Dorcie Mullin: Finding a Better Way to Train in Perimenopause
Dorcie Mullin discovered CrossFit in Portland, Oregon in 2012 and loved it for many years.
But as she got older and entered perimenopause, she started having “a lot of aches and joint problems,” said Mullin, now 57. She also began dealing with insomnia, extreme fatigue, hot flashes, and big emotional changes.
Sometimes, she’d be driving in her car and suddenly feel the urge to cry.
Like many women, she didn’t know what was happening with her body — no one had told her what perimenopause might bring.
“Do I have cancer? Why does my body feel like this?” she said of her thoughts at the time.
Dorcie went to the doctor and was tested for all kinds of things, including arthritis, but eventually learned she was physically healthy. What she was feeling was normal.
“The change on your body is extreme, and the impact is different for everyone,” she said of perimenopause.
Rethinking Her Training
Because of the changes in her body, Dorcie found herself modifying workouts in her group classes more and more.
Sometimes she’d wake up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom and could barely walk. While she likes some soreness — it makes her feel like she worked hard — this was too much and made her wonder if her body needed something different than high intensity all the time.
“So I started looking for something where I could still have a weightlifting focus and use the skills I have gotten over the years, but just not so intense. I’m not looking for PRs. I just want to stay fit and increase, or maintain, muscle mass,” Mullin said.
Enter Empower
Last year, Dorcie came across Empower and started with the Take Off program. She loved it.
It still felt like functional fitness and CrossFit, but, as she put it, “The approach is more gradual and consistent and not so force forward.”
Today, she follows the Flight program Monday through Friday, power walks with a group of friends each week, and throws in some Peloton workouts too.
Even though she’s still training a lot, her recovery is much better now. And even with a less intense approach, she’s hitting PRs without trying.
“I’m squatting and deadlifting more now than I ever have,” she said. “And I feel like the impact on my joints is better.”
She also finds the resources from Dr. Stacy Sims incredibly helpful, and she loves how the app calculates her lifts based on where she’s at, making it feel tailored to her.
Dorcie’s Message
To other women nearing perimenopause, Dorcie’s advice is simple:
“Educate yourself and don’t listen to your doctors. You don’t know how many male doctors I had try to prescribe me with antidepressants. They never gave me other options,” she said.
“As you go through this and you’re seeing changes, or you’re noticing things you have never felt before and they feel extreme, a lot of times it just can be menopause. And nobody ever told me that before. So educating yourself is probably the most important thing to do.”
While it’s not always easy, Dorcie says education and fitness have helped improve her symptoms.
“It’s getting better, and it’s manageable,” she said.
Dorcie’s story is a reminder that with the right support, you don’t have to push through alone. You can feel strong, capable, and confident again — right where you are.
If you want, I can now compile all of these women’s stories — Katie, Shawna, Jo, Kathryn, Danette, Nicole, and Dorcie — into one cohesive Empower testimonial series with perfectly matching tone and formatting so they’re ready for Shopify. That would make them look like a unified campaign. Would you like me to do that?
