Why Midlife Fitness Needs a Complete Rethink

At 45, Julia Comodo thought she was falling apart.

The Northern Beaches personal trainer and nutrition coach was waking every night at 3am drenched in sweat, exhausted yet unable to sleep. Her emotions felt unpredictable. One minute she was fine, the next she was crying or snapping at people she loved without understanding why. Then came the brain fog. Forgotten words, and names, walking into rooms and forgetting why she was there.

“It felt like I didn’t recognise myself anymore,” she says quietly.

Like many women entering perimenopause, Julia initially believed she was simply stressed, burnt out or overworked. But deep down, she knew something more profound was happening.

“There wasn’t one big moment where everything clicked,” she explains. “It was more the accumulation of things and how frightened I became by my own reactions. The sleep deprivation was relentless and emotionally I just didn’t feel like myself anymore.”

What makes Julia’s story so familiar is that at the time, very few people were talking openly about menopause, particularly the emotional and neurological side of it. Even her husband struggled to understand what was happening because, as Julia puts it, “nobody was talking about it.”

“That silence is what makes women feel like they’re losing their minds,” she says. “I was one of them.”

Today, Julia has become one of the Northern Beaches’ most sought-after trainers for women navigating perimenopause and menopause, blending strength training, nutrition, nervous system support and emotional care through her business Odara Fitness. But her journey into this space wasn’t planned. It evolved directly from her own experience.

Originally from Brazil, Julia first built her career as a Pilates instructor and personal trainer before expanding into nutrition studies through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York. Yet it was menopause itself that completely redirected the focus of her work.

As she searched desperately for answers, she discovered leading menopause researcher Dr Stacy Sims and began studying how women’s bodies change through midlife. Suddenly, things started making sense.

What she realised was that much of the fitness industry had failed women completely.

“Nobody was talking about menopause in gyms or fitness courses,” she says. “Women were showing up sleep deprived, inflamed, exhausted, dealing with joint pain, frozen shoulders, plantar fasciitis, caring for ageing parents and teenagers at the same time, and they were still being pushed through brutal training sessions designed for younger bodies.”

Julia says many women blame themselves when their bodies stop responding the way they used to, particularly if they’ve spent years dieting, overtraining or punishing themselves in pursuit of unrealistic expectations.

“The body changes in this phase. Hormones shift and recovery changes. But the answer isn’t to stop moving. It’s to train smarter and understand what your body actually needs now.”

One of the biggest misconceptions she still sees is women fearing strength training because they worry about 'bulking up.'

“It’s probably the one thing that would change their body composition, bone density and energy the most,” she says.

Rather than random workouts or endless cardio, Julia focuses on structured, progressive strength training tailored specifically to each individual woman. No templates and no one-size-fits-all approach.

“Every woman walking through the door has a different story,” she says.

“Different injuries, different stress levels, different emotional loads, different life stages. You have to look at the whole person.”

But ask Julia what truly transforms her clients and she won’t talk about weight loss or aesthetics.

“This work is probably 80 per cent emotional,” she admits.

Over the years, she has trained women through pregnancies, divorces, grief, depression, ADHD diagnoses and even Alzheimer’s journeys within families. Sometimes sessions involve lifting weights. Other times they begin with tears, hugs or simply lying on the floor and breathing.

“I meet them wherever they are that day,” she says. “The privilege of being trusted through every season of a woman’s life is something I don’t take lightly.”

Now studying counselling alongside her fitness work, Julia believes the future of women’s health lies in a far more integrated and compassionate approach, one that acknowledges women are not machines.

“We can’t separate physical health from emotional wellbeing,” she says. “Especially in this stage of life.”

As for the Northern Beaches, Julia laughs affectionately and calls it “my farm.”

“It’s a little sleepy sometimes,” she smiles. “But it genuinely feeds my soul. I feel very blessed to live here.”

For women currently sitting awake at 3am wondering what is happening to them, Julia’s message is simple: start with the basics and ask for support.

“Eat real food. Move your body. Prioritise sleep. Get sunlight in the morning. Increase your protein. Build a support team around you,” she says.

“You don’t have to fix everything overnight. Just start somewhere.”

Based on Julia’s story, that somewhere can become the beginning of finding yourself again.

www.odarafitness.com.au