What happened

Isenmann and colleagues pooled 126 studies of 4,019 healthy women, two-thirds of them postmenopausal, mean age 50.9 years (Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport 2026;29(10):1174–1185, PMID 41963141). Resistance training improved strength in both groups — standardised mean difference 1.46 after menopause versus 1.50 before, with no significant difference — and neither age, programme length nor sessions per week changed the result.

For bone, a 2025 review of 17 randomised trials (690 women) found gains in the lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip, but in absolute terms only +0.01–0.02 g/cm². Reviews of the bone evidence rate its quality low to very low, with much heterogeneity between trials.

Why it matters

The fear that menopause closes the window for getting stronger is wrong: the muscle answers the same. The honest limit is bone — real gains, but small and uncertain — which is why this is not 'lifting weights rebuilds bone'.

What comes next

Research on women over 70 is still comparatively limited. The practical message is to train for strength and to treat bone as a separate question, with a doctor, not as a promise from the gym.