Are you a woman who wants to start strength training but is too busy or feels self-conscious about going to the gym?
Then, do your strength workouts at home!
Working out from home can be an approachable way for women to begin their fitness journey without dealing with the potential anxiety, cost, and inconvenience of going to the gym.
In this article, I am going to show you a beginner’s strength training workout that you can do from the comfort of your home and without weights or gym equipment.
Table of Contents
Should Women and Men Train Differently?
First of all, we need to get this question out of the way.
The simple answer is no. Women and men do not have to train differently.
Men and women respond to lifting weights the same way. We get stronger, and our muscles grow in size. Contrary to what many believe, females build muscle just as effectively as males.
So, why do we have an article about a workout routine for women?
Because even though women build muscle and strength the same way as men, many women want to train differently.
We have collected data from 275,000 users of our workout log app StrengthLog to find the most popular muscle groups among men and women and found that this is how our users like to train.
With this in mind, we will present a beginner-friendly workout. It’s a full-body workout, but it will focus a bit more on the muscle groups women tend to lean towards.
How to Adjust Your Workouts to Suit Your Fitness Goals
Before diving into the workouts, let’s discuss the goals with your strength training first.
Women can have many different primary fitness goals.
Perhaps you are looking to lose weight?
Or improve your overall strength to feel fitter and more capable in everyday activities?
You may also want to do strength training workouts at home because you do some cardio exercise such as running, cycling, swimming, or rowing regularly, but you know that it is important to incorporate resistance training workouts into your fitness routine to help prevent injuries and correct muscle imbalances.
Or, you might be at the beginning of your fitness routine and want to focus on strength training.
In either of these cases, the exercises themselves may not differ all that much between one strength training goal or the other (hypertrophy vs. strength training), but the specific number of sets, reps, and amount of weight or resistance you use will vary.
In the beginning, the important thing is to learn good exercise form and make strength training a habit. Once that is in place, you can tweak a few parameters to be more specific about your goals.
What Equipment Do I Need for Beginner Strength Training Workouts at Home?
If you are a woman who’s just getting started with strength training, you should be able to get a decent full-body workout with just bodyweight exercises and maybe the addition of weighted items from your home.
Examples include bottles of water or jugs of milk, bags of dried beans or rice, or heavy books.
The beginner workout below doesn’t require any equipment at all. However, if you plan to do all of your strength training workouts at home without the intention of eventually joining a gym, buying a few pieces of home exercise equipment will be a great investment in your fitness and will open up the potential to greatly increase the range of exercises that you can do and the strength and muscle you can build.
The At-Home Beginner Strength Training Workout for Women
This full-body workout focuses a bit more on your lower body since many women appreciate that focus. Many of these exercises can be done with and without equipment.
Of course, the workout is available for free in our workout log app, StrengthLog.
Download it here and start tracking your progress:
Full Body Home Workout for Women
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 | 10 |
| Bodyweight Leg Curl | 3 | 10 |
| Glute Bridge | 3 | 10 |
| Clamshells | 2 | 10 |
| Incline Push-Up | 2 | 10 |
| Inverted Row | 2 | 10 |
| Plank | 2 | Max time |
Do this workout two or three times per week, and you’ll work all major muscle groups in a time-effective way in the comfort of your own home.
Bulgarian Split Squats
The Bulgarian split squat is a great exercise for strengthening your leg muscles and improving your coordination and balance. Many women appreciate this exercise since it’s an easy way to get great contact with the glute and thigh muscles without needing any equipment.
Make sure that the bench behind you is about knee height. Your rear foot should rest on the bench, with the top of your foot facing down.
The Bulgarian split squat could be tricky to learn at first but don’t give up. Once you master it, it’s a great exercise.
Experiment with your foot placement, since placing the front foot too close or too far from the rear foot can cause instability and decrease your range of motion. It might take a couple of tries before you find your optimal stance.
How to Do Bulgarian Split Squats
- Stand with your back turned against a bench and take one long step in front of the bench.
- Place one foot on the bench behind you.
- Inhale, look forward, and squat down with control until right before the knee of the back leg touches the floor.
- Reverse the movement and extend your front leg again while exhaling.
- Inhale at the top and repeat for reps.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
Read more:
>> How to Do Bulgarian Split Squat: Muscles Worked & Proper Form
Alternative exercise:
Bodyweight Leg Curl
Your hamstrings can be tricky to work if you don’t have access to any external weight, but we have a good suggestion here that’s also suitable for women in their early days of strength training.
All you need to get started is a pair of socks (or a towel) and a kitchen or hardwood floor.
How to Do Bodyweight Leg Curl
- Lie on your back with your socked heels on a hardwood floor.
- Use your hamstrings to pull your heels back in towards your butt until they are underneath your knees.
- Slowly extend your heels away from your body, straightening out your knees. Try to extend your legs out as far as possible. Maintain tension in your hamstrings to control the movement.
- Repeat for reps.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
Read more:
>> How to Do Bodyweight Leg Curl: Muscles Worked & Proper Form
Glute Bridge
The glute bridge is a great exercise for activating the glutes. Remember to keep your core activated during the entire movement.
You can make it more challenging by adding a weight on your hips or by using only one leg (one-legged glute bridge).
Muscles Worked in Glute Bridge With Band Around Knees
Primary muscles worked:
Secondary muscles worked:
How to Do Glute Bridge With Band Around Knees
- Place the mini band around your legs, just above the knees.
- Lie down with your feet on the floor.
- Tuck the pelvis in to activate the glutes properly.
- Push your hips towards the ceiling by using your glutes until your body forms a straight line from head to knees.
- Squeeze your glutes at the top.
- Reverse the movement, and repeat for reps.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
Read more:
>> How to Do Glute Bridge with Band: Muscles Worked & Proper Form
Alternative exercise:
Clamshells
Clamshells are commonly used to activate the abductors. They can be made more challenging by putting a band around your knees. Do the movement slowly and with control.
How to Do Clamshells
- Lie on your side with your legs bent at about a 90-degree angle.
- Tuck your pelvis in to activate your glutes properly.
- Lightly brace your core and lift the upper leg by using your glutes. Lift as high as you can while maintaining contact with the glute muscles.
- Lower the leg in a slow and controlled motion, and repeat for reps.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
Read more:
>> How to Do Clamshells: Muscles Worked & Proper Form
Alternative exercise:
Incline Push-Ups
Push-ups are a great way to work your chest and triceps. However, many women who are beginners in strength training fear or struggle with them. They can be quite difficult for a beginner, but in this push-up variant, you decrease the load by elevating your hands on a sofa, chair, bench, or whatever you use.
If this is still too heavy, you can also perform incline push-ups on your knees.
You can also vary the exercise by placing your hands closer or wider apart, transferring more of the load to the triceps or chest, respectively.
Keep tension in your core and your body straight while performing the push-ups.
Muscles Worked in Incline Push-Ups
Primary muscles worked:
Secondary muscles worked:
How to Do Incline Push-Ups
- Assume the starting position, with hands slightly wider than shoulder-width apart.
- Form a straight line from head to feet, and brace your abdomen slightly.
- Lower yourself as deep as you can while inhaling.
- When you’ve reached the elevation, reverse the motion and push yourself up to straight arms while exhaling.
- Repeat for reps.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
Read more:
>> How to Do Incline Push-Ups: Muscles Worked & Proper Form
Alternative exercise:
Inverted Row
The inverted row is a pulling exercise in which you use your body weight as resistance. You can make the exercise more difficult by placing your feet on an elevation or make it easier by raising the bar to a higher rack position.
The back is a muscle group that can be difficult to work out at home, especially as a beginner. But this is a good exercise to start with.
Just make sure to find something sturdy enough to hold your body weight. For example, you can place a broom shaft over two chairs, or hang under your kitchen table while grabbing the edge. Look around your home, experiment, and see what you can come up with.
Muscles Worked in Inverted Row with Underhand Grip
Primary muscles worked:
Secondary muscles worked:
How to Do Inverted Row with Underhand Grip
- Grab a mop handle or something similar (make sure it’s sturdy enough to hold your body weight) and place it between two chairs/tables. Hang below it with as straight arms as possible, with your heels on the floor.
- Grip the bar with an underhand grip, about shoulder-width apart.
- Inhale, and pull yourself up as high as possible or until your chest touches the bar.
- Exhale while lowering yourself back to the starting position with control.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
Read more:
>> How to Do Inverted Row: Muscles Worked & Proper Form
Alternative exercise:
Plank
The plank is a bodyweight exercise that strengthens your abdominals. You can make it more challenging by placing your hands or feet on an unstable surface (such as a Bosu ball, balance board, or suspended rings) or by placing a weight on your back.
How to Do Plank
- Stand on your elbows and feet.
- Brace your abs and try to form and hold a straight line from your head to your feet.
Text and graphics from the StrengthLog app.
How Many Reps and Sets Should I Do?
For women embarking on strength training at home, starting with bodyweight exercises is an excellent approach. This allows you to build a solid foundation, both strength-wise and technique-wise. Aim to progress to the point where you can comfortably complete up to 10–15 repetitions in each set. Then, it might be a good idea to ramp up the resistance with dumbbells, resistance bands, or other weights.
How Much Weight Should I Lift?
One of the most common mistakes that women make when they begin strength training is not using enough resistance or weight. Women often fear “bulking up “or “getting big” by using heavy weights, so they gravitate towards using lighter weights for many reps.
Although it is possible to build muscle and increase strength with light weights, especially if you are a novice weightlifter, if you are looking to increase the effectiveness of your strength training workouts to actually build muscle, lose body fat, see better muscle definition, and increase strength, you should be lifting heavier weights.1 2
This is sometimes difficult with home strength training workouts if you do not have resistance bands or dumbbells to work with and are only doing bodyweight exercises. When this is the case, doing more reps will be helpful, though it may make sense to buy a set of resistance bands or adjustable dumbbells to support better gains in fitness and strength.
Further down in the article, you’ll get examples of how to increase the load when the bodyweight exercises are starting to feel like a walk in the park.
How to Increase the Load of Your At-Home Workouts
When you can do about 10–12 reps per set in the above exercises, it might be a good idea to increase the load in some way. I will present some suggestions for each exercise below.
Bulgarian Split Squats
One of the easiest ways to increase the load in Bulgarian split squats is to fill a backpack with books or water bottles. Then, wear the backpack or hold it in your arms in front of you while performing the exercise. If you don’t have access to external weights, you can increase the challenge by doing jumping lunges instead.
Bodyweight Leg Curls
This one is a bit trickier since there aren’t many options for training the hamstrings without any external load. One suggestion is to find some objects of a suitable weight and do Romanian deadlifts (with one or two legs). Another option could be to do leg curls on a pilates ball, if you have access to one.
Glute Bridge
When you feel like the glute bridge is too easy, the first step is to switch to the one-legged version. This will make the exercise heavier without adding any external weight.
Another option is to add weight to your hips. In the instruction below a kettlebell is being used, but you can use whatever you have available at home, like a stack of books.
Clamshells
The clamshell is an exercise where you can keep doing more reps rather than adding extra weight. It’s not an exercise where you must be strong in a few reps, so building up to about 20 reps isn’t a bad idea. If you want to increase the load, you can always invest in a set of minibands and use them as resistance.
Incline Push-Ups
The push-up is an exercise in which you can increase the difficulty in many ways, even if you don’t have any equipment. If you’ve reached a point where you can do 10–12 incline push-ups with a good technique, it might be a good idea to either lower the incline or remove it completely.
It might be too heavy to go from incline to regular push-ups, so doing them on your knees is a good step in between. Regardless, it’s important to keep tension in your core and keep your body straight the entire time.
Inverted Row
The back is one of the trickier muscle groups to train at home without equipment. If you want to continue building strength in your back muscles after successfully building up to 10–12 easy reps in the inverted row, there are primarily two routes to choose from: pull-ups or rows.
Pull-ups can be daunting at first. A good way to introduce them into your training is by using a resistance band kit. These bands come in various widths; the wider the band, the more assistance it offers. Attach a band to a pull-up bar (either at a local outdoor gym, a park, or by installing one at home) and practice regularly, gradually reducing the band’s width as you get stronger.
Another way to train your back muscles is by doing some rows, like dumbbell rows. If you don’t have access to dumbbells at home and don’t feel like buying them, you can grab a tote bag and fill it with books to create your own weight. It’s a simple and resourceful way to add some challenge to your workout. Plus, you can easily adjust the weight as you get stronger.
Building strength without a full gym setup is definitely achievable. You just need to be a bit creative.
Plank
The plank is a good exercise because the only thing you need to do to make it harder is stay in position longer. However, if you don’t want to stand in the plank position forever, there are things you can do to change it up.
Lifting one leg at a time while maintaining the plank position will further engage your core, intensifying the exercise. This requires greater stability and balance, so your muscles must work harder to keep you steady. As a result, the plank with leg lifts not only strengthens your core but also challenges your overall body coordination.
Another alternative could be to add some sets of the side plank, which provides a more targeted strength and stability to the sides of your core. You’ll focus more on the oblique muscles by supporting your body on one forearm and the side of your foot. Compared to the standard plank, which primarily focuses on front-to-back core muscles, the side plank offers a more comprehensive core workout. It’s an effective addition to your routine if you want to develop balanced core strength and support for activities that involve twisting and lateral movements.
More Inspiration for Your Workouts
To learn more about building muscle for women, check out our article on muscle building for men vs. women here.
I hope you find this beginner strength training home workout useful and that you try it out or use it as inspiration for your workouts.
For more home workouts, check out the list below:
- Home Arm Workout With Dumbbells
- Home Back Workout for Muscle Mass and Strength
- Home Chest Workout for Strength and Muscle Mass
- Home Dumbbell Workout
- Home Leg Workout With Dumbbells
- Home Shoulder Workout With Dumbbells
- Home Upper Body Dumbbell Workout
Also, remember that to continue getting results from your home workouts, you must try to do more reps or continuously use heavier weights.
By tracking your workouts in our workout log app, you can easily see what you did in the last workout and try to improve.
Download our app StrengthLog for free with the links below:
References
- Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Oct 26;18(21):11237. Effects of Resistance Training Performed with Different Loads in Untrained and Trained Male Adult Individuals on Maximal Strength and Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review.
- Biol Sport. 2016 Sep; 33(3): 257–261. Lighter and heavier initial loads yield similar gains in strength when employing a progressive wave loading scheme.
