Most women want to be in good shape and look their best but are mostly unsure about how to accomplish that. I want to make it simple by giving you my 3 best strength exercises for a full-body workout. These are easy for beginners but will help you to build some strength so you can progress to harder exercises. But they’re also great when you’re short on time!
A workout routine should always involve three components: strength training, cardio and stretching. Most women tend to focus more on easy cardio like walking rather than strength training, which doesn’t generally give them the results they’re hoping for. Why?
Because strength training builds muscle which helps us burn more calories all the time AND gives us that “toned” look we all want. It also helps to stop bone loss which will help prevent osteoporosis. But it doesn’t mean you have to join a gym and hang out with all the young guys pumping heavy weights.
You can do strength training at home with simple moves, little equipment and not a lot of time. You just have to know how to be smart and target your major muscle groups. That’s how our bodies can stay strong and look great with the least amount of effort.
So the following are the 3 best exercises I’m suggesting for a short, full-body strength workout that will give you results.
The 3 most important strength exercises for a full-body workout
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- Sumo squat with bicep curls and shoulder press
- Plank with hip dips and/or push-ups
- Jumping jacks
These are all considered “compound” exercises which means each exercise works more than one muscle group at a time. For example, a squat alone works several muscles: the glutes, hamstrings and quads. But when you add the bicep curl and shoulder press you’ll also be working your deltoids, biceps, triceps, pecs and trapezius!
Doing exercises that combine muscle groups in this way will help you save time in your workouts which is a huge bonus. So in a short amount of time, you can do a full-body workout with just a few easy moves. Starting simple will help you build a base of strength so you can move on to harder workouts later.
Before I explain these exercises and why I think they’re “the best”, let me first review why it’s important to focus on strength training anyway.
How strength exercises benefit women specifically
Most women don’t realize that muscle burns more calories than fat. So having more muscle means that the calories we ingest will be burned more readily as opposed to being stored away as fat. This is especially important as we hit menopause! According to Kinucan and Kravitz:
“Muscle tissue contributes approximately 20% to TDEE [total daily energy expenditure] versus 5% for fat tissue.”
But you also have to remember to move as much as possible during the day because keeping those muscles active burns even more calories. Working out to gain more muscle but otherwise sitting all day won’t have as many benefits in the long run.
Related article: How to exercise at work (so you can do more at home!).
The other specific benefit of strength training for women is that it helps to maintain our bone density. And unfortunately, according to the CDC:
“Osteoporosis prevalence among women [over 50] increased from 14.0% in 2007–2008 to 19.6% in 2017–2018.”
The simple act of lifting heavy weights helps to maintain our bone mass more than any other thing we can do. The recommended weight needed to prevent and maintain bone mass needs to be between 70 and 90% of your “one rep maximum”. In other words, lifting 70-90% of the most you’re able to lift just one time.
This is important to remember because lifting 5lb weights won’t help much unless that’s just you’re starting point. The goal is to start low and as you gain strength work up to the most you’re able to lift. The other key point to remember is that strength training needs to be done for life, not just for a short period of time.
So all three of these exercises are meant to get you going on gaining overall strength. After you’ve mastered these you can work up to adding more weights to your workouts to put more pressure on your bones.
The 3 best exercises and why I chose them
1. Sumo squat with bicep curls and a shoulder press
I think this strength exercise is one of the best because as I mentioned the squat alone works the quads, hams, and glutes. And for obvious reasons, we need to keep our legs strong. Do you or anyone you know have trouble getting out of a chair? Nobody needs that problem in life no matter what their age!
In addition to keeping our legs strong, we can add a couple of weights to this move for a bicep curl and shoulder press (raising the arms overhead). That way, with this one exercise we work the legs, butt, biceps, and shoulder muscles. You could also raise up on your toes while doing the shoulder press to challenge your calves more. That’s a pretty good full-body workout!
How to do them:
Keep your back straight throughout this exercise. Your feet should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart with toes pointing out diagonally. A good starting point is to hold a 5lb dumbbell in each hand (less if need be). Then squat down, pushing your butt out, with your hands hanging straight down between your legs.
As you raise back up, lift the dumbbells up to your chest (bicep curl) and rotate your palms so they’re facing your chest.
From there, raise the dumbbells over your head turning your palms out away from your body as you do so. (Remember that you can also lift up your heels and stand on your toes at this point.) Then bring the dumbbells back down to your chest facing in (lower your heels). Start this series over with another squat.
It’s important while doing this exercise to keep your back straight. That’s easier to do if you keep your head and chest up looking straight out in front of you. Another tip for good form is to push your butt back and keep your knees behind your toes. You should be able to wiggle your toes when you’re in a squat position.
Important note: Do not do the shoulder press if you know you have shoulder problems, or at least check with a doctor or physical therapist first. If you have pain in your shoulders the next day or two after doing these then don’t do them anymore until you see a doctor and identify the problem.
Also, as you work your way up in weights you may want to drop the shoulder press altogether. It’s not always a good idea to lift a lot of weight over the head as we age because our shoulders are more prone to injuries. Everyone should modify exercises accordingly for their own needs.
2. Plank with hip dips and/or push-ups
A plank is one of the best and most classic strength exercises. It should be in everyone’s routine! It obviously challenges your core muscles but it gives you a full-body workout too. By adding the hip dips and/or push-ups you’ll give some of those muscles an extra boost!
Just remember to start where you’re able to. Using the correct form is always better than doing an exercise wrong and hurting yourself.
How to do them:
Get down on the floor holding your upper body up with your hands directly under your shoulders and your arms straight. Your toes should be holding up your lower body. Your entire body should look like a plank; straight from your shoulders to your heels. This is all that’s necessary for this exercise, but if you’re up for more, read on!
For the hip dips, move your hips from the right to the left sides of your body, as far as you can manage, “dipping” your hips toward the floor. This move challenges your oblique muscles (on your sides) even more. You’ll feel it!
Next, you can add a push-up if you’re strong enough at this point. But even if you can only do one push-up then do it! The only way to get stronger is to keep practicing each exercise. If you can’t do a full push-up (all the way to the floor), just bend your elbows partway. Or just stick with a basic plank.
Important note: If you can’t hold a plank from your toes yet then you can do it with your knees on the floor instead. Then, every once in a while, try to push up onto your toes for a few seconds. Another option is to do the planks or push-ups against a wall and work your way up to that same position on the floor.
3. Jumping jacks
Jumping jacks is another great classic strength exercise that I think should be in everyone’s routine! The jumping works all of your leg muscles, your calves in particular, but also puts that pressure on your bones to help maintain your bone density. This is why I think they’re one of the best!
The act of moving your arms up and down while you do them is also good for shoulder mobility. And all that movement gets your heart rate up for a little more cardio. You may even notice that your shoulder muscles get tired before your legs do!
Disclaimer: If you know you already have osteoporosis, then please talk to a doctor or a physical therapist before doing these. Depending on the severity of your condition, you need to know what’s ok and not ok for your own body.
How to do them:
I doubt I need to explain a jumping jack to anyone since we all had to do them at some point in elementary school gym class! But I do want to be sure you’re doing them correctly.
Standing up straight with your feet together and hands at the sides of your hips, jump out with both legs while raising your arms up overhead.
Try to keep it up for at least 30 seconds but longer if you’re able. The longer you do them the more benefit you’ll get. This is a great way to add a little cardio to a short workout and really strengthen those calf muscles.
This exercise also works your smaller gluteal muscles on the sides of your hips which are often neglected in strength work. For a great short explanation of all of these muscles, watch this video.
Why only 3 strength exercises?
My first goal with this article is to get you started on doing something for strength on a regular basis. If you’re just starting out with exercise then these three moves will help you build a base of strength that you can add more to later.
My second goal is to make strength training as simple as possible. For those of you with limited time (or lack of motivation!), doing just three exercises will seem more doable with your schedule. You can even do these exercises on breaks at work! Then on days when you have more time, do more.
My last goal is to just get you in the habit of exercising. Habits are always easier to start when they’re simple and don’t take a lot of time. If you haven’t figured it out yet, baby steps are key to forming new habits!
With each exercise try to do as many reps (repetitions) as possible, or make your first goal 30 seconds and work up from there. And remember to write down how much you do so you know your starting point. It’s always a good idea to track your progress so there’s no doubt that you’re getting results.
Related article: Track your exercise progress for more motivation.
My final thoughts
We do cardio to keep our hearts strong so we can live longer. We do strength training to keep the rest of our muscles strong so we can live independently doing what we want when we want. That gives us a good quality of life!
There are too many things in life that we don’t have any control over but our bodies are generally not one of them. Start doing these three strength exercises a couple of times a week for at least a month. Then get a personal trainer or find another program (online even) to help you move onto new exercises that challenge you more.
These are some of the best strength exercises I can think of to start building more muscle, changing how your body looks, increasing metabolism and avoiding osteoporosis. But you have to commit to doing them at least twice a week for the long term (that means forever!).
I do a little strength training every day but I mix it up so one day I work my upper body, the next day my lower body, and the last day my core. Then I start over again with my upper body. Your muscles need time to rest in-between strength workouts so this schedule works really well when you’re ready for more.
Related article: How to set up a balanced workout program.
But my real point here is to JUST GET STARTED DOING SOMETHING! And I believe these three exercises make a good full-body workout to lead you to the next step in your fitness journey. You won’t regret it!
I would love to know in the comments below what your experience has been with exercise so far. What motivates you to keep moving and what are the obstacles that you’re still trying to overcome?