Women’s Beginner
Description
The 12-week Women’s Beginner weight training program is designed to:
- Introduce your body to physical exercise
- Introduce you to a variety of exercises, training equipment, and training splits
- Train all of your major muscle groups
- Strengthen your core and primal movement patterns
- Encourage body-wide neuromuscular adaptation
- Promote the development of a strong foundation of muscular endurance upon which you can safely build in the subsequent programs. Without this strong foundation, you will be at risk of injury
By the end of the program, you should have:
- Developed significant muscular strength (mostly due to neuromuscular adaptation), muscular endurance, and muscular ‘tone’
- Dramatically improved your overall fitness
The Women’s Beginner weight training program is divided into four sections (microcycles), each one lasting for three weeks. The first two microcycles focus on full-body circuit training, which means that you will be training your entire body in each workout. The last two microcycles focus on split training, which means that you will be dividing your body into sections and training them in separate workouts.
Please don’t be intimidated by the number of exercises in some of the workouts. You will be flying through them with minimal rest, so the workouts will be completed very quickly.
Please read the Overview of women’s weight training programs before starting this program.
Note: This program is also available in my ebook.
Suitability
- Beginners
- Individuals who have less than 3 months of consistent weight training experience
- Experienced individuals who haven’t trained for more than 3 months
General instructions
- Complete the exercises in the order presented
- Always use a weight that’s heavy enough to make the reps challenging
- Whenever you have to increase the weight, add a maximum of 5 lb (or 2.5 kg) to upper-body exercises or 10 lb (or 5 kg) to lower-body exercises
- Try to master the proper form of each exercise, including proper breathing technique. Also, try to develop a mental connection with your muscles and with the movement patterns
- If training at home in the absence of cable machines and other specialized equipment, see below the exercise tables for exercise alternatives
- Don’t forget to warm up before, and stretch after, each workout
- Once you have completed the Women’s Beginner program, you must take a deload week (a week during which you either rest or train lightly). Only then can you move on to the next program
Specific instructions for each microcycle are presented below.
Microcycle 1: Full-body circuit (3 weeks)
- For microcycle 1, you will perform a full-body circuit
- Complete 3 workouts per week, with at least 1 day of rest between each workout (e.g. AXAXAXX, where ‘A’ is a workout day and ‘X’ is a rest day)
- Complete 2 circuits per workout
- Rest for only 20 to 30 seconds between exercises
- Rest for 2 to 3 minutes before starting the second circuit
- Each workout should take less than 30 minutes
| Exercise | Reps |
|---|---|
| Dumbbell sumo squat* | 15–18 |
| Medium-grip lat pull-down | 15–18 |
| Hyperextension | 15–18 |
| Dumbbell bench press | 15–18 |
| Seated or lying leg curl | 15–18 |
| Straight-back seated cable row | 15–18 |
| Machine standing calf raise | 25–30 |
| Seated dumbbell overhead press | 15–18 |
| Bicycle crunch | 15–20 |
| *Bodyweight squat for first week | |
Alternatives for the cable/machine exercises
- Medium-grip lat pull-down — Band lat pull-down (YT) using medium grip or self-assisted pull-up (YT) using medium grip
- Hyperextension — Straight-leg deadlift (YT)
- Seated or lying leg curl — Inverse leg curl, stability ball leg curl, or band leg curl (YT)
- Straight-back seated cable row — Bent-over dumbbell row or straight-back seated band row (YT)
- Machine standing calf raise — Standing dumbbell one-leg calf raise or band standing calf raise (YT)
Microcycle 2: Full-body circuit (3 weeks)
- For microcycle 2, you will perform a more comprehensive full-body circuit
- Complete either 3 workouts a week (AXAXAXX) or a workout every other day (AX)
- Complete 2 circuits per workout
- Rest for only 20 to 30 seconds between exercises
- Rest for 2 to 3 minutes before starting the second circuit
- Each workout should take less than 40 minutes
| Exercise | Reps |
|---|---|
| Barbell squat* | 13–15 |
| Medium-grip lat pull-down | 13–15 |
| Dumbbell Romanian deadlift (YT) | 13–15 |
| Knee push-up or stability ball push-up | 13–15 |
| Weighted one-leg hip thrust | 13–15 |
| Bent-over dumbbell row | 13–15 |
| Seated or lying leg curl | 13–15 |
| Dumbbell one-arm shoulder press | 13–15 |
| Lying alternating straight leg raise | 15–20 |
| Dumbbell curl | 13–15 |
| Standing dumbbell one-leg calf raise | 25–30 |
| Bicycle crunch | 20–25 |
| *Wear loop band around thighs if available | |
Alternatives for the cable/machine exercises
- Medium-grip lat pull-down — Band lat pull-down (YT) using medium grip or self-assisted pull-up (YT) using medium grip
- Seated or lying leg curl — Inverse leg curl, stability ball leg curl, or band leg curl (YT)
Microcycle 3: Upper–Lower split (3 weeks)
- For microcycle 3, you will perform an upper–lower split. This means that you will train all of your upper body in one workout (Workout A) and all of your lower body in another workout (Workout B). Also, instead of circuit training, you will perform set training, which means that you will complete all of the sets for one exercise before moving on to the sets of the following exercise
- The recommended workout schedules are ABXABXX or ABX
- Rest for only 20 to 30 seconds between sets
- Rest for only 60 to 90 seconds between exercises
- Each workout should take less than 40 minutes
| Workout A (Upper body) | |
|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Seated cable row | 2 x 13–15 |
| One-arm lat pull-down | 2 x 13–15 |
| Knee push-up or stability ball push-up | 2 x 13–15 |
| Barbell shoulder press | 2 x 13–15 |
| Cable face pull | 2 x 13–15 |
| Triceps rope push-down | 2 x 13–15 |
| EZ bar curl | 2 x 13–15 |
| Cable twist | 2 x 13–15 |
| Front plank | 2 x 45–60 s |
| s = seconds | |
| Workout B (Lower body) | |
|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Barbell front squat* | 2 x 13–15 |
| Dumbbell lunge | 2 x 13–15 |
| Barbell Romanian deadlift | 2 x 13–15 |
| Barbell hip thrust | 2 x 13–15 |
| Seated or lying leg curl | 2 x 13–15 |
| Lying leg and hip raise | 2 x 15–20 |
| Bicycle crunch | 2 x 20–25 |
| Lying alternating straight leg raise | 2 x 20–25 |
| Standing dumbbell one-leg calf raise | 2 x 20–25 |
| *Wear loop band around thighs if available | |
Alternatives for the cable/machine exercises
- Seated cable row — Bent-over dumbbell row, bent-over barbell row, or seated band row (YT)
- One-arm lat pull-down — One-arm band lat pull-down (YT) or self-assisted pull-up (YT)
- Cable face pull — Band face pull (YT) or dumbbell face pull (YT)
- Triceps rope push-down — Dumbbell kickback or triceps band push-down (YT)
- Cable twist — Weighted Russian twist or band twist (YT)
- Seated or lying leg curl — Inverse leg curl, one-leg stability ball leg curl (YT), or band leg curl (YT)
Microcycle 4: 3-day split (3 weeks)
- For microcycle 4, you will perform a 3-day split in which you will train your back, biceps, and core in Workout A; your chest, shoulders, triceps, and core in Workout B; and your legs and glutes in Workout C
- The recommended workout schedules are ABCXABX (and then start from C the next week) or ABCX (i.e. three days on, one day off)
- Rest for only 20 to 30 seconds between sets
- Rest for only 60 to 90 seconds between exercises
- Each workout should take less than 40 minutes
| Workout A (Back, biceps, core) | |
|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Barbell sumo deadlift | 2 x 12–14 |
| Machine-assisted pull-up | 2 x 12–14 |
| Seated twisting cable row | 2 x 12–14 |
| Dumbbell curl | 2 x 12–14 |
| Dumbbell side bend | 2 x 15–20 |
| Lying side hip raise | 2 x 15–20 |
| Bicycle crunch | 2 x 25–30 |
| Wheel rollout | 2 x 10–15 |
| Workout B (Chest, shoulders, triceps, core) | |
|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Standing cable chest press | 2 x 12–14 |
| Dumbbell one-arm shoulder press | 2 x 12–14 |
| Reverse dumbbell fly | 2 x 12–14 |
| Cable face pull | 2 x 12–14 |
| Diamond push-up on knees | 2 x 12–14 |
| Cable wood chop | 2 x 12–14 |
| Captain’s chair leg and hip raise | 2 x 12–14 |
| Lying alternating straight leg raise | 2 x 25–30 |
| Workout C (Legs, glutes) | |
|---|---|
| Exercise | Sets x Reps |
| Barbell sumo squat | 2 x 12–14 |
| Dumbbell Bulgarian split squat | 2 x 12–14 |
| Weighted one-leg hip thrust | 2 x 12–14 |
| Smith machine kneeling rear kick | 2 x 12–14 |
| Seated or lying leg curl | 2 x 12–14 |
| Cable hip abduction | 2 x 15–20 |
| Cable hip adduction | 2 x 15–20 |
| Machine standing calf raise | 2 x 20–25 |
Alternatives for the cable/machine exercises
- Machine-assisted pull-up — Self-assisted pull-up (YT) or band lat pull-down (YT)
- Seated twisting cable row — Seated twisting band row (YT) or dumbbell twisting row (YT)
- Wheel rollout — Ab walkout (YT) or inch worm (YT)
- Standing cable chest press — Standing band chest press (YT) or dumbbell bench press
- Cable face pull — Band face pull (YT) or dumbbell face pull (YT)
- Cable wood chop — Band wood chop (YT) or weighted Russian twist
- Captain’s chair leg and hip raise — Lying or hanging leg and hip raise
- Smith machine kneeling rear kick — Band rear kick (YT) or single-leg glute bridge (YT)
- Seated or lying leg curl — Inverse leg curl, one-leg stability ball leg curl (YT), or band leg curl (YT)
- Cable hip abduction — Band hip abduction (YT) or side plank hip abduction
- Cable hip adduction — Band hip adduction (YT) or side plank hip adduction
- Machine standing calf raise — Standing dumbbell one-leg calf raise or band standing calf raise (YT)
