Social media crushes us with wretched information about health and fitness. But it also exposes us to epic info - if we follow the right stuff. Queens, you KNOW weight training will change your body, increase your strength and is important as you age. But what women often don’t realise is lifting also has incredible psychological benefits: confidence, resilience, grit, belief in oneself … But one of the biggest barriers I see with women and lifting is that women WANT to be lifting because they understand the benefits of it but they don’t know HOW or WHAT to do. Enter Pinterest junk workouts and Insta-famous fitness stars promising to deliver the goods in ‘Just 7 dayyyyysss!’ Let me save you a whole lot of faffing about on your phone trying to find the perfect workout - you can do it yourself! Try this formula.
All you need is 30 mins, 3x a week and you’re golden! This will get you stronger, improve your health, change your body comp, make you feel accomplished (rather than reaching into the Insta-workout lottery each time you go to the gym). 1️⃣Choose an exercise from each movement pattern:
SQUAT (goblet, front, back, lunge, split squat, RFESS) PULL (DB row, pull up, seated row, lat pull down) HINGE/ BEND (RDL, deadlift, KB deadlift)
PUSH (overhead press, push up, bench press, dip) CARRY (Farmers walk, OH walk, deadball carry) 2️⃣Put them together depending on what your goal is: Sta-rong? Reps 1-8, rest 120-240 sec, sets higher. GainZ? Reps 8-12, rest 30-120 sec, utilise supersets Feeling flow? Weight low, reps 10-20, little rest, circuit format.
You can also have a combo here - nothing’s set in stone! You could start with a strength exercise (e.g. squat 4x6 reps) then do a hypertrophy rep range for hinge and a pull superset (e.g. RDL and seated row 3 x 8-10 reps) and finish with an AMRAP (as many rounds as possible) of a push and a carry (e.g. 10 push ups and 20m farmers carry as many rounds as possible in time given).
Play around with tempo within these fundamental movements patterns - although that is a post for another day. If you are new to lifting, keep the descent in the lift longer than the ascent (e.g. the downwards part of a squat, the downwards part of a row).
👉Advanced? Shoot for a back squat instead of a goblet squat.
👉Newbie? Master the push up from a scaled height before attempting dips.
Keep it simple. The gym doesn’t need to be do or die! It CAN be fun, it CAN be a place you want to be, it CAN get you from A-Z if you train smart. And you ARE smart. 🦉🤓