Evidence library · Muscle strength

Does other exercise affect muscle strength in menopause? What 15 studies found

Studies of other exercise in perimenopausal and postmenopausal women that measured muscle strength. 12 reported an improvement and 1 found no difference against the comparison group.

  1. A review of seven trials with 400 women found exercise therapies showed very uncertain or little effect on joint pain, stiffness, grip strength or quality of life from aromatase inhibitor side effects.

    No difference foundMeta-analysis · 400 participants pooled · 2020PostmenopausalCited 36 timesPubMed

  2. 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

  3. Postmenopausal women with vertebral fractures did six months of group exercise and coping classes, improving trunk strength and psychological symptoms versus health education controls, with no change in pain.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 185 women · 26 weeks · 2004PostmenopausalCited 63 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. Postmenopausal women with osteoporosis did 10 months of land or aquatic exercise; land exercise improved muscle strength, flexibility, gait time, pain and bone density more than aquatic exercise.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 58 women · 43 weeks · 2014PostmenopausalCited 22 timesPubMed

  7. Postmenopausal women with stage-2 hypertension did 12 weeks of Taekwondo training, and researchers reported decreased blood pressure, arterial stiffness and epinephrine, and increased grip and leg strength.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 20 women · 12 weeks · 2019PostmenopausalCited 21 timesPubMed

  8. Postmenopausal women with fibromyalgia who did 6 weeks of exercise with or without added whole-body vibration both improved quality of life and strength, with greater strength gains in the vibration group.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 30 women · 6 weeks · 2010PostmenopausalCited 24 timesPubMed

  9. 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.

    Mixed resultsRandomised trial · 34 women · 10 weeks · 2020PostmenopausalCited 12 timesPubMed

  10. In 32 postmenopausal women aged 62 to 75, six weeks of stair climbing, electrostimulation, or both increased leg strength and vertical jump, with combined training also affecting bone density.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 32 women · 6 weeks · 2005PostmenopausalCited 17 timesPubMed

  11. Sedentary postmenopausal women did 10 weeks of aerobic and strength training with or without whole-body electromyostimulation; the stimulation group showed greater power and velocity gains but little effect on body composition.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 34 women · 10 weeks · 2020PostmenopausalCited 9 timesPubMed

  12. In 23 sedentary middle-aged women, six weeks of resistance training combined with electrical stimulation reduced LDL and total cholesterol more than resistance training alone, with no difference in glucose or CRP.

    Reported an improvementRandomised trial · 23 women · 6 weeks · 2026Midlife womenPubMed

  13. In 82 overweight, sedentary postmenopausal women, researchers found that greater lower-body muscle strength was positively associated with insulin sensitivity.

    Direction not statedCross-sectional study · 82 women · 2007PostmenopausalCited 20 timesPubMed

  14. Seven postmenopausal cancer survivors did a weekly 12-week hypopressive exercise program, with improved lower limb strength and a small, non-significant decrease in cancer-related fatigue.

    Reported an improvementBefore-and-after study · 7 women · 12 weeks · 2020PostmenopausalCited 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 muscle strength