The Stillpoint Personal Training
Evidence Based Strength Training for Women
The evidence on training through perimenopause and menopause is clear: resistance training is one of the most protective things you can do for your long-term health. It preserves muscle mass, supports bone density, improves metabolic function, and has a meaningful impact on mood and cognitive health.
But the how matters. Load, volume, recovery windows, and training frequency all need to reflect where you are hormonally - not where you were at 30. I'm studying for a Masters of Research in Health Science specifically because this gap between the evidence and everyday practice needs closing. My programmes are built on what the research says.
What Works?
Somewhere in your late 30’s or early 40s, the goalposts moved. Exercise stopped producing the results it used to and recovery takes longer. Your body composition changed despite no obvious shift in habits. With sleep disrupted, your energy becomes unpredictable.
From your mid-40s, declining oestrogen affects muscle protein synthesis, bone density, insulin sensitivity, and how your body responds to training load and recovery. Most exercise programmes are not designed with any of this in mind - they're built for younger women, or extrapolated from research on men. That's not good enough.
Whats Changed?
Most programmes start with the programme. I start with the foundations - how you move, where you are right now, and what your body actually needs before any load is added.
Technique comes first. Progressive loading follows only when you're ready for it. And everything is kept simple enough that you can execute it consistently, not just in week one.
That's not a slower approach. It's a smarter one.
The Starting Point
How We Work Together
Strength sits at the centre of everything, but training in your 40s and beyond means looking at the full picture. Recovery, energy, nutrition, and how higher intensity work fits alongside your strength sessions — all of it informs how your programme is built and adjusted over time.
Whether you train with me in person or online, the approach is the same: structured, evidence-based, and built around you specifically. Sessions and programmes are adjusted as you progress — because what you need in month three won't be the same as what you needed on day one.
The Stillpoint® Framework
When everything around you says push harder, do more, train through it - the most effective thing you can do is pause.
The Stillpoint® is where real progress begins. A structured, intentional approach to strength training - built around your changing body.
Pause
Understand what's actually happening in your body. Before any programme begins, we assess where you are, how you move, and what your body needs
Focus
Identify the right training stimulus for your life stage. Not what worked at 30. Not what works for someone else. What works for you, now
Build
Follow a programme designed around your physiology, your hormones, and your starting point. Technique first. Load when you're ready
Sustain
Consistency compounds. We build training that fits your life so it becomes part of it - not something you have to fight to maintain
About Me
I'm Heather. I came to strength training because the evidence on its role in longevity and metabolic health is hard to ignore, particularly for women going through perimenopause and beyond.
But when I started talking to women about training, the same barriers kept coming up. The fear of the gym. Not knowing where to start. Stopping and starting with generic programmes that weren't built for this stage of their lives. The assumption that cardio was the answer. And underneath a lot of it - pain. The aches and joint discomfort that come with declining oestrogen, and the very real fear of making any of it worse.
That fear is legitimate. And it's almost never addressed.
The more women I spoke to, and the deeper I went into the research, the clearer it became that the gap between what the evidence says and what most women are being offered is significant. Women who had always been active were struggling - not because they lacked commitment, but because the information and the programmes available to them weren't designed for their changing bodies.
That's why I trained as a CIMSPA qualified Personal Trainer specialising in women over 40, and why I'm studying for a Masters of Research in Health Science, with a focus on how women in this life stage learn to lift and rebuild trust in their bodies.
I work with women across the full perimenopause and menopause transition, in person in the Salisbury area and online. We start with the foundations - technique, load management, and understanding how your body responds - and build from there. Carefully and with purpose.
If you're ready to train with intention, and find out what strength training can actually do for you now, I'd love to hear from you!
