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DEC 16, 2024
The Best Workouts for Women to Feel Strong, Healthy, and Confident
Feel strong, confident, and unstoppable! Discover the best workouts for women — strength, cardio, and yoga routines to empower your body and mind.
Read time: 10 minutes
If you’re ready to break a sweat, build strength, and feel incredible, you're in the right place! Exercise has countless benefits for women: it boosts confidence, enhances mental health, helps with hormonal balance, and promotes strength and longevity. The best part? You don’t have to live in the gym to get results. By combining the right exercises and routines, you can sculpt your body, boost energy, and feel empowered.
Why Exercise Matters for Women
- Boosts Bone Density: Women are at higher risk for osteoporosis. Strength training helps strengthen bones and prevent fractures.
- Improves Hormonal Balance: Regular exercise can reduce symptoms of PMS, menopause, and support overall reproductive health.
- Enhances Metabolism: Building muscle improves your metabolism, which helps burn more calories even at rest.
- Confidence and Empowerment: Mastering a new workout routine can make you feel strong and capable in all aspects of life.
- Supports Mental Health: Exercise reduces anxiety and depression, boosts mood, and enhances sleep quality.
Best Workouts for Women
Now, let’s explore the best exercises for women that cover strength, cardio, flexibility, and balance. Each category will help you target different fitness goals.
Strength Training
Strength training is often overlooked, but it’s one of the most effective ways to transform your body and mind. It helps tone muscles, improves bone density, and boosts metabolism.
Squats
- Stand with feet hip-width apart.
- Lower your hips back and down like you're sitting in an invisible chair.
- Keep your back straight, chest up, and knees behind toes.
- Push through your heels to stand up.
Benefits for Women: Builds glutes, quads, and hamstrings, strengthens core, and helps with balance.
Deadlifts
- Stand with feet hip-width apart, a barbell or dumbbells in front of you.
- Hinge at your hips, keeping your back straight.
- Grab the weight, and lift by pushing through your heels.
- Lower the weight by hinging at your hips again.
Benefits for Women: Strengthens glutes, lower back, core, and hamstrings, while improving posture.
Push-Ups
- Get into a plank position, hands under shoulders.
- Lower your body until your chest nearly touches the floor.
- Push back up.
Benefits for Women: Tones arms, shoulders, and chest while engaging the core.
Lunges
- Stand tall, step one foot forward, and lower into a lunge position.
- Keep the front knee above the ankle and back knee hovering just above the floor.
- Push back to standing.
Benefits for Women: Great for leg and glute development, improving balance and stability.
Cardio Workouts
Cardio helps women burn calories, improve heart health, and boost your endurance. Here are some fun, effective cardio options:
Running or Jogging
- How to Perform: Lace up your sneakers and hit the road, treadmill, or trails!
Benefits: Improves cardiovascular health, burns calories, and boosts mental health.
HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training)
Sample Routine:
- 30 seconds of burpees
- 30 seconds of rest
- 30 seconds of jumping jacks
- 30 seconds of rest
- Repeat for 15 minutes
Benefits: Burns fat quickly, improves cardiovascular fitness, and saves time.
Cycling
- How to Perform: Use a stationary bike, spin class, or ride outside.
Benefits: Strengthens legs, low impact on joints, and great for endurance.
Jump Rope
- How to Perform: Start with 1-minute intervals, rest, and repeat.
Benefits: A full-body workout that improves coordination and burns calories fast.
Core Strengthening Exercises
A strong core improves posture, balance, and overall stability. Plus, it helps reduce back pain.
Plank
How to Perform:
- Get into a push-up position.
- Hold your body in a straight line, resting on forearms or hands.
- Hold for 30-60 seconds.
Benefits: Engages the entire core and helps with posture.
Russian Twists
How to Perform:
- Sit with knees bent, lean back slightly.
- Hold a weight or hands together, and twist your torso side-to-side.
Benefits: Strengthens obliques and improves rotational strength.
Bicycle Crunches
How to Perform:
- Lie on your back, hands behind your head.
- Alternate bringing opposite elbow to opposite knee.
Benefits: Engages the entire core and improves coordination.
Flexibility and Balance
Flexibility exercises help with recovery, reduce injury risk, and improve mobility.
Yoga
Types to Try:
- Hatha
- Vinyasa
- Yin yoga
Benefits: Increases flexibility, reduces stress, and enhances body awareness.
Stretching Routine
Key Stretches:
- Forward Fold
- Cat-Cow Stretch
- Hip Flexor Stretch
- Child's Pose
Benefits: Reduces muscle tension, enhances flexibility, and aids recovery.
Putting It All Together: Weekly Workout Plan for Women
Alright, now we’re ready to put it all together in a balanced weekly workout routine.
- Monday: Full-Body Strength Training (Squats, Deadlifts, Push-Ups, Lunges)
- Tuesday: 30-Minute HIIT Cardio
- Wednesday: Yoga or Stretching
- Thursday: Core Workout (Planks, Russian Twists, Bicycle Crunches)
- Friday: Strength Training (Lower Body Focus)
- Saturday: Cardio (Running, Cycling, or Jump Rope)
- Sunday: Rest or Gentle Yoga
Final Thoughts
At the end of the day, the best workouts for women are ones you enjoy and can stick with consistently. Whether you’re a woman who loves lifting weights, running, or practicing yoga, staying active is about feeling strong, confident, and happy. Find what works for you, challenge yourself, and don’t be afraid to lift heavy or break a sweat.
So, ready to get started? Which exercise are you going to try first?
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Written by Matthew Stogdon
Matt is a seasoned writer with 20 years of experience, leveraging understanding of fitness as a former rugby player and his insight from covering contact sports.
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