Evidence library · Fitness

Does other exercise affect fitness in menopause? What 15 studies found

Studies of other exercise in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured fitness. 12 reported an improvement and 2 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. A meta-analysis of 17 RCTs in postmenopausal women with sarcopenia found exercise interventions improved muscle mass, strength and physical function such as gait speed.

    Reported an improvementMeta-analysis · 744 participants pooled · 2026PostmenopausalCited 1 timesPubMed

  2. A meta-analysis of five RCTs in postmenopausal women with knee osteoarthritis found exercise improved physical function but did not differ from control for pain or stiffness.

    Reported an improvementMeta-analysis · 2024PostmenopausalCited 6 timesPubMed

  3. A systematic review of nine studies using virtual reality exercise games in climacteric women found improvements in pelvic floor strength, balance, cardiorespiratory fitness and bone density versus conventional approaches.

    Reported an improvementSystematic review · 298 participants pooled · 2022PerimenopausalCited 5 timesPubMed

  4. 92 postmenopausal women with obesity did diet, physical-cognitive exercise, or both for 3 months, and exercise groups showed improved memory, BDNF, insulin and body fat versus controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 92 women · 12 weeks · 2024PostmenopausalCited 42 timesPubMed

  5. Over 14 weeks, postmenopausal women adding whole-body electromyostimulation to their usual endurance and strength training maintained resting metabolic rate and gained more strength than controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 30 women · 14 weeks · 2010PostmenopausalCited 71 timesPubMed

  6. Menopausal women aged 45 to 59 practiced Rusie Dutton traditional Thai exercise for 13 weeks and showed significant improvements in fitness, flexibility, blood pressure and quality of life versus controls.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 50 women · 13 weeks · 2014Midlife womenCited 20 timesPubMed

  7. Over 10 weeks, sedentary postmenopausal women doing aerobic and strength training with or without whole-body electrostimulation improved strength, agility and speed, with added cardiovascular benefit from electrostimulation.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 34 women · 10 weeks · 2020PostmenopausalCited 12 timesPubMed

  8. In postmenopausal women with osteoporosis doing an 18 month exercise program, individually coached and group coached training showed similar improvements in physical function and activity levels.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 52 women · 78 weeks · 2023PostmenopausalCited 4 timesPubMed

  9. Thirty-four middle-aged women with knee pain did 12 weeks of rehabilitative exercise scheduled in massed or distributed sessions, and both improved balance, functional performance and pain versus control.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 34 women · 12 weeks · 2023Midlife womenCited 3 timesPubMed

  10. Depressed postmenopausal women with sexual dysfunction did supervised diaphragmatic breathing exercises for 12 weeks and had greater reductions in depression scores and increases in sexual function scores than controls, with no difference in walk test distance.

    No difference foundRandomised trial · 64 women · 12 weeks · 2026PostmenopausalPubMed

  11. In a 12-week trial, middle-aged women doing home-based slow-paced breathing showed similar balance and aerobic endurance to controls, with no significant between-group differences.

    No difference foundRandomised trial · 26 women · 12 weeks · 2025Midlife womenPubMed

  12. In 43 sedentary postmenopausal women, 12 weeks of cycle ergometer training twice weekly increased VO2max by 9.2% and reduced weight, while a passive exercise device did not improve fitness.

    Mixed resultsRandomised trial · 43 women · 12 weeks · 1990PostmenopausalCited 1 timesPubMed

  13. Postmenopausal women did 12 weeks of Bungy Pump Training, 3 times weekly, and showed greater gains in fitness and reductions in visceral fat and body fat than women doing daily activity.

    Reported an improvementControlled trial · 56 women · 12 weeks · 2025PostmenopausalCited 1 timesPubMed

  14. In 15 postmenopausal women, 8 weeks of endurance training combined with prior blood withdrawal improved left ventricular systolic and diastolic heart function during exercise testing.

    Reported an improvementBefore-and-after study · 15 women · 8 weeks · 2022PostmenopausalCited 3 timesPubMed

  15. In a 3 month home-based internet physical-cognitive exercise program for middle-aged obese women, body weight and BMI decreased while fitness and lower limb muscle power improved, with high adherence.

    Reported an improvementBefore-and-after study · 33 women · 12 weeks · 2023Midlife womenCited 1 timesPubMed

How to read this. Each line is one study, summarised in plain language from its PubMed abstract, with the authors' own sentence underneath on the study page. A count of studies is not a verdict: trials differ in size, length and quality, and a result in one group of women may not hold in another. Nothing here is medical advice.

Summaries are generated, then checked by machine against the abstract they came from; any summary that could not be matched word for word was left out. Our clinical lead is reviewing the summaries topic by topic, and this note will change when that is done. Corpus last refreshed 2026-11-03. Spotted a mistake? Tell us and we will fix the summary or remove the study.

Other exercise types and fitness