Written by Garett Reid | NSCA, CSCS, CISSN, M.S.E.S.S
Fact checked by Sam Coleman, Co-Founder
FACT CHECKED
Women need a legitimate workout routine designed specifically to address their needs while not skimping on substance. Women need to train in the same manner as men to progress while addressing some specific needs. That's why we built this awesome five-day workout routine for women. This legitimate program is built specifically with women in mind to build a strong, feminine body.
Why You Need A Gym Workout Routine As A Women
Women need a gym workout routine to optimize their health. While we've come a long way, there can still be some stigma against women lifting weights and building muscle.
Most of the time, talking about a "gym workout" instantly brings images of bulging muscles. Well, for one, building muscles is a very long process that takes years of dedication. This is especially true for women due to their hormones and even more true for the upper bodies of women.
When women talk about "being bulky," they usually refer to their upper body. However, women naturally hold less muscle in their upper body, making it even harder to build "bulky" muscles.
And second, there's a lot more reasons why women should follow a proper gym workout routine. Here are a few reasons you should lift weights in the gym!
Build Bone Strength
Yep! Resistance training can increase bone strength in a very similar manner to muscle growth. When a heavy load is placed on a bone vertically, it causes the bone to bend slightly. This bend causes little micro breaks, which are then filled with a compound known as osteoblasts. These osteoblasts fill the little holes and form into the bone, creating a thicker, larger bone.
Research has shown that one way to do this is through load-bearing exercise1. By load-bearing, we refer to a load placed on the bone vertically which will cause it to bow. For example, the squat load is placed on the vertebrae and leg bones, while the bench press load is placed on the arm bone.
Control Hormones
A working body is a healthy body, a major part of which is our hormones. Throughout life, we experience many stressors that can augment these levels. This could include:
- Environmental factors
- Stress from work
- Normal aging
- Our diet
Whatever the reason, altering our hormones can have a range of negative effects on our bodies. The good news is that there are things we can do to change this. One of the best ways to do this naturally is through a lifestyle that includes exercise and resistance training.
Research has shown that consistent resistance training can help to regulate a woman's hormone levels and help maintain healthy levels2. The key is consistency. One of the best ways to stay consistent is to follow a program that keeps you on track.
Improve Mood And Mental State
In the classic film Legally Blonde (2001), Elle Woods famously said, "Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy. Happy people just don't kill their husbands."
The thing is, she's right! Well, at least about exercise giving you endorphins! In fact, regular exercise promotes the release of a ton of different chemicals in the brain that affect our moods, like dopamine. You probably even hear gymgoers talk about the gym's therapeutic effect on their mental state.
The truth is that getting a good gym workout is one of the best things we can do to improve our well-being and self-worth. Multiple studies have shown that this isn't just a figment of our imagination; it is a scientific fact3.
Improve Body Composition And Body Shape
We love endurance training and firmly believe it should be part of everyone's fitness regime. However, while it does a great job improving our cardiovascular system and burning calories, it doesn't do a great job building muscle. That's where resistance training comes in.
Yes, resistance training will help burn extra calories, but this is not its main function. Its main function is to build muscle. Think about it like this: cardio burns calories, and resistance training builds muscle.
This makes a gym workout routine crucial for a woman because not only will it improve her overall body composition, but it will also help her build curves and a strong body.
Gym Training Variables For Women
Before we discuss the actual program, we want to explain its layout and discuss some of its special variables. We think it's crucial for someone to have some basic understanding of a program to make the most of it.
Glutes, Hips & Legs
It's no secret that a major area of concern for women is the lower half, including the glutes, thighs, and legs. Therefore, while you will be training the full body, this program will favor these parts slightly.
We say slightly as this will still be a full-body workout routine. However, it will be arranged to favor these body parts. What this means is you're definitely going to train your full body, however, you'll work these muscles with more isolation and the ratio will be slightly larger. This will allow more volume, which is the number one variable for muscle growth4.
Women Need To Lift Heavy! At Least Some…
Our muscles adapt differently to different stimuli. Endurance, light loads, and high loads all have different effects on muscle adaptations. In general, moderate reps of 8-12 are better for muscle, while heavier loads of 1-6 are better for strength. However, there is plenty of crossover.
You can easily argue that heavier loads are more important for strength than moderate loads are for muscle growth5.
This just means that you can increase muscle mass with any rep scheme, while strength responds significantly better to these lower loads.
Therefore, we want to introduce some heavy lifting in this workout plan for women. Generally speaking, women have been more leery of using these heavier loads, so while you're not going to be performing 1 rep max efforts, you will have 6 reps programmed for some of your bigger compound lifts. 6 reps is the middle ground between strength and muscle growth, but it's a nice "entry" weight for strength training.
Lifting with these loads offers a ton of benefits:
- Increase muscle strength
- Increase bone strength
- Improve joint stability
Core, Core, Core!
In addition to your lower body, the core is another major concern for women. Therefore, we will follow the same thinking as we did with the glutes and legs. We will be sure to have plenty of core work in this program.
It's important to realize that you can spend too much time on your core, so don't expect any "core days." However, this program will include a decent amount strategically to help you create the shape you want.
Upper Body
Yep, you're also going to get some awesome upper-body training! Again, women have tended to steer away from upper body training, generally from a fear of getting bulky. You won't get bulky but will get strong with upper body training! Everyone needs this, but it's actually very important for women, as women are naturally weaker in their upper bodies.
This will primarily include major compound lifts and some isolation work in the form of supersets and circuits.
Conditioning & Supersets
This body will benefit from various conditioning workouts and supersets. This five-day gym workout routine gives you a lot of time in the gym, so we'll ensure you make the most of it.
Using supersets and circuits will allow you to get a lot of work in and increase your heart rate. In addition, conditioning will help burn more calories while giving you a crazy total body workout.
To be clear, this conditioning will include things like sled work and stair climbing. This will also allow you to train your muscles and give them extra work.
The 5-Day Gym Workout Routine For Women
We're now going to lay out your 5-day workout routine. We'll first lay out the training sessions and then go over how you'll run them with a little more detail.
Your program will use an upper/lower split on four days, with a fifth day of just conditioning. As mentioned, the conditioning will include anaerobic exercises such as sled work and kettlebells.
Session 1 (Lower):
- Squat: 3X6
- Hip Thrust: 3X8-10
- Romanian Deadlift: 3X8-10
- Step Ups (Weighted Or Body): 50
- Banded Goblet Squat x Side Lunge: 2-3 sets X 8-10 RPE8
- Reverse Decline Crunch: 3X8-12 w/1:00 rest
Note for Exercise 5 (Superset):
- When you see “2-3” for sets, you can determine based on your needs.
- Use same dumbbell or kettlebell weight for both movements.
Session 2 (Upper):
- Bench Press: 3X6
- Chin-Up: 3X6-8
- Dumbbell Push Press: 3X10 w/ 1:00 rest
- Face Pull x Tricep Pushdown: 3X8-12 (both)
- High Pull x Rope Hammer Curl: 3X8-12 (both)
- Overhead Carry: 5X10m w/:30-1:00 rest
- Ab Rollout: 3-5XRPE8 w/1:00 rest
Note for Rollouts: Can be tough so progress according to your ability. This may mean you start doing 5 sets of 2 reps which is fine.
Session 3 (Lower):
- Deadlift Or Elevated Deadlift: 3X6
- Bulgarian Split Squat: 3X8-10/leg
- Leg Press: 3X15-20
- Lying Leg Curl: 3X10-12
- Cable Hip Abduction x Cable Kickbacks: 3X10-12 (both)
- Back Extension: 3X12-15 w/:30-1:00 rest
- V-Ups: 3XRPE8 w/:30-1:00 rest
Note for Deadlift: Place the deadlift on a raised surface of 2-4” height such as plates.
Session 4 (Upper):
- Seated Dumbbell Press: 3X8
- Lat Pulldown: 3X8-10
- Seated Cable Row x Pushups: 3X8-10 // RPE8
- Chest Fly x Rear Fly: 2-3X8-10
- Triceps Pushdown x EZ Curl: 2-3X8-12
- Pallof Press + Twist: 3X5 (Slow Reps) w/1:00 rest
Session 5 (Conditioning):
- Stair Climber: 10:00 min (Climb as high as possible)
- Kettlebell Swings: 5X10-20* w/ :30-1:00 rest
- Sled Push: 5X10 meters (Ramp up weight) w/1:00 rest
- Sled Pull: 5X10 meters (Ramp up weight) w/ 1:00 rest
- Flutter Kicks x Mountain Climber: 5X50 reps (Both, minimal rest between exercises)
- Cycle: 5X 1:00:1:00 min intervals with 70%:90% intensity
Notes:
- Choose appropriate weight and reps you’re comfortable with
- Exercise 5 is a superset, and each leg is one rep.
- If there’s a body part you want to target such as your glutes, you can throw some isolation here. For example, triceps kickback, bicep curl, glute kickback, clam shells, etc.
Progressing On This 5-Day Workout Routine
Progressing in the workout routine will use the basics of progressive overload. Progressive overload is the fundamental lifting principle that gradually places greater stress on the muscles6. By doing this, you place just enough stress on the muscle to stimulate muscle growth while not being so much that you can’t recover.
Concerning rest, we’ll also provide the rest times below for the different rep schemes. However, some of the exercises have specific rest times in the program, so those will use the ones listed.
Straight Sets (3X6, 3X8, etc)
When you see an exercise with straight sets, such as 3x6 or 3x8, your primary means of progressive overload will be adding weight every week. This will be about 5 lbs for upper body movements and 10 lbs for lower body movements. However, you can alter this as necessary.
If needed, you can use cluster sets when you jump in weight if you need to. For example, let’s say you’re doing bench press, and you just jump to 120lbs but can’t do 6 reps. You could do:
- 3 reps
- Rest 15s
- 3 reps
For rest between sets, give yourself 2:00 on these exercises.
Range Of Reps (3X8-10, 3X10-12, etc)
You will use both load and reps when you see a range of reps, such as 6-8 or 8-10. Use a load that lets you perform the prescribed exercise with the lower reps, such as 8 reps for 8-10 or 10 reps for 10-12.
You’ll then increase your reps weekly until you can perform the prescribed rep scheme with the maximum reps. Next, add some weight and go back to the lower reps. For example, this is how 3X8-10 might look.
- Week 1: 3X8 w/ 100lbs
- Week 2: 3X9 w/ 100lbs
- Week 3: 3X10 w/ 100lbs
- Week 4: 3X8 w/105lbs.
For rest, give yourself 1:30
Single Number (i.e. 50)
Some exercises will have a set number, such as 50. For these, you will perform the prescribed Number of reps in the fewest sets. The next week, you can increase the reps to 60 or hold a little weight, depending on how you feel that day.
For these, you will complete the Number of reps as fast as possible using good form.
RPE8
RPE8 simply means a “rate of perceived exertion” of 8. This means you will perform an exercise until you reach about 80% failure. In this program, we’re using this primarily with bodyweight movements, as providing a specific number isn’t effective. For example, if we said “8 push-ups”, that might be easy for some and impossible for others.
For rest, you can use 1:30.
Supersets
For supersets, you will use the following scheme regardless of the reps.
- Exercise 1
- Rest 30 seconds
- Exercise 2
- 30 seconds
- Exercise 1
- Con’t
Extra Conditioning Or Warm-Up
If you have time for extra conditioning or warm-up ideas, here are some good ideas you can throw in.
- Stairclimber: Always great for a good lower body warm-up while targeting the glutes
- Assault bike: These can work well for an upper body warm-up or as total body conditioning
- Rower: Similar to the assault bike, these can work really well for an upper-body warm-up or total body conditioning
- Jump rope: Simple and effective. Start by knocking out 100 people every session before or after, and go from there.
- Sled: We love the sled as it allows you to overload the entire body at max intensity yet is relatively safe. The gym is generally very safe, but the sled uses mechanics to mitigate risk further.
- Carries: This includes front carries, farmer carries, and overhead carries.
Final Say On Your 5-Day Gym Workout Program
This is it if you’re looking for a 5-day gym workout routine to give you results. It provides proper gym training that doesn’t hold back yet addresses women's special needs. You’ll need to put in the effort, but you will get the results you want!
Related:
References:
- Hong, A. R., & Kim, S. W. (2018). Effects of Resistance Exercise on Bone Health. Endocrinology and Metabolism, 33(4), 435. https://doi.org/10.3803/enm.2018.33.4.435
- Copeland, J. L., Consitt, L. A., & Tremblay, M. S. (2002). Hormonal Responses to Endurance and Resistance Exercise in Females Aged 19-69 Years. The Journals of Gerontology Series A: Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, 57(4), B158–B165. https://doi.org/10.1093/gerona/57.4.b158
- McLafferty, C. L., Wetzstein, C. J., & Hunter, G. R. (2004). Resistance Training is Associated with Improved Mood in Healthy Older Adults. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 98(3), 947–957. https://doi.org/10.2466/pms.98.3.947-957
- Figueiredo, V. C., de Salles, B. F., & Trajano, G. S. (2017). Volume for Muscle Hypertrophy and Health Outcomes: The Most Effective Variable in Resistance Training. Sports Medicine, 48(3), 499–505. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-017-0793-0
- Schoenfeld, B. J., Ratamess, N. A., Peterson, M. D., Contreras, B., Sonmez, G. T., & Alvar, B. A. (2014). Effects of Different Volume-Equated Resistance Training Loading Strategies on Muscular Adaptations in Well-Trained Men. Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 28(10), 2909–2918. https://doi.org/10.1519/jsc.0000000000000480
- Krzysztofik, M., Wilk, M., Wojdała, G., & Gołaś, A. (2019). Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 16(24), E4897. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244897
Garett Reid
Author