Sam on Menopause

Meet Samantha

I am the founder of SamCoreTrainer where I coach women 40+ with the most comprehensive online health management program for women during menopause and midlife.

I am a serial entrepreneur, media expert, speaker, teacher, mentor, course creator and author.

I was the resident fitness expert on The Marilyn Denis Show from 2013-2017 and 2020-2021 and have been featured on CityLine, Canada AM, Your Morning, CHCH, Breakfast Television as well as the two-part series on CBC’s The National.

I have been a recognized expert in my field for 2 decades and was awarded The Abundance 2019 Personal Trainer of the Year and CanfitPro’s 2021, Specialty Presenter of the Year.

What made you want to focus your work on menopause and how it's experienced differently by women of colour?

Just before Covid, I noticed that things within my body were changing. Like, I went up a size in pants. No rhyme or reason; I just did. I didn’t think much of it and figured it was “aging” because there is a consensus that (everything) slows down - but it was more than that.

Because Meta is always listening, I started receiving info about menopause and things started to click. I have been a certified personal trainer for almost 24 years and not only was menopause NEVER taught, but I never heard those words from any of the doctors I have had in my life.

To me, shifting my business to menopause, only made logical sense. If I didn’t know or was prepared, what about the layman? And whenever I found most info, it was from white women. I was voted in the top 100 menopause influencers of 2025 but the MAJORITY are white.

Then I heard Omisade Burney-Scott; founder of The Black Girl’s Guide to Menopause and heard (for the first time) how black women go through menopause 8-12 months earlier than white women.

Black women suffer from symptoms much worse than white women and they also suffer the longest. This is closely tied with medical racism and also the fear that they won’t be taken seriously and also expected to be “stronger” than white women so not believed or provided with proper treatment vs their white counterparts.

In a culture that often sidelines women as they age, I see visibility as an act of defiance and self-love.

I’m here to challenge the outdated idea that beauty, relevance, or joy have an expiry date. Instead of shrinking back, I believe midlife is when we expand.

Why do you think so many women feel unprepared or unsupported when they hit menopause?

Because no one told them. My doctor (s) never told me. My mother never told me. Relatives never told me. My education never told me. I am in the health industry so if I wasn’t told, most others weren’t either.

EVERYONE seems to be “learning” right now, including those doctors who wants to learn. Sadly, we don’t have nearly enough educated doctors on the subject and they are more often than not, giving old, outdated information that can result in mis-diagnosis and/or untreated conditions.

What’s a myth about menopause you’re constantly busting in your work?

That in order to lose weight in menopause, you just have to go into a caloric deficit. WRONG. Although, theoretically, it (should) work and often does when you are younger, menopause changes it all. We are not working with the same machine.

It is different because our hormones are different and it’s those hormones that drive everything - ESPECIALLY your metabolism.

But lack of hormones affects muscle growth, energy, sleep, recovery, appetite, hunger and fullness cues, stress response and pretty much everything else you need for an efficient metabolism.

However, with Gen X fighting to break out of diet culture, it’s still taking a very long time. A thinner body does NOT equal health. In fact, I know a lot of people who are thin and alot unhealthier than larger women.

My goal with women is to get all the things that they “think” weight loss will give them (i.e. strength, mobility, energy, good sleep, good eating habits) so they can feel like a bad-ass.

When you shift your focus away from weight loss, it’s a much better approach and you often forget about the scale because now you actually feel good and isn’t that all, anyone wants?

How has movement and fitness helped you reclaim your body and joy during this phase?

I joined my first gym when I was 18 and started lifting heavy when I met my children’s father. I was hooked. I LOVED feeling strong and I was (always) one of the very few women in the weight area.

Feeling strong is a feeling like no other. The confidence you get when you can lift something heavy is pretty amazing. I am lucky to have lived with this feeling through 2 pregnancies, the pressure to get my “after baby body back” and ongoing body dysmorphia didn’t get the deep hold that it could have, if I didn’t have a strong (pun intended) foundation.

Through every stage since lifting weights, feeling strong has gotten me through as a reminder of what I CAN control especially when I feel like sometimes I don’t have any,