your cravings go down. Your strength starts to come back. And workouts stop feeling like punishment.
Asking Yourself Why Your Workouts Are Getting Harder
If you are frustrated because your workouts are getting harder, it might be time to look at what is happening behind the scenes.
Are you eating enough to fuel your training?
Are your workouts designed for your body today, not the body you had 10 years ago?
Are you getting enough recovery to actually rebuild?
These are the questions that matter. And this is what I break down in my free 10-minute masterclass, The Fitness Rules You Have Been Sold Are Wrong.
You do not need more discipline. You need better information. And you need a plan that reflects the truth of your body in midlife.
That is exactly why I also offer the Fitness Roadmap Call, a free 30-minute session where we talk through what is happening in your fitness, nutrition, and routine, and identify the biggest opportunities to shift things.
Because the answer is not to go harder. It is to go smarter.
👉 Watch the 10-minute masterclass here
👉 Book your Fitness Roadmap Call
References
https://www.health.harvard.edu/staying-healthy/exercise-and-aging-can-you-still-build-muscle-over-50
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5370393/
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-exercise-may-feel-harder-as-you-get-older
https://journals.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00320.2020
