A healthy diet and regular exercise is the key to maintaining optimum health. A proper balance between diet and exercise can help you a have a slim, toned and sexy body without compromising on your muscular strength. This statement is truer for women in our society. There is a common misconception among many women that weight exercise would make them less feminine and it would make their muscles excessively strong.
That is why when it comes to physical fitness, most women focus more on diet programs rather than engaging in heavy exercise sessions. However, weight training exercises are very underrated in this regard. According to food and nutrition scientists, weight workout programs are the most effective to burn fat and strengthen our muscles in our body.
Weight workouts can help burn fat muscles as well as build muscles to enhance the durability and strength, which have a very immediate effect on our daily lives. This is more beneficial for women since they usually have to do more work to keep a healthy balance between their personal and professional life while maintaining their body shape.
There are many types of gym equipment available on the market for various weight training exercises. But the great thing is that you don’t need any fancy machine to build strength and sculpt your body. One weight bench, a barbell, two dumbbells, some weight plates, and a lot of motivation are enough to get your desired results within a short period of time. There are mainly 6 muscle groups in the human body – 1. chest, 2. back 3. arms 4. shoulders 5. legs 6. abs and we have compiled a list of 7 effective weight workouts for women to incorporate in workout routines for women that might surely help you achieve your fitness goals.
1. Push Ups with Barbells
The first exercise we are recommending you is the good ol’ push-ups. A push-up is a classic exercise which has a positive impact on the whole body, including chest muscles and waist areas. It is a resistance exercise which burns a lot of energy, resulting in fat loss.
Target Areas:
Primary: Chest
Secondary: Lower back, triceps, shoulders
How to do it:
Get down on all your fours and put your hands in line with your shoulders in a slightly wide manner. Keep your feet close together. Put your hands on the barbell. Now lower your body until your chest is close to the barbell line and raise your body up to the prior position. It is important to keep your back and legs in a straight line during the whole workout.
You can add variation to this workout by using dumbbells. Dumbbells offers freedom of motion thus you can target different areas of your chest and upper body easily!
2. Side Plank with weight/arm extension
Side Plank with weight/arm extension is another great exercise to include in workout routines for women. Side plank is another super exercise, especially for women that helps tighten the side waist muscles and keeps them in an attractive shape. It targets those side ab muscles that many other ab exercises can’t do.
Target Areas:
Primary: Abs
Secondary: Lower back, Triceps
How to do it:
Lie down on your left side, keeping your knees straight. Position your body weight on the left elbow to the forearm. After getting into the right position, raise your hips while the dumbbell is hovering on the floor until your body forms a straight line with your ankles to your shoulders. Then lift the dumbbell with your right hand directly over your shoulders. Stay still in this position for 30 seconds and then slowly release yourself. Turn around and do it from the right side.
3. Dumbbell Step-ups:
This a very effective exercise to strengthen your glutes and hamstring muscles. It helps make your leg muscles tighter, stronger and leaner. You will need a weight bench or steps for this exercise.
Target Areas:
Primary: Legs, Hamstring
Secondary: Lower back
How to do it:
Stand in front of a weight bench or a step while holding dumbbells with your both hands. Place your left foot firmly on the bench or step. Then push your left foot hard to raise your body up until your left leg becomes straight. Then lower your body down until your right foot touches the ground. You should maintain a right balance of your body during the process. Don’t lean forward too much or vice versa.
4. Squat with barbell:
Squat with barbell is one of the most effective weight training exercises. It is called the king of all exercise because it hits the whole body muscles more than many of the conventional exercises. When squatting, your leg muscles move the weight and your lower back and ab muscles stabilize the body trunk while the upper back and arm muscles maintain the balance. If you’re into pumping metal and looking forward to starting weight training, squat with barbell will be the ultimate workout for you.
Target Areas:
Primary: Legs, Hamstring
Secondary: Lower back
How to do it:
Stand straight on your feet keeping the bar on your upper-back. Squat down by pushing your knees wide while moving your hips back until your hips come into a lower position than your knees. Then go up in a reverse manner, keeping your upper back balanced with the barbell until you stand locked on your knees.
5. One-Arm Dumbbell Row:
Single arm row is a specialized exercise designed to work your upper back muscles. It is very easy to do, yet very effective considering its impact on your body. This exercise comes with many variations.
Target Areas:
Primary: Upper Back
Secondary: Rear deltoids, biceps
How to do it:
Stand up at a shoulder distance from your weight bench. Keeping your hips straight, hinge forward maintaining a flat back. Put your right hand on the bench and then hold a dumbbell with your left hand. Pull the dumbbell close to your chest. Then pause and slowly lower the dumbbell to the prior position.
6. Triceps Kickback:
The next exercise we are recommending here is the triceps kickback. This
hits the tricep muscles very effectively. It is important to follow the instruction properly so you don’t put unnecessary pressures on your rotator cuff.
Target Areas:
Primary: Triceps
Secondary: Lower back
How to do it:
Stand in a split stance holding a dumbbell with your left/right hand. Then lean forward while standing. Holding this position, lift your upper arm while keeping your lower arm vertical to the surface. Then keeping your upper arm stationary, move your forearm in an arc motion.
7. Shoulder Overhead Press:
Finally, the last exercise to work your shoulders is the shoulder overhead press. This exercise strengthens the main muscles in the shoulder and biceps and triceps as well.
Target Areas:
Primary: Shoulders
Secondary: Biceps, triceps
How to do it:
Stand with your feet hip distance apart. Put your elbows out and face them in the forward direction while holding the dumbbells in both hands with a medium grip. Then push the dumbbells upward until your upper arms get parallel to the surface area. Then slowly bring down your arms to their prior position. Keep your abdomen tight during the whole process.
Implementation plan:
All your hard work won’t be much fruitful if you don’t carry out these weight workouts for women with proper planning and implementation. For these exercises, 4 sets are enough with 1 warm-up set. The rep range would be from 10 to 15. You can follow this routine for 3 months and alter the exercises for more muscle growth.
