Women’s Workout Routine: 8 Week Sample Workout for Women

Women’s training isn’t that different from men’s training – despite what some publications would have you believe.

In fact, the same principles apply when it comes to developing lean muscle and burning body fat.

Prioritizing weight training helps shape the body. And getting stronger while doing so enables women to develop muscle tone while burning more calories while at rest than they would otherwise.

The trick is being consistent with your workouts. Consistency allows for better tracking which allows you to get stronger, or progress, so you’ll meet your physique and fitness related goals.

The workout that follows is based on the fundamentals and incorporates an exercise selection that prioritizes areas most women are looking to develop over time (at least in my experience).

Be consistent with it and consistently aim to increase the weight used, and I assure you, you’ll get results.

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Women’s Workout Routine Overview

The following workout is perfect for any woman who is looking to shape her body through resistance training.

Each workout is somewhat of a full body workout. However, the volume (number of reps and sets) for each individual body part is strategically manipulated across all of the training days.

Each workout has a mix of both compound and isolation lifts. The compound lifts should be used to prioritize getting stronger. The other exercises, while they will have some carry over into any main goal, will be used to establish a “mind-muscle connection” that will help you feel the targeted muscle group.

When performing each workout, rest for ~2-3 minutes during your first lift, 90 seconds for the following 2 lifts, and 45 seconds for the remaining lifts. (You can also rest based on your individual recovery needs and time restraints.)

Weight selection will require a little experimenting at first. You should aim to use a weight that allows you to feel as though you have 1-3 reps still left in the tank on all exercises.

The program, as written, can be used for as long as you wish to use it for. The recommended duration is 8 weeks. Now, I know you might be curious as to why there are only 4 workouts listed, but as mentioned, you’ll want to keep your workouts the same week to week to ensure you’re progressing while you do it.

Progression, in the end, is what’s needed to fuel your results.

A lot of the program recommendations follow the research and training recommendations of Bret Contreras, aka The Glute Guy. If you haven’t followed his work before and you are interested in maximizing your training, I highly recommend looking into him.

Monday: Workout 1

Tuesday: Workout 2

*Perform band or machine assisted if needed

Thursday: Workout 3

Friday: Workout 4

Conclusion

The program listed above can be used to achieve both a fat loss and lean muscle gaining goal depending on how your approach your nutrition.

It is practical for just about anyone who can commit to making it to the gym 4 times per week.

If you have any questions that weren’t addressed within the article or you need a little more clarity on, please feel free to drop a comment in the comment section below.