Yesterday, one female(her name is Jenny) came to me and said I’m tired of doing dumbbells and machine exercises, I want to try barbell workout.
Now she is a beginner and I’m not aware of her strength, form and other things like goals etc.
Below is the exact barbell workout I give her by keeping in mind her fitness level which is beginner!
Bench Press: 3 sets of 10 reps
Bent Over Row: 3 sets of 8 reps
Deadlift: 3 sets of 8 reps
Shoulder overhead press: 3 sets of 8 reps
Back Squat: 3 sets of 12 reps
Bicep curl without weights: 3 sets of 10 reps
Skull Crushers: 3 sets of 10 reps
Now this sounds like too much for one day right? But she is doing a full body workout and that’s why I have to give her a full body barbell workout for women.
As you read further, you will find 2,3, and full body barbell workout you can do as a female at the gym.
Table of Contents
What Size of Barbell Should a Woman Use?
Before going straight to the workout plan, I want you to know which size you should go with for your barbell workout.
Because there are many women in my gym who ask me should I take this for this exercise or should I take this for back squat.
If you know about this, that’s fine, just jump to the workout but if you don’t know I highly recommend you to read it!
Now when it comes to the size of the barbell, the weight of the barbell will also increase so make sure you don’t take a different barbell than what you need for bench press.
As you can see from the above graphics, a woman’s barbell is generally 201cm long and weighs around 15kg/33lbs.
Now you know this but how do you figure out which bar this long and has this weight?
See below image to understand!
From the image, you can find that the second number barbell is used by women for the workout, it is 201cm long and will have 15kg weight.
What Barbell Weight Should I Start With?
Jenny also asked me one question before doing her first set with the barbell which is
“How much weight should I start with?”
Now as a beginner with the barbell workout, it is obvious that you don’t know about how much weight you should start with.
So if you sound like Jenny, I would say just go with a 5lbs plate for the first time and see how you perform reps in terms of form, mind muscle connection and all.
You can also increase your weight as you find yourself more comfortable with the barbell workout.
I saw many females who do heavy deadlift and squatting just because they increase their weight in the barbell as they need.
2 Day Barbell Workout Routine
Enough talk about the FAQs, let’s see the 2 day workout routine with the barbell.
P.S: Make sure to read the details and guidelines about the workout below!
| Workout Plan Day 1 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exercises | Romanian Deadlift | Standing BB Shoulder Press | Barbell Reverse lunge | Chest supported Barbell Row | Barbell Glute Bridge | |
| Sets | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| Reps | 10 | 12 | 10 | 8 | 12 | |
| Workout for Day 2 | ||||||
| Exercises | Back Squat | Bench Press | Deadlift | Seated Shoulder Press | Hip Trust | Barbell Curl |
| Sets | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| Reps | 8 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 12 | 15 |
Details and Guidelines
- First thing first, if you have never done your workout with the barbell before, I highly suggest you keep someone around you, it could be your partner or a coach.
- This 2 day barbell workout you can do on Monday and on Thursday, OR you can choose whatever the day you like.
- There are many ways to make a workout plan for a person who wants to achieve a fitness goal, this is the simplest one. I just take most of the compound exercise for each body part.
- The number of sets and reps you can increase as per your goal and once you learn the perfect form.
- Before ending this section, I want you to know that a 2 day workout routine is not sufficient in terms of muscle growth, if it is possible for you to go with the 3 or 4 day barbell workout routine.
3 Day Barbell Workout Routine
a 3 day workout routine is best for the beginner as they can do push/pull/leg split with one day break in between.
| Workout Day 1: Barbell Push Workout | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exercises | Barbell Bench Press | BB Shoulder overhead press | BB Incline Bench Press | Lateral Raises | BB Skull Crushers |
| Sets | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Reps | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 |
| Workout Day 2: Barbell Pull Workout | |||||
| Exercises | Chest supported Bent over row | Lat pull-down | Stiff leg Deadlift | Barbell Curl | |
| Sets | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| Reps | 12 | 10 | 8 | 15 | |
| Workout Day 3: Barbell Leg Workout | |||||
| Exercises | Back Squat | Standing Barbell Lunges | Hip Trust | Standing calf raises | |
| Sets | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | |
| Reps | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 |
Details and Guidelines:
- You can perform this 3 day barbell workout by various ways like one day train one day off OR training 3 days and 3 days rest. If I were you, I go with the former option.
- Like I said you can increase sets and reps as per your goal once you learn how to perform each barbell exercise correctly.
Women’s Full Body Barbell Workout
Well, when it comes to full body workout, the biggest advantage is you can train your body everyday with the optimal volume aka number of sets.
So, in this full body barbell workout, I add one compound exercise for one muscle group.
It has been proven that confound exercises are better for muscle growth compared to isolation exercises.
Workout Plan
| Exercises | Barbell Bench press | Barbell bent over row | Barbell Shoulder press | Stiff Leg Deadlift | Back Squat | Barbell Curl | Skull Crushers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sets | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| Reps | 8 | 10 | 10 | 8 | 10 | 15 | 12 |
You can do this workout everyday but I would say that train one day and then rest and again train, because your body needs rest in order to recover.
What’s NEXT!
There are many many different ways to make a workout plan, you can make one for yourself also but once you understand the science behind making a training program.
This is the sample barbell workout for females, however, that doesn;t mean you can;t add dumbbell or machine exercise in this.
Doubts? Thoughts? Comments? Drop them Below