The “tight and toned” look you’re chasing comes from a workout program that emphasizes strength training for women. Here’s how it works (and yes, I’ll even give you a free weight lifting routine for women that you can download today for FREE).

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When I open up my direct messages on social media, I get so many frustrated women looking for a way to finally lose some of those unwanted pounds.

Many of the comments and frustrations come in the form of:

“I’m really hoping to tone and get stronger.”

To which I reply:

“Awesome! So what are you doing to crush your goals?”

And the responses I receive typically look like:

“I’m doing HIIT three times per week.”

OR

“I jog 45 minutes per day.”

Facepalm.

This is not your fault. You’ve been tricked by The Dark Side of The Force to believe you should run as far away as possible from anything heavier than a pink dumbbell.

But, I’m here to explain why you should ditch the high intensity, cardio-based activity and embrace the concept of picking up heavy stuff and putting it down on a consistent basis.

My wife is a perfect example.

After displaying superhero strength and resolve by birthing two human beings, she was ready to transition back to her pre-baby body.

Despite years of spending time cranking out a little cardio here and some light dumbbell curls there, I convinced her it was time to practice what her husband preaches and finally pick up the heavy stuff.

We transitioned to a full body, strength-focused program that had her lifting progressively heavier weights every session.

After dialing in her nutrition and practicing consistency despite the craziness of parenting and life and parenting and everything else (like parenting), she set the example of how women can lift big things and lose weight to unlock that lean and toned physique.

If you are looking for a similar transformation, then this article is for you. I’ll break down:

• What strength training is and how it works
• The benefits of strength training for women
• How to lock in your nutrition to bolster your strength training results
• Why you won’t get bulky lifting heavy things
• How to get stronger
• And at the end, you’ll get a free strength training routine that you can start today

Let’s get into it.

But before we start, if you’re super busy or just not really into reading, feel free to go ahead and grab your free strength training workout plan here.

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What is Strength Training?

No matter the goal, the formula for achieving a fantastic body is the same for men and women. Yes. It’s the same for both men and women. Seriously.

Sure, it’s a simple formula that gets way overhyped and watered down or sometimes overcomplicated. But it is the same formula for both sexes.

To get the results you are looking for, you must nail your nutrition and perform some kind of resistance training. Period.

Ladies, this goes for you, too.

If you are looking to lose weight, you must:

• Be in a calorie deficit
• Eat adequate protein
• Focus on mostly nutrient dense foods
• Strength train (relative to you) at least 2-3 times per week

If you are looking to gain weight and build muscle, you must:

• Be in a calorie surplus (but not eat like a total asshole and actually nail your prescribed calories)
• Eat adequate protein
• Focus on mostly nutrient dense foods
• Strength train at least 2-3 times per week (perhaps more to really focus on them gainz)

So yes, there are some subtle differences between the two approaches, but at the end of the day, it is the same formula. And now that we’ve got that covered, we can really get into the hows and whys in the importance of strength training for women.

In its most classic definition, resistance training or strength training is the movement of weight through exercise that will challenge your muscles beyond their comfort zone. This promotes the improvement of strength over time by utilizing the law of progressive overload.

Progressive overload is consistently increasing your effort from one session to the next through a variety of factors (we’ll get to those shortly). Your muscles have no choice but to adapt and improve strength as a result of this constant challenge.

The benefits of strength training for women

“Pete, I’m not trying to get all big and bulky and look like The Rock. I really just want to tone and firm up some areas, so I’m different, right? I should be doing more cardio?”

Nope. Allow me to explain.

And as I pointed out in this guide to The Best Weight Loss Workout Program for Beginners:

• Getting stronger boosts metabolism, which in turn makes fat loss easier
• Strength training improves bone and connective tissue which lowers your risk of injury
• Working your muscles with a solid resistance training program enhances mood
• It’s the closest thing we have to the Fountain of Youth and keeps some important health markers in check: cholesterol, improved sleep quality, blood pressure and heart health

All of those benefits count for women, too. This is not some mutually exclusive thing where only men see the good stuff from lifting heavy things.

Lifting heavy things does not mean you’ll get bulky.

This is a common myth that continues to perpetuate and it scares too many women off from the gym and steers them right to the damn cardio room for more hamster wheel sessions.

To be fair, this is quite common.

The interwebz have done you no justice and have convinced you that any time you pick up a dumbbell that is not pink, you’re going to immediately plump up by 40 pounds, never fit in your tank top again and be destined for a life on the bodybuilding stage as you slug gallons of protein shakes.

You’ve been led to believe that large muscles are a direct result of training volume and intensity. This is simply not true.

Sure, those are factors in the equation, but make no mistake about it, to unveil a sexy, lean, tone, athletic body, the volume you need to concern yourself with the most is the total amount of food that enters your face hole.

It all starts with nutrition

You must eat to reveal the body shape and type that you want.

If you’d like to lose weight, it’s time to create a calorie deficit and eat fewer calories than your body burns on a daily basis.

When you want to pack on more muscle, you’ll do the opposite and eat more calories than your body can burn day in and day out.

This bares repeating.

The only way that you’ll start packing on muscle is to eat more calories. If you are interested in fat loss and are consistently eating in a calorie deficit, you will not get big and bulky. It’s scientifically impossible.

Strength gains can be made in a calorie deficit (more on that in a minute), but this is different than making muscle gains.

How to set your calories for weight loss

Okay so now that this is out of the way, it’s time to figure out how many calories you need to create a deficit and lose weight.

There are approximately 27 Bazillion different online equations where some guru is ready to set your calories and macros for you. I’m sure the vast majority are fine. None of them are perfect.

At the end of the day, this is all just an educated guess because everyone is different and we all process and handle calories differently. So don’t let perfect be the enemy of getting things done. Instead, get started with a simple equation and then make tweaks from there.

For Fat Loss: Multiply your CURRENT bodyweight (IN POUNDS) by 10-12

• 10 = completely sedentary (i.e., and office desk job or just sitting on the couch watching way too much Netflix)
• 11 = moderately active
• 12 = extremely active

Find your current weight in pounds. Multiply it by one of those above multipliers and then get started.

Is this perfect? Nope.

Will it get you started in a decent place so you can take action today? Yep.

If you’d like more information and a full breakdown of how I make this work, you should click over to my article on How to Calculate Calories Needs for Weight Loss.

Once you’ve done that, you might want a deeper dive into tracking macros for fat loss and you can do that by reading my article on How to Count Macros for Fat Loss here.

Both articles will give a better idea of how to set your specific diet needs, including how much protein you’ll need to see the best weight loss success.

Once you’ve calculated your calories, it’s time to talk strength training

In the past when you’ve been interested in a weight loss goal, you’ve likely laced up the ol’ tennis shoes and pounded away on the treadmill for hours at your local gym.

Those big box gyms understand this mentality, which is why the cardio area is always packed full of the most up to date equipment and it’s typically the first place they show off on that introductory tour of the gym. Meanwhile, the weight section in the back is sparsely attended by a few gross dudes.

Or maybe you embraced the idea of lifting some weights and challenging your muscles, but out of fear of getting too big and bulky, you opted to keep your reps high and resistance low with those pink and pastel blue dumbbells.

Perhaps even more common is this approach of embracing these high intensity interval training (HIIT) classes and bootcamps and other high-paced workouts. You’ve managed to break away from the nonstop endless bouts of cardio in place of picking up weights and throwing them around for 30-45 minutes.

Those classes are a tad better than the standard, run-of-the-mill, hamster wheel approach to toning up. But, it’s still not the strength training program that women need to be performing to see the best results.

Ladies, it’s time to chuck those teeny weights into the nearest dumpster, cancel that class pass to HIIT sessions and start pushing some real weight.

There is a difference between building muscle and getting stronger

You can absolutely lose weight, firm or tone up and get really fucking strong. But please understand that the only way you can actually build and pack on added muscle is if you eat in a calorie surplus for an extended period of time.

If your goal is fat loss and you are consistently in a calorie deficit (eating fewer calories than your body burns), you will lose weight and you can still get stronger and you will see more definition and better overall body composition results. Period.

The next point is that resistance training comes in many, many forms. It doesn’t have to be the standard bodybuilding-style chest day and arms day like you might fear it to be.

Strength training or resistance training is relative to the individual, but simply means you are taxing your muscles with some form of movement that allows for what us coaches call, progressive overload (fancy science stuff for getting stronger in a specific move).

The progressive overload principle is key, though. Because without it, you are not really getting as strong as your body has the capacity to achieve.

Sure, you might be able to go from the pink dumbbells to some 20 pounders at your local bootcamp class. So you feel like you are getting stronger. And there is some truth to that. Getting stronger certainly means being able to move more weight.

But since that bootcamp is more cardio-based, the major benefit is your capacity to move a whole lot in a short period of time. You aren’t maximizing your muscle’s ability to get stronger.

Strength or resistance training comes in the form of many different methods:

• Dumbbells
• Barbells
• Exercise machines
• Kettlebells
• Your own bodyweight (calisthenics)
• Moving random heavy objects (like a large tire)

Yes, there are biological differences and then some individual factors that should go into play for each and every person getting started lifting heavy weight.  But make no mistake about it, the strength training program for women can and should look pretty similar to the programming for your male counterparts.

There’s this unfortunate perception that getting stronger means packing on a ton of muscle and looking like you’re ready to challenge and NFL Linebacker to a cage fighting match. This is far from true.

Remember, getting bigger only comes from adding more calories. You can get stronger without getting bigger. Promise.

How to get stronger

Getting stronger in your workouts and fitness is an overly simplistic way to say, you are improving in every facet of your programming (remember the Progressive Overload thing).

Unless you are eating in a caloric surplus (that’s taking in more calories than your body needs to stay the same weight), you will not get bigger. Only stronger.

Sure, that’s a bit basic. There are a few examples where a trainee might be able to burn fat and build a little muscle at the same time, but these are rare in occurrence. The vast majority of us will not see massive muscle gain while dieting. It’s just science.

So how do you get stronger? Great question.

There are numerous ways to progress and adapt your programming to increase the challenge for your body and encourage better fat burning.

Practice tougher movement variations –– For example: moving from a goblet squat to a back squat OR moving to a full push-up after performing the push-up on your knees.

Add more weight –– This is the most common pillar of improved strength. If you are adding more resistance to the barbell (or picking up heavier dumbbells or kettlebells), you are no doubt getting stronger.

Perform more reps or sets of a given exercise –– Let’s say you can perform eight goblet squats with a 45-pound dumbbell. If you can perform nine or 10 reps with that same weight, you are showing improved strength.

Reduce your rest time between sets or reps –– This one is more about intensity, but it is an under looked variable in strength training. Put down the phone and actually take a rest period for one minute (instead of three) and see how much tougher it is to move that weight in your next set.

Decrease your lifting tempo, increase the speed, length of interval or resistance on cardio sprint sessions –– Progressions come in many forms and this one includes how much time you spend practicing the toughest part of a movement. More time under tension means more stimulus to the muscle and more strength.

Improve the form on how you perform movements –– Better form is an indicator that you have more control of the weight. More control of the weight means you are getting stronger. If you’re struggling to move up in weight and/resistance, check your form. Make sure you’re hitting on all cylinders before trying to crank out more reps or higher weight.

As I’ve laid out in a few articles, the benefits of strength training can be achieved with a bare minimum of training volume.

Read this article on how much you should be working out to see results.

OR you can read this article on why you shouldn’t be training every single day with maximum intensity.

Putting it all together

An ideal workout program will mimic some of the key function patterns that the human body experiences throughout the day. 

On its most basic level, we as humans:

• Push things;
• Pull things;
• Hinge at the hips;
• Squat;
• Lunge;
• And we carry things.

That’s about it. So a well-balanced workout program will emphasize these patterns of movement first and foremost. In doing so, all of your muscles will get some work.

As a result, the best strength training plan for women will provide variations on these movements:

• Push: bench press, push-ups, overhead press
• Pull: pull-ups, rows, pulldowns, bicep curls
• Hinge at the hips: deadlifts, kettlebell swings
• Squat: variations on the squat (front, goblet, back, air squats, etc)
• Lunge (or single-leg): variations on the lunge and single-leg deadlifts
• Carry: variations on the weighted carry

Your workout doesn’t really need to be much fancier than this. As long as you are hitting each major muscle group and movement pattern at least twice per week with an emphasis on getting stronger each workout, you’ll do just.

With that said, here are the most basic guidelines to get you started in the right direction:

• Train 2-3 days per week.
• Prioritize compound movements as the core of your workouts (squats, deadlifts, presses, rows, lunges, carries, etc.). Isolation exercises, like bicep curls are secondary.
• Perform 3-6 exercises per workout.
• Perform 3-6 sets per exercise.
• Train in the 3-12 rep range for most compound exercises. Isolation or accessory work can sometimes benefit from higher rep schemes (15-20 or even more).
• Take 60-120 seconds of rest in between exercises.
• Add weight, reps or sets on a weekly to monthly basis.
• Change either your exercises or the rep ranges you’re working at every 4 weeks.
• Do not go to failure to prevent the risk of injury, but do push yourself on each rep. You should really be feeling it at the end of each set.

Make these tenants the constant focus of your fat loss exercise programming. If you do, I can promise that if you couple your training with a solid and consistent weight loss nutritional profile and apply the old adage of consistency over perfection, you will see the long-lasting body transformation you’ve been hoping to achieve.

With that said, here is a strength training workout that checks all of these boxes. It is yours absolutely free to download.

FAQs on Strength Training

Q: I don’t want to get bulky!

For all of the ladies out there concerned about this one, let’s bust this myth once and for all. I can assure you that working out with a focus on strengthening your muscles will never lead to a muscle-bound, bulky physique.

Especially if you are attempting to lose weight by dieting and cutting calories.

Just like eating fewer calories is the only way to successfully lose weight, eating more calories is the only way to successfully gain muscle to achieve that bodybuilder look you’re likely thinking of here.

In fact, most women simply don’t have the genetic makeup to look like this without some pharmaceutical help.

Instead, when women train with weights and get stronger, it leads to a lean and toned look. Not a bulky frame. Promise.

Q: But women have slower metabolisms than men!

On the surface, this is kinda true. But only because women tend to have much less lean muscle tissue (muscle mass) than men. Remember, strength training improves muscle which boosts your metabolism. 

This is also why I prefer creating modest calorie deficits and avoid overly restrictive, huge cuts in calories for my online coaching clients. The goal is to each as much food as possible while still losing weight, getting stronger and looking/feeling great.

You may notice that men typically lose weight a little easier. But please do not confuse weight loss for actual fat loss. Much of the rapid weight changes you see are due to water fluctuations and due to hormonal differences, those fluctuations are much more intense for women.

Again, weight loss is not fat loss, though.

Q: Can I get rid of this thigh fat with certain exercises?

Unfortunately, you cannot spot reduce. 

So those side bends will not remove love handles any more than those sit ups will burn off the belly fat.

The most effective way to lose fat in any area is to be in a calorie deficit, eat adequate protein and strength train consistently.

Simply put: We don’t get to choose where we put on the excess fat. And we don’t get to choose where we lose it. But, if you follow the basic principles of fat loss, that stubborn fat will go away eventually.

Q: But, I’m fat and really need to lose weight first, right?

Yes. You should focus on losing weight (or fat) if that is your goal. Which means, you absolutely should emphasize strength training as the primary driver of your exercise programming.

Strength training keeps those hard-earned muscles while your body rids itself of the unwanted fat surrounding those sexy abs and biceps.

Work your muscles, get your eating right by tracking your calories or macros (here’s my comprehensive guide to counting macros) and the the fat will go away at a much more efficient pace.

Strength training increases your metabolism which means that even though the scale weight loss might seem a tad slower, the actual inches will come off faster.

As long as you are burning more calories than you eat, you will lose weight. Resistance training will only help speed up that process.

Still confused as to why strength training for women is the best way to power your weight loss journey … let me help you. 

Finding the right time and right workout plan can be incredibly overwhelming. But, I’m here to help you out.

If you have any questions, reach out. I answer all of my emails at pete [at] petecataldo [.] com … Hit me up with the subject line “Strength training for women” and I’ll answer any questions you have about training.

Or you can hit me up anytime on the socialz on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

If you enjoyed this post, maybe you’d like more knowledge bombs from me. I’d be honored if you join my mailing list to get regular updates every time I post something pretty dope. Enter your name and your best email address below and you’ll get 52 Free Fat Loss Workouts as my gift to you for being awesome.