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Why Your Body Changes After 40, Even When Your Habits Haven’t, with Bria Gadd
Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything right with your fitness, but suddenly nothing seems to work anymore?
You’re eating well, exercising regularly and following the same routine that kept you fit for years. Yet you’re gaining weight, feeling exhausted, struggling to recover and wondering what’s gone wrong.
For many women, this becomes a frustrating reality during their late thirties, forties and fifties.
But what if the answer isn’t to train harder or eat less?
In the latest episode of the Storm Fitness Academy Podcast, I spoke with Bria Gadd, also known as The Period Whisperer, about women’s health, perimenopause, exercise, recovery and why fitness professionals need to rethink how they support women through midlife.
Bria is a Functional Diagnostic Nutrition Practitioner, Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and NASM-certified Personal Trainer with more than 17 years of experience in women’s health.
Her story offers some valuable lessons, not just for women experiencing these changes, but for anyone working in the fitness industry.
Listen to the Podcast
When Doing More Exercise Stops Working
Bria’s journey into women’s health began with her own experiences.
For years, she worked as a personal trainer and nutrition coach, helping women improve their health through exercise and nutrition.
Like many fitness professionals, she’d been taught a fairly straightforward approach to weight management: move more and eat less.
And for a long time, that approach appeared to work.
But around the age of 35 to 37, things started to change.
Bria noticed that both she and many of her clients were experiencing similar problems.
Despite maintaining their usual healthy habits, they were struggling with weight gain, fatigue, anxiety, poor sleep and changes in their menstrual cycles.
Naturally, Bria responded in the way many dedicated fitness enthusiasts would.
She got up earlier, exercised harder and tightened up her nutrition.
Unfortunately, things got worse.
Her sleep deteriorated, her energy levels dropped and she continued to struggle with her health.
Eventually, she realised something important.
The answer wasn’t necessarily to work harder. She needed to understand what had changed.
For personal trainers, this is a particularly important lesson.
When a client stops making progress, it’s tempting to increase their training volume, reduce their calorie intake or encourage them to be more disciplined.
But what if the problem isn’t their effort?
What if they’re already doing too much?
What Happens to Women’s Bodies During Perimenopause?
Perimenopause is the transitional period leading up to menopause, during which reproductive hormones fluctuate and menstrual cycles may become less predictable.
For some women, symptoms are relatively mild. For others, they can significantly affect everyday life.
Common symptoms include:
- Changes in menstrual cycles
- Hot flushes and night sweats
- Sleep disturbances
- Changes in mood and anxiety
- Difficulty concentrating or brain fog
- Changes in body composition
- Fatigue and reduced perceived recovery
These symptoms vary considerably between individuals.
Bria explained that one of the biggest mistakes we can make is looking at these changes in isolation.
Hormones interact with many other physiological systems, and a woman’s experience of midlife can also be influenced by sleep, nutrition, stress, physical activity and underlying health conditions.
However, it’s important to recognise that not every symptom in midlife is caused by perimenopause.
Persistent fatigue, unexpected weight changes and poor recovery can have other explanations, including thyroid disorders, iron deficiency, inadequate energy intake or sleep problems.
This is why fitness professionals need to understand both the physiological changes associated with ageing and the limits of their professional role.
Understanding Health Debt: Are You Spending More Energy Than You Have?
One of the most interesting concepts Bria introduced during our conversation was something she calls health debt.
She compares the body’s energy resources to a financial budget.
Every day, we have demands placed upon us.
We work, exercise, look after our families, manage responsibilities and deal with the various stresses of everyday life.
All these activities require physical or psychological resources.
At the same time, we need sufficient nutrition, sleep and recovery to support those demands.
Bria suggests that when our demands consistently exceed our ability to recover, we begin accumulating what she calls health debt.
It’s a useful analogy for understanding why someone might struggle to recover from training.
Imagine someone working long hours, sleeping poorly, managing family responsibilities and completing five demanding gym sessions every week.
They might have the discipline to keep going, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re recovering adequately.
Eventually, they may notice declining performance, persistent fatigue, reduced motivation or a general feeling that everything is becoming harder.
The important distinction is that health debt is Bria’s coaching framework, rather than a recognised medical diagnosis.
Nevertheless, the underlying message is worth considering.
Training is only beneficial when the body has sufficient resources to adapt to it.
Exercise provides the stimulus, but recovery is where adaptation takes place.
Should Women Exercise Less During Perimenopause?
This was one of the most important questions arising from our conversation.
If someone is struggling with fatigue and recovery, should they reduce their exercise?
The answer depends on the individual.
Bria described how she had previously followed a demanding training routine involving resistance training, high-intensity exercise and cardio.
As her circumstances changed, she realised she needed to reconsider how much training she was doing and whether she was recovering sufficiently.
However, this doesn’t mean women should automatically reduce their exercise when they reach perimenopause.
In fact, regular physical activity becomes particularly important during midlife.
Resistance training can help preserve muscle mass, improve strength and support bone health.
Aerobic exercise remains important for cardiovascular health, metabolic fitness and general wellbeing.
The key is finding an appropriate balance.
For example, someone who is sleeping well, eating adequately and recovering between sessions may be perfectly capable of following a demanding training programme.
Someone experiencing severe sleep disruption, persistent fatigue and considerable life stress might benefit from temporarily reducing their training load.
Rather than asking whether women should train harder or less, perhaps a better question is:
How much training can this individual benefit from and recover from at this stage of their life?
That’s a much more useful starting point for effective programme design.
Why Recovery Matters Just as Much as Training
One of the themes that kept emerging during our conversation was the importance of listening to your body.
Bria explained how fitness enthusiasts can become so focused on discipline and consistency that they ignore signs that something needs adjusting.
We’ve probably all experienced this.
You wake up feeling exhausted, but you’ve promised yourself you’ll train.
So you drink another coffee, drag yourself to the gym and complete the session anyway.
Sometimes that’s perfectly reasonable.
But if you’re consistently exhausted, sleeping poorly and struggling to recover, repeatedly pushing through may not be the most productive approach.
This is where good coaching becomes particularly valuable.
A personal trainer should consider more than simply whether a client completed their previous session.
They should also be interested in how the client responded to it.
Did they recover?
How did they sleep?
Are they experiencing unusual soreness?
How are their energy levels?
Has their performance improved or deteriorated?
These questions can help coaches make more informed decisions about exercise intensity, volume and progression.
Recovery shouldn’t be viewed as something separate from training.
It’s an essential part of the process.
Are Fitness Trackers Helping Us or Making Things More Complicated?
Another interesting part of our conversation focused on technology.
As a sport scientist, I love data.
Heart rate monitors, fitness watches, calorie-tracking apps and recovery metrics can provide valuable information about someone’s training and lifestyle.
But I’ve also started questioning whether we sometimes become too dependent on them.
For example, imagine waking up feeling refreshed after a good night’s sleep, only to discover that your fitness watch has given you a terrible sleep score.
Suddenly, you’re questioning how well you slept.
Or perhaps your watch tells you that you haven’t recovered properly, even though you feel energetic and ready to train.
Bria and I discussed the importance of using technology as a tool rather than allowing it to dictate every decision.
Fitness trackers can help identify trends, monitor training loads and support behaviour change.
However, they aren’t perfect measurements of how someone feels or performs.
Sometimes the simplest questions are just as valuable.
How do you feel today?
Are you hungry?
Are you satisfied after eating?
Do you feel recovered from your last session?
Technology should help us understand our bodies, not replace our ability to listen to them.
What Personal Trainers Need to Understand About Women’s Health
For me, one of the biggest takeaways from this interview was the importance of looking beyond the client’s immediate fitness goal.
A client might approach a personal trainer because they want to lose weight, build muscle or improve their fitness.
But those goals don’t tell us everything we need to know.
We also need to understand their lifestyle, health, training history and current circumstances.
This is particularly relevant when working with women experiencing perimenopause.
Here are five practical lessons for fitness professionals.
1. Ask Better Questions
Don’t focus exclusively on body weight, calorie intake and exercise habits.
Ask about sleep, stress, recovery, energy levels and any changes that might affect their training.
With appropriate sensitivity and consent, discussing menstrual health and menopause symptoms may also be relevant.
2. Individualise the Programme
Two women of the same age can have very different experiences of perimenopause.
One might be training for a marathon while another is struggling with severe sleep disruption.
Their training programmes shouldn’t automatically look the same.
3. Prioritise Strength Training
Maintaining muscle mass and strength becomes increasingly important with age.
Progressive resistance training can support physical function, bone health and long-term independence.
The goal should be to develop strength progressively, using an appropriate training dose.
4. Consider Recovery Before Adding More Exercise
When progress slows, don’t automatically increase the training load.
Review the client’s recovery, nutrition, sleep and overall activity first.
Sometimes a change in training stimulus is needed. Sometimes the client needs more time to recover.
5. Recognise When to Refer
Personal trainers can provide valuable support through exercise and lifestyle coaching.
However, they shouldn’t diagnose hormonal disorders, thyroid problems or nutritional deficiencies.
Clients experiencing persistent or concerning symptoms should be encouraged to speak with an appropriately qualified healthcare professional.
In the UK, the NHS and NICE provide evidence-based guidance on menopause assessment and management.
Could Women’s Health Be a Valuable Specialism for Personal Trainers?
Towards the end of our conversation, I asked Bria what advice she would give to personal trainers interested in specialising in women’s health.
Her response highlighted the importance of continuing to learn.
Women’s health involves far more than simply modifying exercises during pregnancy or menopause.
It requires an understanding of physiological changes, behaviour, recovery, lifestyle and the challenges women experience at different stages of life.
For aspiring personal trainers, this represents an opportunity to develop a valuable area of expertise.
However, specialising responsibly also means recognising where exercise coaching ends and clinical healthcare begins.
Additional education in menopause, female physiology, exercise programming and behaviour change can help trainers provide more appropriate support.
Building relationships with healthcare professionals can also strengthen the service they offer.
Most importantly, good coaches need to remain curious.
They need to listen, ask questions and avoid assuming that the same approach will work for every client.
The Biggest Lesson: Better Coaching Isn’t Always About Doing More
One thing I particularly enjoyed about speaking with Bria was how her experiences challenged some traditional fitness assumptions.
As coaches, we’re often surrounded by messages about discipline, consistency and pushing ourselves.
And those qualities certainly have their place.
But sometimes, the most effective decision is to adjust the plan rather than simply demand more effort.
For someone experiencing the changes associated with midlife, that might mean modifying their training, prioritising sleep, improving their nutrition or seeking medical advice about persistent symptoms.
For a personal trainer, it means taking the time to understand the person standing in front of you.
Because ultimately, effective coaching isn’t about giving everyone the hardest workout possible.
It’s about helping people make sustainable progress in a way that supports their health and quality of life.
Connect with Bria Gadd, The Period Whisperer
Want to learn more about women’s health, perimenopause, hormones and healthy ageing?
You can follow Bria’s work, access her educational resources and listen to The Period Whisperer Podcast through the links below.
- Website: Bria The Period Whisperer
- Instagram: @bria_period_whisperer
- Facebook: Bria The Period Whisperer
- YouTube: Bria Gadd, The Period Whisperer
Interested in Becoming a Personal Trainer?
At Storm Fitness Academy, we believe great personal trainers do more than prescribe exercises. They understand their clients, recognise individual challenges and help people build healthier, more fulfilling lives.
If you’re passionate about fitness and would love to help others, explore our Level 3 Personal Training qualification and discover how you could turn that passion into a rewarding career.
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