Quite a lot of my female personal training clients are into weight training these days, I’m glad to see resistance training has become more popular/acceptable with the ladies as they begin to realise how effective it is at toning and sculpting their figures and shifting fat to give a lean and toned look.
With this in mind I thought I’d share with you typical split routine I give to women to get them started, but first let me tell you why girls should be doing weights:
1. Heavy weight training of 10-12 reps give you an hormonal boost that you don’t get through straight cardio, this hormonal boost helps you burn fat and keeps your metabolism fast for days after your workout, giving you and ‘afterburn’.
2. Resistance training will keep the muscles/tendons/ligaments around your joints strong and supple thus preventing injuries.
3. Resistance training will give you denser muscles, having denser muscles is like having a bigger engine in a car, it will burn more fuel/calories.
4. Postural improvement, all you girls walking around with rounded shoulders from sitting at a desk all day will benefit hugely from resistance training to straighten your posture out.
5. Stopping the wobble, you have muscle, on top of that is fat, on top of that is skin. If you firm up the muscle it will push out into everything above in making it firmer and less wobbly.
Split Routine for Women
A split routine is a workout schedule that divides the body up so you work different parts on different day, while one part is working another is resting.
Here is the basic routine I give my personal training clients, go from one workout to another, 30 seconds rest between sets, the routine is divided into lower body, upper body and core. All lower and upper exercises are 12 reps, use a weight heavy enough so that you are failing on the 11th or 12th rep.
Monday
Squats 3 sets of 12
Backwards Lunges 3 sets of 12
Side Lunges 3 sets of 12
Hamstring Curl 3 sets of 12
Tuesday
Press Ups 3 sets of 12
Bent Over Rows 3 sets of 12
Tricep Rope Pull Down 3 sets of 12
Bicep Curls with Dumb Bells 3 sets of 12
Wednesday
Swiss Ball Situps 3 sets of 12
Planks 3 sets of 1 min
Side Planks 3 sets 30 each side
Medicine Ball Twist 3 sets of 40
Thursday
Off Day
Friday
Squats 3 sets of 12
Backwards Lunges 3 sets of 12
Side Lunges 3 sets of 12
Hamstring Curl 3 sets of 12
Saturday
Press Ups 3 sets of 12
Bent Over Rows 3 sets of 12
Tricep Rope Pull Down 3 sets of 12
Bicep Curls with Dumb Bells 3 sets of 12
Sunday
Swiss Ball Situps 3 sets of 12
Planks 3 sets of 1 min
Side Planks 3 sets 30 each side
Medicine Ball Twist 3 sets of 40
Monday
Off Day
and so on………. 3 workouts followed by an off day.
This routine has been effective in the past at getting my female personal training clients started at resistance training, it will need changing after and month or two to help you progress to the next stage, introducing new exercises and new muscle groups, but start with this and let me know if you need help.
If you are looking for a personal training in the Sutton SM5 or South London area get in touch and we can have a further chat about how I can help you.
pete@petegriggs.com
07947 049889
