The Fear of Bulking Up: Why It Isn't Only About Getting Bigger and What Perimenopause Can Resurface

Menopause UnMuted · Sep 17, 2026 · 23m

Almost every new client asks me some version of the same question before we even get into her program: "Will lifting weights make me bulky?" In this episode, I'm taking that fear seriously instead of brushing past it with reassurance.

We'll get into the physiology first — why men naturally carry more baseline muscle than women, what a 2025 meta-analysis out of Deakin University found when it looked at how men and women build muscle relative to their own starting point, and what it would take for a woman to bulk up on purpose (spoiler: it's a lot more than picking up a dumbbell).

Then I want…