Amanda (49) has always embraced fitness, from Boxfit and martial arts to gardening in her East London home. But since experiencing perimenopause, her relationship with movement has shifted in unexpected ways.
“Perimenopause really smacked me in the face,” recalls Amanda. “It was quite upsetting.”
She first noticed something was wrong after a long walk left her knees badly inflamed. “I assumed it was just bad shoes,” Amanda says, “but the pain and swelling kept getting worse.”
Despite repeated trips to the doctor, Amanda was given explanations for everything but perimenopause. Alongside the joint pain, she was also dealing with night sweats, brain fog and irritability, but hadn’t connected the dots.
“The hardest part was not being able to do the community boxing fitness I loved,” she explains. “I could barely walk, strapping up my knees just to get by.”
By chance, a nurse caring for Amanda’s father referred her to a gynaecologist, and that was when she began to understand the connection between falling oestrogen levels and bone health.
“I had to learn how to support my body differently,” she says. “Even short bursts of weight-bearing exercise – a few minutes a day, even just jumping on the spot – can really help your bones. The idea of losing my mobility terrified me. I don’t feel right if I’m not moving, and the thought of being incapacitated was a real wake-up call.”
After two years of searching for answers, Amanda is now on HRT and has built a routine that works for her. “It’s been a long road, but I’ve realised that movement – in any form – is non-negotiable for me.”
Amanda describes the conflict between social norms that encourage women to downplay their experiences, and the undeniable reality of how transformative those experiences actually are.
“Women are told by society not to make perimenopause a big deal,” she reflects. “But it is a big deal when so much is changing in your body”.
She’s now navigating movement differently. “I like a challenge, but it is hard,” she admits, “It’s come out of nowhere.”
“The physical impact has been noticeable,” Amanda explains. “Since being perimenopausal, I feel my body seizing up if I don’t move. We just don’t get a break as women.”
“I have started walking a lot more, often with my daughter and father,” she says. “I also enjoy strength training, Pilates and stretching in my garden. It’s about what my body is able to do now.”
Amanda is also back at her community boxing classes, where the mix of movement and music keeps her energised.
“Music helps me find joy in movement,” says Amanda. “That’s how I got into Boxfit. My instructors’ playlists – from soulful house to drum and bass – keep me bopping along.”
“My daughter and I even love to pop some music on and have a dance before bed – sometimes it becomes a silent disco-style workout,” she adds.
Amanda is not alone in her passion for combining music with movement. As part of recent This Girl Can research, almost one in four (22%) of Black women on lower incomes say classes with music from their culture would make them feel more welcome in physical activity settings.
Amanda believes movement should be accessible and personal.
“Movement is possible for women of any age, from any background,” she says. “As long as you find what works for you.”
“There are so many small ways you can incorporate moving into your everyday life. It doesn’t have to be intimidating or serious. For some women, it will look like gardening or a walk to the shops,“ Amanda continues.
For Amanda, exercise is more than just physical.
“Exercise feels like I’ve caught a breath of fresh air,” she says. “It supports my mind, body, and soul.”
“When you have had a good workout, you feel reset, you think differently, you’re re-energised,” she concludes.
Amanda appears in This Girl Can’s new campaign – We Like the Way You Move – which re-writes the narrative of what getting active should look like and who it’s for, celebrating women like Amanda as they move through life in their own way.
The wider campaign is working to ensure all women feel they belong in the world of sport and physical activity. This comes after research finding women from underrepresented backgrounds are less likely to be active. In particular women from lower social economic backgrounds and those who, additionally, are South Asian Muslim, Black, 55-74 years old, pregnant or with a child under one-year-old.
