There is a particular kind of frustration that comes with doing everything right and still not getting the result you expect.
For me, it lived in my upper arms. I train consistently, I understand nutrition, I have spent years learning how to support the body through midlife, and yet despite all of that, my arms remained stubbornly unchanged. Not dramatically so, but enough that whenever I lifted them, there was a softness that no amount of effort seemed to shift.
So I did what I always do when something does not add up, I turned to data. A DEXA scan confirmed what I already suspected. I was healthy, my body fat sat at 22.4 percent, my muscle mass at 39 percent. On paper, everything aligned with the lifestyle I was living.
And yet my arms told a different story. Determined to rule everything out, I leaned even further into the fundamentals. I committed to a high-protein diet to support muscle growth and recovery, ensuring I was giving my body every possible opportunity to respond. I trained with intention, focused on progressive overload and consistency, and gave it time to work.
But nothing meaningfully changed. It was a moment that required honesty. This was not about effort, rather it was about physiology.
When I later sat down with Body WRL owner Dee Diaz, she articulated it in a way that instantly reframed everything I had been experiencing.
© Tiago Siewerdt"The tricep area is one of the biggest frustrations I hear about from women, especially through menopause, because it can feel like no matter how healthy you are or how much effort you put in, that area suddenly stops responding the way it used to."
She explained that what many women interpret as a personal failing is, in fact, a biological shift.
"As estrogen declines, women naturally begin losing muscle mass and structural support, while also becoming more prone to storing fat in areas like the upper arms. At the same time, skin elasticity and recovery capacity start changing as well. It becomes a perfect storm for that area," she added.
© Getty ImagesIt was the first time the disconnect between effort and outcome truly made sense. "What I see often is women continuing to train and take care of themselves, but no longer getting the same response from their body that they once did. Usually, it’s not that they’re doing the wrong thing, it’s that the body now requires a different level of stimulus to respond."
That "different level of stimulus" is where Emsculpt Neo comes in. I committed to a course of six treatments, slightly more than the standard protocol, which Dee recommended based on how the body adapts during menopause.
"For you specifically, I recommended a six-treatment protocol rather than the standard four because menopause changes the way the body adapts and recovers. Often the body needs more repeated signalling and consistency to create visible structural change," she added.
Each session lasted around 30 minutes, delivering around 20,000 supramaximal muscle contractions. Not the kind you can will your body to perform in a gym, but deep, involuntary contractions that force the muscle to adapt.
"What makes Emsculpt Neo so effective for the triceps is that it bypasses the limitations of voluntary exercise. The muscle is exposed to supramaximal contractions that simply aren’t achievable in a normal workout, which forces the body into adaptation."
The experience itself is difficult to describe until you feel it. There is no pain, but there is intensity. Your muscles contract in a way that feels purposeful and precise, as though something deep within the tissue has been switched on.
© Getty ImagesWhat surprised me most was not what happened during the sessions, but what happened in between them. "One of the biggest misconceptions with treatments like this is that people think the result is happening during the treatment itself. In reality, the real change is occurring in the days afterwards as the body responds and adapts to the stimulus," Dee explained.
By the second and third sessions, I began to feel a difference. My arms felt more engaged, more responsive, as though the connection between my brain and muscle had strengthened.
By the fourth, the change became visible. "The combination of stronger underlying muscle and tissue support begins changing the appearance of the area externally," Dee explained, describing the point where many women begin to see that subtle but unmistakable shift.
And by the fifth and sixth treatments, something more structural began to happen."This is where Emsculpt Neo really begins showing what it’s designed to do. The repeated contractions continue strengthening and densifying the muscle underneath, while the radiofrequency component supports changes through the overlying tissue. Together, this is what creates that firmer, more sculpted and more supported appearance."
A few weeks after completing the course, I returned for a second DEXA scan, the results felt like the missing piece.My body fat had reduced slightly to 21 percent, while my muscle mass had increased to 40.2 percent, not dramatic, but meaningful. Because this time, the data matched what I could see and feel.
My arms looked firmer, more supported and more aligned with the rest of my body. And perhaps more importantly, they felt stronger.
