Complete training program for the best body shape

03-01-2018

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Like every aspect of bodybuilding, several myths are surrounding women's training programs. In reality, a woman has to train the same way as a man if she wants to get good results. Nothing is better than lifting weights for body shaping, we said it a million times before here at Builder.

For some reason, most of the women try to avoid weight lifting, and they tend to come up with all sorts of things – yoga, Zumba, Aqua Fitness, everything – just to avoid going to the gym full of barbells and dumbbells. But their goal remains the same: they want to have better bodies, but with less effective techniques, methods. But let us emphasize once again: nothing is better than lifting weights for body shaping purposes.

One of the many myths regarding women's weight training is the that they lose their breasts due to weight training. With this great – and false – concern of many, we already skipped one myth: that women will become insanely muscular Hulks after weeks of weight training. None of these myths is true, just like the concept that every woman has to train legs only is also wrong.

The weight training program in this article lacks useless exercises done with baby weights, and we won't advise you to do exercises you don't need a gym – or weights – for, like jump roping, or flashy, jumping-around exercises, push-ups, ridiculous leg raises without weights, etc.

If you wish to start this training program, you have to get used to leaving your cell phones in the locker room. You also won't be able to talk to your best gym-friends during your workout. You have to promise me that you will do the exercises with full power, and you must finish the program within one hour. Optimal growth only occurs when you really keep these promises.

Hold on, we'll show you the plan shortly!

Just like men, women also have to train every part of their bodies. These include (without mentioning the obvious ones) the following:

chest
shoulders (front, middle and rear heads)
biceps
triceps

If someone only trains his/her legs (or every other body part for that matter), that will be counter-beneficial, time two: the unbalance in the body caused by weight training is as unhealthy as bad-looking. The human body is full of antagonist muscles, they work counter-intuitively.

For example: chest and back, hamstrings and quadriceps, biceps and triceps, low back and abs. So if you neglect one side, ou cause harm to the other side. If you don't train low back, just abs, your back will hurt. The same is true if we reverse things: if you only train low back, and you neglect ab workout, your back will hurt.

A woman has to train the same way a man does. In weight training, there is no sex. There are weights, and there are the muscles which you should work on.

A woman basically has to do the same exercises, repetitions and number of sets as a man does. As a woman, you have to lift as heavy weights as possible, just like a man.

I prefer 4 workouts a week. Two days for upper body, two for the lower. Here you could argue that a man never does leg training twice a week, but this is not forbidden for them: a muscle group can be trained twice a week, but men tend to focus on their chest muscles rather than their legs.

Okay, here is the program!

Important note: you have to do a thorough warmup before every single exercise to minimize the risk of an injury, and to prepare our nervous system and our metabolism of the hard workout that lies ahead. Let every workout begin with a 5-10-minute walk or jogging (depending on your actual level of fitness) on the treadmill, or with cycling on a stationary bike, whatever you like. The goal is to raise your body temperature. After this, in case of upper body workout, do arm circles, wrist circles, and also warm up your rotator cuff. In case of lower body workout, do the same amount of cardio first, then do leg circles, ankle circles. Without these, don't even bother starting your workout.

Tuesday

chest:

Incline dumbbell presses 4 sets, 12 repetitions. (In short: 4x12. The first set will be a warmup set, the remaining three are the working sets. Do the last set until failure, in other words, you cannot lift the weight up anymore), 1 minute rest
Cable flyes 3x12, 1 minute rest
Pec-deck flyes 3x10 (Do the last set until failure, then lower the amount of weights, and do some more, so-called 'forced reps"), 2 minute rest incl. stretching

shoulders:

Machine shoulder press 2x12 (yes, so little, because front delts are already tired because of chest exercises)
Seated lateral raises 4x10

biceps:

Abs:

Crunches if possible, on an elevated bench, do 3 sets of as many as you can
Hanging Leg Raises 3 sets of as many as you can

The female chest consists solely of fatty tissues, this is why there are so many beginners are afraid of chest training, they think that weights will "burn away" their chests. This is wrong. With weight training, the goal is not to increase (or decrease) the size of the breasts, but to keep the surrounding tissues, ligaments in good shape. It is important to do chest training, because these are the things that give the breasts hold.

Besides all this, chest workout also worms on other important muscles, such as the triceps and the shoulders.

Wednesday (lower body)

Hamstrings:

Reversed Hack Squats 4x15 (Or Stiff-legged Deadlift, if you don't know how to perform reversed hack squats. The first set is the warmup: do it with light weights)
Seated Leg Curls 4x15
Standing Leg Curls 3x12