Women’s Workout Routine to Get Lean and Strong: 5-Day Training Plan
It’s not easy to find workout plans for women that are effective and sustainable, they’re either too easy or too hard to keep up with.
Most women want to get "toned", which usually means: build some muscle while losing fat.
Therefore, we’ve taken a science-based and practical approach to build this training plan that will make you strong, lean and confident.
Here’s a workout plan for females that want to build a strong and toned body.
During this 5-day workout plan for women we will put an emphasis on the lower body and cardio, so you can achieve this lean and strong body.
Every body part will be worked to help you look balanced and obtain the full benefits of strength training.
Cardio is important to improve oxygen delivery to muscles and help shed fat for a slimmer, toned look.
For any form of cardio, make sure you begin at a slower speed, and increase your speed every 2 minutes until you reach the desired effort level.
This is your warmup. To make it easier we have noted the effort level required on specific days of the workout routine:
- Moderate: you should be breathing steadily, but deeply, and be able to speak a full sentence with little difficulty.
- Vigorous: you should be breathing heavily, and only able to say a few short words with some difficulty.
You also have to cool down afterwards, decreasing the speed every 2 minutes until you are sufficiently cooled down.
This women’s workout program is composed of 5 days of training:
- 5 days of weight training
- 1 of these days will include HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training)
- 1 of these days will include LISS (Low Intensity Steady State Cardio)
- 2 days of rest, you will deserve it
Note: If you have joints pain, we highly recommend you to change the HIIT to LISS.
People often use the word toning to say "I want to get muscle, but not too much".
What toning actually means is strong muscles with a low percentage of body fat, which provides this toning effect.
Thus, if you want to get that toned look you will also have to make sure your nutrition is on point.
Lifting light, moderate and heavy weights will allow you to add definition to your muscles and will increase your metabolism, which will help you burn more fat at rest.
All rep ranges will help you get results, but some are more sustainable than others.
In this workout we will primarily focus on 8-15 reps. This will help you get stronger and build up muscle endurance.
When looking at body weight exercises that do not require weights, the rep range can be increased. Since you are not limited by a set amount of weight, you are simply going through the motions of the exercise (flexing and relaxing the muscles) which requires less effort but can be very effective in strengthening the targeted muscles.
When warming up, less weight should be used. The point of a warmup is to get the muscles and joints active and accustomed to the motion you’ll be doing at a higher weight to reduce the risk of injury.
You should struggle to reach the given rep ranges, if it feels too light or too heavy adjust the weight accordingly. Make sure to perform each exercise with a good form and a full range of motion.
The rest is 1-2 minutes between each set.
However, be practical and start a new set when you feel well rested to maximize results.
This is a 5-day workout plan, but if you have a tight schedule, check out our intense 3-day women’s workout routine.
This women’s workout routine will help you get results, but don't hesitate to make changes to it. For example, if you're a beginner you might want to reduce the number of sets to three.
- Warm Up Wide Stance Bodyweight Squat: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Wide Stance Barbell Squat: 4 sets x 8-12 reps
- Romanian Deadlift: 4 sets x 8-12 reps
- Barbell Glute Bridge: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Glute Kickback: 4 sets x 12-15 reps (each leg)
- Warm Up Bench Press: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Bench Press: 4 sets x 8-12 reps
- (Knee) Push Ups: 4 sets x 8-12 reps
- Lat Pulldown: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Seated Cable Row: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
You can follow this plan in the Gymaholic Training App:
- Warm Up Crunches: 2 sets x 10 reps
- Roman Chair Leg Raise: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Roman Chair Oblique Leg Raise: 4 sets x 12-15 reps (each side)
- LISS Cardio - Treadmill/Bike - Moderate: 30 minutes
- Warm Up Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift: 2 sets x 12-20 reps
- Stiff-Legged Barbell Deadlift: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Barbell Glute Bridge: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Reverse Lunge: 4 sets x 8-12 reps (each leg)
- Standing Calf Raise: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Warm Up standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Standing Barbell Shoulder Press: 4 sets x 8-12 reps
- Side Lateral Raise: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- EZ Barbell Bicep Curl: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Tricep Dips: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- HIIT Cardio - Treadmill/Bike - Vigorous: 10 rounds - 20 seconds of work - 40 seconds of recovery
Do this workout routine 8 weeks to see significant result, they can start switching things up with our other training plans.
Don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions.
