Workout Summary
- Main GoalLose Fat
- Workout TypeSplit
- Training LevelIntermediate
- Program Duration10 weeks
- Days Per Week7
- Time Per Workout60-75 minutes
- Equipment RequiredBarbell, Bodyweight, Cables, Dumbbells, Machines
- Target Gender Female
- Recommended Supps
- Workout PDF Download Workout
Workout Description
Fat loss is a common goal for a lot of women.
However, there’s a lot of misinformation out there on how women should diet and work out to achieve this goal.
Most women’s magazines will tell you that some fad diet, some basic ab & glute workout circuit, or even tons of cardio is the solution.
The truth is, these things can work (when part of a larger, complete plan) – but there’s nothing special about them and they can make your fat loss journey a lot more difficult than it has to be.
In reality, hard work with some resistance training balanced with some additional cardio to ramp up your daily calorie expenditure is the best approach.
And when paired with a diet that puts you in a slight calorie deficit, will help you shed any unwanted body fat you may have.
Editor's Note: Make sure you’re doing all the right things you need to be doing to lose body fat. For those looking for a more in-depth resource to teach them how to lose fat, we’ve created a FREE 5 day Fat Loss Email Course.
The course will teach you how your body loses fat, how to utilize workout plans on our website to maximize fat loss, how to eat for fat loss, how to supplement to lose body fat and how to track your progress.
Sign up below today to learn and ensure you get the most out of this workout program.
Muscle & Strength’s Women’s Fat Loss Program
This 10 week workout program is perfect for any healthy woman who is looking to lose unwanted body fat through a good weight lifting and cardio program.
The goal is to increase the amount of calories you burn by performing exercises that require multiple muscle groups to help complete the exercise. These are known as compound lifts and will help you burn way more calories than isolation exercises will in the long run.
By the end of the 10 weeks you should notice tighter, slimmer, and stronger muscles and a better body composition than when you began.
The workout itself will focus predominately on building the muscles of the legs and glutes. There will also be upper body workouts that will focus on sculpting the muscles of the arms, back, and shoulders.
Lastly, we’ve included cardio and core training to help you burn additional calories during the day and to tighten up your midsection for a more slender figure.
Rest periods for these workout programs should be kept to 30-90 seconds in between sets and exercises. On days you perform a circuit, no rest should be taken until after the circuit is complete.
Day 1: Upper Body Focus
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
1. Pull Down | 3 | 12 |
2. Dumbbell Incline Bench Press | 3 | 12 |
3. Cable Lateral Raise | 3 | 15 |
4. Seated Cable Row | 3 | 12 |
5. Dumbbell Curls | 2 | 12 |
6. Tricep Overhead Extension | 2 | 12 |
7. Machine Curl | 2 | 12 |
8. Rope Pressdown | 2 | 12 |
Day 2: Lower Body Focus
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
1. Barbell Squat | 3 | 12 |
2. Romanian Deadlift | 4 | 10 |
3. Walking Lunge | 3 | 15 Each |
4. Bodyweight Curtsey Lunge | 3 | 12 Each |
5. Glute Kick Back | 3 | 15 Each |
Perform 10-15 Mins of Preferred HIIT Cardio on exercise machine of choice following a 20 Sec: 10 Sec work to rest ratio.
Day 3: Cardio, Abs, & Glutes
Perform 20-30 mins of low intensity steady state cardio. After cardio, perform the following abs and glute circuit:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
Plank | 3 | 30 Secs |
Bodyweight Glute Bridge | 3 | 15 |
Ab Crunch | 3 | 20 |
Glute Kick Back | 3 | 12 |
Mountain Climbers | 3 | 12 Each |
Side Lying Clams | 3 | 12 Each |
Oblique Crunch | 3 | 12 Each |
Day 4: Upper Body Focused
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
1. Dumbbell Row | 4 | 12 |
2. Seated Shoulder Press | 3 | 12 |
3. Cable Face Pull | 3 | 12 |
4. Dumbbell Bench Press | 3 | 12 |
5. Close Grip Pull Down | 3 | 15 |
6. Seated Curls | 3 | 12 |
7. Lying Tricep Extensions | 3 | 12 |
Day 5: Lower Body Focus
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
1. Reverse Hack Squats | 3 | 12 |
2. Leg Press | 3 | 12 |
3. Leg Extension | 3 | 15 |
4. Leg Curls | 3 | 15 |
5. Standing Calf Raises | 3 | 25 |
Perform 10-15 Mins of Preferred HIIT Cardio on exercise machine of choice following a 20 Sec: 10 Sec work to rest ratio.
Weekends: Cardio, Abs, & Glutes
Perform 20-30 mins of low intensity steady state cardio. After cardio, perform the following abs and glute circuit:
Exercise | Sets | Reps |
---|---|---|
Plank | 3 | 30 Secs |
Bodyweight Glute Bridge | 3 | 15 |
Ab Crunch | 3 | 20 |
Glute Kick Back | 3 | 12 |
Mountain Climbers | 3 | 12 Each |
Side Lying Clams | 3 | 12 Each |
Oblique Crunch | 3 | 12 Each |
10 Week Women’s Fat Loss Workout Notes
The workout listed above is set up so you only have to dedicate 4 days to making it to the gym. Ideally, you’d have some form of physical activity as part of your healthy lifestyle every day. That is why some low intensity cardio is recommended, along with glute and core work, on rest days.
Most intermediate-advanced women trainees should have no problem recovering from the structure of this workout. The layout is structured in such a way to maximize the amount of work that can be done each week while allowing full recovery for women.
If you need to miss a training day during the program (which will happen), try to make sure it’s a cardio, glute, and core day. The key to being successful with this program is ensuring you hit the majority of the weight training sessions during the week.
The main form of progression for this workout should be increasing the weight used when able to do so. That is why your training days will be the same during the entire duration of the program.
Track your workouts, the weight used, and how you feel after each session. This will allow you to better gauge when it’s an appropriate time to increase the weight on a given exercise the following session.
Editor’s Note: Be sure to share your progress with us! We’d love to help out, keep you motivated, and even feature your success. Tag us in your transformation posts on social media!
Women’s Fat Loss Nutrition Overview
The specific diet you use when performing this program will not affect your eventual results too much – so long as you’re in a calorie deficit.
To achieve a calorie deficit, you must burn more calories than you are consuming.
To figure out how many calories you should normally consume, use this bmr calculator.
Once you have your calorie maintenance needs, subtract 100-250 calories from this number. This is a good starting point for a deficit, as you don’t want to drop your calorie intake too drastically.
Measure your progress while you are performing the program and reassess your calorie intake as needed.
As mentioned, the specific type of diet you eat doesn’t matter too much. Although, to get adequate nutrients, you’ll want the majority of your calories to come from whole food sources such as lean meats, whole grains and oats, fruits and veggies, low fat dairy, nuts and seeds, and other healthful food options.
Once You’ve Finished…
Congratulations! You’ve finished the 10 week fat loss specific workout and accomplished a ton of goals along the way! What’s next?
Our first recommendation would be to take a week to deload and relax from the stress caused by weight training and a calorie deficit.
Then, it’s time to continue on with your fitness goals. If you liked this program and still have more weight loss goals, you can continue performing this workout.
Or, you might enjoy our main women’s workout program here.
Whatever you decide, stay motivated and keep achieving your goals!
Post your post-workout swolfies in M&S gear on IG and tag @muscleandstrength, #muscleandstrength, or DM them to us to get a shoutout on Muscle & Strength stories!
138 Comments
I’m wanting to build muscle to lose weight and tone up. I’ve been doing the women’s full body workout, but wondering if i should switch to this one to lose weight and tone up. Diet is strict during week and taking in 100 grams or more of protein a day M-F. What should i do?
I agree with your idea, Leslie. Give this one a full run along with the diet plan you're already following. Good luck, and please keep us posted on your progress.
I just started this workout Monday, after finishing a different 16 week progressive plan, and am sore so I’m stoked to see the results. I’m wondering if I can superset on days I have a little less time? Still using a 30-60 second rest in between.
You can, Theresa. I wouldn't suggest doing it regularly, but occasionally it would be alright and may actually shock the muscles to improve results. Let us know how you do on it.
I could workout 3 days a week. I’m confused as to which workout works the best for me. Could you help?
This is a five-day program, so it reads like you may need a different program. This may help.
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/how-to-choose-your-next-train...
Hello,
I was wondering how much the order of exercises matters. So, for example, for Day 4: Upper Body Focused--can I do all the Dumbbell rows, shoulder presses, bench presses, curls, and tricep extensions first. Before I move on to face-pull and pull down?
Being in a gym environment, I want to be courteous to other gymgoers and not keep moving from my bench area to machine areas and such. Thanks.
They are usually ordered so you can train effectively from start to finish. However, if you want to switch them up because of personal preferences or to train weaker areas first, you can do that. I certainly understand gym etiquette as well, so do what you gotta do.
Hi!
I started in January and I haven’t missed a workout, Why? Because I love this routine, before I would quite, cycling, gym, aerobics , but with this one is a keeper, I’m in my 6 weeks and I already can tell my progress when I wear my jeans, even my husband has noticed, I’m 58 years old and I love my body, have always tried to take care of it, but with this program is become much better, Thank you sooo much!!!!!
Good day.
Thank you for the nice workout plan.
One question, that might be obvious but it is not for me.
Does the weekend include 2 same workout days: Cardio, Abs, & Glutes, so: do this 2 days in a row and start again with lower body focus exercises?
Also, for glute kick backs it doesn't say "each leg", so it means, we alternate, 12 total, 6 each leg?
Yes, on the Cardio, Abs, and Glutes.
Apologies for the confusion. 12 each leg, 24 total.
Thank you. :)
Hello! I started this program yesterday and really enjoyed it. My question is: do I do all the sets for one particular exercise at one time? Or do I do one, then go through all the others once and keep rotating?
All sets of one exercise before moving on to the next. Hope this helps.
I’m just starting week 3 of this programme. Enjoying it but after checking in this morning I have gained 3lbs. I had reduced cals by 200 from Maintenance based on calculator.net
Should I adjust cals down for this week or wait it out?
Would you recommend hitting a step goal alongside this plan?
I don't think you need to drop the calories yet. Give it one more week. It could be that you've built muscle and burned fat, which made the scale show the result you saw. Have you done a composition test?
10k a day on steps would be a good idea to add.
Hi,
I am just starting out on my fitness journey and trying to lost weight but also want to build muscle. Do you suggest the “10 week women’s fat loss workout” or the “12 week fat destroyer workout” would be best?
Thanks.
I think the 10 week would be better. You can develop your form, master the exercises, and get acquainted with hard training. Then, you could move on to the Fat Destroyer.
Best of luck, Amy. And thank you for reading M&S!
Would it be okay and not counterproductive to add walking in everyday?
It will be fine, Tina. Even with the volume of training I do, I walk 15-20 minutes twice a day.
I love this program but think the lunges are causing knee pain any good alternatives for the walking lunges and curtsey lunges? Thanks!
Hey Natalie, go with pause squats or elevated lunges. The foot going up may be less stressful on the knee.
Ultimately, make sure you see a physician about the knee pain. You want to know if that is serious or not.
Thanks for reading M&S!
Hello! I am very excited to start this workout but I have a few questions. The first one is I would like to lose fat but also build muscle. Would it be smart for me to start off with this workout and then go to a muscle building one or start with a muscle building one? My second question is I am only able to workout 5 times a week at the gym. How would I modify this workout where it is still effective? Thank you so much!
Focus on fat loss first, then switch to muscle building.
Simply do the first five workouts, then when you go back to the gym, do the weekend workout, then pick up with Day 1 again. Hope this helps.
Try combining Days 2 and 3, then Days 5 and the weekend workout. That could be doable. Hope it helps.
Hello,
I appreciate you getting back to me. I only am able to go to the gym 5 days a week. Is there a way to modify this workout or would you recommend another one? Thank you!
What should be the weight we are using when lifting? As much as we can. Start off light and increase per set or something else?
For the beginning, start light and work up. For the rest of the workout, use a weight that will challenge you, but you should still be able to accomplish all reps without compromising form. Hope this helps.
What is the recommended tempo with these two xerciees ? I’m used to slow and controlled but since this routine is target towards fat loss, should I move a little faster? I just don’t want to move too fast .
The slow and controlled speed would actually be best. There is no planned tempo, but 1 second positives and 3 second negatives would be a good tempo to work with.
can i combine the 2 upper body days in 1 day?
That is a lot of volume, and recovery would be harder. I would just alternate them when you train the upper body if you have to alter the schedule.
I don’t have a hacksquat machine at my gym. What would be a good alternative?
You can go with either goblet squats or bulgarian split squats. Either one would be a good substitute to choose.
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/dumbbell-goblet-squat
https://www.muscleandstrength.com/exercises/one-leg-dumbbell-squat-aka-b...
Hope this helps!
A squat machine would be a good option, Kavita.
I’m in the same situation. Is a vertical squat machine a good alternative too? Or does that work different muscles?
Hi,
This exercises r for man or for women designed as I am a bit confused by the video examples in day 1 for ex? I don’t want to gain muscle I want to loose weight tone my body. I always need it a plan but here in my country PT is very expensive and I have already an athletic body.
1.pull down
2. Dumbbell Incline Bench Press
3. Cable Lateral Raise
4. Seated Cable Row
5. Dumbbell Curls
6. Tricep Overhead Extension
7. Machine Curl
8. Rope Pressdown
Regards
Anyone can do the exercises you listed, but the program on this article is designed to help women. This one would help you reach your goal. Hope this helps!
Lower the weight and train them light. None of those exercises should really affect your traps.
The abs workout on this program should help you well. You can add one more biceps and triceps exercise to focus on the arms. I prefer preacher curls and the single arm pressdown, but choose exercises based on what you have access to.
Hi,
Great workout;) but the reason I ask for this particular exercises to avoid building trap muscles.my bf laughs that my legs are bigger than his:))
what should I do ,lower the weights or what alternative exercises u suggest?I used to swim a lot and doing classes. The areas I want to focus are arms and belly.
Thanks
Hi there
Thank you so much for this work-out. I've stuck to it for nine weeks now and am losing weight - loving it!! However, I can't seem to lose any of my belly. No matter what I do (I even do 30 leg raises after my workout every day) I can't seem to lose my belly.
Do you have any suggestions for me?
Thank you again for sharing this great workout ;)
T
Hi, T! Thank you for reading M&S, and congrats on your progress!
The bad news is that the belly fat is the last to go, and it's going to take time before you see substantial results. As long as you stay consistent and patient, it will eventually go away. You can do subtle things like add five minutes of cardio, subtract a few calories from later meals in the day, and it can help.
Thank you for the reply and the tips. I'll add five minutes of star jumps. Here's hoping. Thanks again for all that you do.
Hey guys!! Can someone please explain to me this? Perform 10-15 Mins of Preferred HIIT Cardio on exercise machine of choice following a 20 Sec: 10 Sec work to rest ratio.
So if I'm on the stair climber machine do I change level every 20 and 10 secs for a period of 10-15 mins?
Yes, that is correct. You can stop completely for 10 seconds and resume for 20.
Hi. I’m on a fitness journey and am looking to do either the 10 or 12 week program. I swim a mile 3x a week currently (Tues/weds/Thurs) and am looking for the next phase which is weight lifting for fat loss. I am going to be Meal prepping, already looked up and calculated macros, bmr, calorie deficit, etc. I cannot do a thing (other than watch my diet) on weekends bc I work 8am to 1am. All gym/cardio will be M-F.
Any advice? Suggestions as to which program may work better? My plan is to continue the swimming for my cardio and use the weight training portion of the workouts. I have about 40-50lbs to lose to get to my goal.
Thank you so much!!!
Hello, Melissa. Props for setting a big goal, and finding ways to make it happen! You'd be surprised how many would rationalize that it couldn't be done, so kudos!
Do your cardio after your weight training on those five days. The swimming can be the cardio on T,W,Th. or do it first thing in the AM, and train later in the day. Outside of those adjustments, this is the program for you. Let us know how it goes!
Hey!
I love this workout but hate to constantly keep going back and forth in my safari. Do you guys have an app to help navigate?
Afraid not, Jenna. That may change in the future, but M&S has no app at this time.
I am a trap queen. How do I avoid building my traps even more?! What exercises should I avoid or do less of?