Beginner Women's Weight Lifting Routine At Home – Whether your goal is to gain muscle, increase endurance, lose weight, or improve overall health and well-being, chances are you’ll want to lock in a sustainable workout plan. You want to set yourself up for success with sweat and time hard enough to get your body strong. That schedule may seem difficult, but fitness experts have advice on how often to exercise — and what types of exercises to focus on when you do.
Consultant Sohi Carpenter, CSCS, Trainer and Fitness Educator. There are three main buckets to consider: general health, weight loss and muscle building.
Beginner Women's Weight Lifting Routine At Home
Kehinde Anjorin, NCSF, CFSC is the founder of the Power Method. Rebecca Kennedy, CPT, is the force director at Peloton.
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Whether you want to run a record number of miles, train for strength, lose weight, or feel better, there is a perfect number of workout days for you. Spoiler: Maybe there are fewer days than you think. Rest days are also very valuable in achieving your goals.
The US Department of Health recommends at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) of moderate physical activity per week, but what you do beyond that depends on a few key factors (more on that in a moment).
I hate it? Keep scrolling for a personal answer to how often you should exercise (and how to create an effective workout routine) for each major goal. Goodbye confusion, hello results!
Your magic workout day number depends on your goals, and here’s a cheat sheet to optimize your schedule:
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If you’re aiming for weight loss that you can sustain over the long term, three or four days a week gives you enough flexibility to stay on track week after week and month after month. In many cases, healthy, sustainable weight loss is best achieved through a combination of exercise and both nutritional and behavioral changes.
“For weight loss it is best to exercise three to four times a week,” explains trainer Kehinde Anjorin, NCSF, CFSC founder of the Power Method. “Long-term weight loss doesn’t have a goal line, so you want to maintain this lifestyle and prioritize your results.”
But another important weight loss factor is generally being more active, even outside of formal workouts. “In general, those who have a high activity level (even if not in the form of formal exercise, but in other activities such as walking) are more effective in losing weight,” says Carpenter. “They burn more calories during the day and spend more energy overall.”
TL;DR: In addition to cramming in workouts, try making changes to your daily routine that keep you motivated and going further. It will pay off in the open.
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Realize that nutrition is just as important as how many days you workout when it comes to weight loss, says Natalya Vasquez, CPT, certified personal trainer, health coach and founder of Bridal Bootcamp San Diego. “You can work out all you want, but if you eat more than your body needs for heat, and if the type of food you eat is processed food instead of all nutrient-dense foods, you’re going to have more time losing weight and keeping it off,” he explains. “Eating nutrient-dense whole foods will nourish your body with the nutrients it needs to feel good, both physically and mentally.”
Even three or four workouts a week is a great place to start if you want to sculpt some muscle, but how you spend your time on these workouts is more important than whether you sweat it out for overall health or weight loss. It will be a little different, says Anjorin.
If your number one priority is overall health, you can base your specific workout routine on what you enjoy—and how much time you want to spend sweating.
“Generally, I think somewhere between three and six days a week works for most people,” says Carpenter. “The more cellular you are in your life today, the more I recommend that you do some form of intentional movement most days.” If your job requires long hours at a desk, for example, incorporating exercise into your daily routine will benefit you more. If the job is more physically demanding, however, it can be cut closer to three workouts a week.
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And, if you’re in the mood for a race and aiming for a marathon or half marathon, check out these comprehensive training guides for running your first or fastest marathon and half marathon.
Cardio: Also known as aerobic exercise, cardio is any activity that gets your heart rate up and strengthens your heart and lungs, Vasquez says. “It’s just how it runs,” he explains. He adds, “The cardio can be walking, swimming, dance class, kicking, soccer, rolling or bootcamp. The American Heart Association recommends at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of high-intensity cardio per week. “It’s best to spread it out throughout the week, but cardio Your routine should be structured to support your goals, Vasquez says.
Strength training: Resistance training helps strengthen muscles and includes lifting weights, using resistance bands, medicine balls, and weight machines. “If your goal is to put on muscle or lose body fat, you should strength train three to five times per week, about 30 to 60 minutes per session,” Vasquez says. “This amount of training will allow you to effectively train multiple muscle groups as a well-balanced training program.” This can include an hour-long strength-based workout or a 30-minute sweat sesh during your lunch break, he adds.
Mobility: Mobility refers to the range of motion in your joints and the ability to move freely, and should be included in every training session, Vasquez says. “These exercises can be added to warm up along with dynamic stretches, and if you’re good at resistance training, they can be extended throughout your workout even before heavy weights are lifted,” he explains. Examples include shoulder circles, hip openers, and bull cats.
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Balance: Balance is the power to control your body and keep your body in a stable position in motion and activities. “Physical training is often completely overlooked when it comes to exercise, but it’s even more important to our bodies as we age,” Vasquez says. Balance exercises can be incorporated into a longer session or a few times a week for 10-15 minutes alternating standing with single leg, walking in place and adding lunges in turn.
Although you think that weight loss requires doing loads and loads of cardio, the good news: “The days of prescribing excessive cardio for weight loss are long gone,” says Anjorin. “Incorporating resistance is more useful and effective training for weight loss.”
Include cardio about two days per week to help lose weight, recommends Anjorin. From there, add cardio sessions (running, swimming, HIIT, cardio, etc.) based on how you feel afterwards and your progress! until you want grows If you don’t enjoy it, you won’t stick with it, so finding a cardio program and other exercises that you actually enjoy is your golden ticket to the end. Mind you, more is not better. “When it comes to losing weight, you want your body to effectively build muscle (and not burn it),” adds Vasquez.
Also, consider your invitation to rest during cardio workouts for bigger muscles: “I suggest scaling back on cardio when you’re done building muscle,” says Carpenter.
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To get your heart pumping and maintain muscle gains, get in one HIIT workout, cycle class, or other vigorous session each week, suggests Rebecca Kennedy, CPT, director of strength for Peloton. “When the goal is to build muscle, supplement cardio and general conditioning and endurance,” he says. “After strength work should come and be of very low intensity, so you can build endurance without the work workouts undermining your strength.”
In this case, too intense cardio can affect your muscles’ ability to recover and adapt to strength training, and ultimately stunt their growth.
Strength training is your BFF if you’re trying to lose weight, says Anjorin. His recommendation: Start with three days per week of strength training. “Start small using light or medium weights and build up from there,” he adds.
Then continue to strengthen your muscles (and see maximum benefits) by increasing the weight you use every few weeks. Not sure what movement to start? Try moves like squats, pushups, and deadlifts, which use multiple large muscle groups and burn more calories, which ultimately help with weight loss, Anjorin says. (Exercises that isolate smaller muscles don’t provide as much bang for the buck.)
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No surprise here: Anjorin says the power of training is *absolutely essential’ if you want to build that muscle. Ideally, that’s three to four strength workouts per week.
Compound movements like crunches and deadlifts fire up a lot of great muscles
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