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For years I chased workouts that left me completely exhausted. I thought if I was drenched and out of breath, it meant I did it right.
But it wasn’t working. I felt puffy, inflamed, and honestly… stuck.
When I turned 40, I started to realize something: about 80% of what I knew didn’t account for what my body was going through.
If you’ve ever felt like your workouts suddenly stopped working, you’re not imagining it.
Hormones shift. Stress hits differently. And the way your body responds to exercise changes with it.
The photo above is just three weeks apart.
Three weeks. Not enough time to completely change body composition… but absolutely enough time to change how your body feels and looks.
7″ gone. Less inflammation. Better sleep. More energy. Digestion and gut health working again. I didn’t just see it, I felt it! That was my turning point.
Not because I worked harder. Because I finally worked with my body.
At 39, I was likely entering perimenopause. I noticed was that everything felt a little off. My stress tolerance wasn’t the same. Sleep wasn’t as solid. And the same workouts that used to work started leaving me feeling more depleted than energized.
I was gassed. I was inflamed. I was 10 pounds heavier.
Why the shift?
You can’t stack stress the same way anymore.
And that includes your workouts.
For me, I had to get rid of everything that made me feel wired and tired.
I needed stress (cortisol) down, and my nervous system regulated.
Especially the long duration ones.
Those workouts were just keeping my body in a constant stressed state. Cortisol was up, inflammation was up, and no matter how hard I pushed, I wasn’t seeing the results I wanted.
Once I pulled that back and replaced it with walking, everything shifted. My body finally started responding again.
I might do the occasional SIT sprint training in 1–2 of my daily walks. But mostly I stick with walking for my cardio.
This turned out to be a win. I learned how to grill, and I tell you what, all five of us eat this.
Instead of overthinking food or trying to make these perfectly planned meals, I simplified everything. I buy protein, vegetables, and potatoes or rice… and I grill.
So now it’s just: a grilled protein, veggies or a salad with a simple homemade dressing (to stay away from those omega 6s) and then potatoes or rice.
So stinking easy. Good for my oldest daughter’s allergy too.
And while I was doing all of this, I naturally got rid of the processed foods. All the boxed, packaged stuff just kind of went away.
This one was big.
I used to think, okay, I did my workout, I’m done for the day. But that’s not how it works.
It was time to increase my NEAT — my daily movement — and not overcomplicate it.
For me, that looks like a 20 to 30 minute walk in the morning. Outdoors. That part matters.
And then every 60 to 90 minutes, I’m moving.
Nothing fancy:
pacing on calls, doing laundry, doing chores, walking for 5 to 10 minutes after a meal.
It all adds up, and it makes a huge difference.
This really helped with that wired and tired feeling.
Those first few hours of the day, you’ve got energy. There’s actually research behind that. That’s when your brain is ready to go, you’ve got clarity, you’ve got focus.
So I start my day with my Bible before I greet anybody, and then I go into the important things I need to get done.
And at the end of the day, I’ve completely changed my routine.
I’m reading. I’m not scrolling in bed anymore.
That alone made a huge difference in calming my system down.
Of course strength training. It’s one of the most important things we can do after 40.
We have to do it after 40 for so many reasons — hormones, bone health — but honestly, you just feel really stinking good and capable.
For me, I use our weekly schedule and I do the Top 2 workouts.
Right now, hormones are still on my side at 46. Down the road, post menopause, I may need to increase to 3x or 4x strength workouts a week.
But right now, this works.
That’s what I changed.
Not more workouts.
Not harder workouts.
Just better alignment with what my body actually needs now.
And that’s when everything started to feel good again.
Until my stress came down, nothing worked.
At 40, my nervous system was stuck in “fight or flight.” Every hard workout just piled more stress on top of stress, and I stayed in that wired and tired state.
The nervous system and musculoskeletal system work hand in hand. Muscles can recover in a day or two, but the nervous system often lags behind.
High stress workouts raise cortisol and adrenaline, which is fine in moderation, but without recovery, it starts to work against you. Chronic stress keeps the body stuck in that fight-or-flight state, and over time, that impacts everything —sleep, fat loss, energy, even your mood.
After 40, your tolerance for that kind of stress narrows. The same workouts that once felt energizing can now feel draining.
Once I changed my workouts, my body stopped fighting me. My hormones and energy finally started lining up.
Resetting the nervous system doesn’t require anything extreme.
Walking.
Better sleep.
Morning sunlight.
Breathing.
Those are the things that signal safety to your body.
My recommendation is still the same: a 30 minute walk daily, done outdoors, with at least 10 minutes in the morning. Outdoor light is significantly brighter than indoor light, and it helps regulate your circadian rhythm, which plays a huge role in sleep and stress.
This is also exactly why I changed how we structure workouts inside our studio programming.
Over the last six years, I’ve really immersed myself in how exercise science applies to women in their 40s and beyond. Not just what builds muscle, but what actually works with your hormones and your nervous system.
That’s why our weekly schedule isn’t random workouts. It’s built around this idea of balance — strength to build and support your body, walking to regulate stress and metabolism, and enough recovery so your body can actually respond.
It’s simple on purpose. Because that’s what works.
Lindsay Brin holds a degree in Exercise Science and has over 20 years of experience helping women, especially women over 40, build strength and redefine what fitness means for life. She has certified Pilates instructors and CPTs across the U.S. and developed a fitness course accredited by National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) and American Council on Exercise (ACE).
But her most transformative learning came after 40, when she began experiencing perimenopause. Lindsay immersed herself in the science of aging, hormones, walking, HIIT, and strength training—ultimately developing a method that works with your body, not against it.
This is now the foundation of Moms Into Fitness, which has helped over 85,000 women rebuild strength, renew energy, and create lasting results.
