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Workout Plan for Female Athletes

Working out for sports, athletics, gymnastics is not a piece of cake. In fact, it’s probably best to even avoid the word ‘cake’, as, along with a hardcore workout, it requires taking a balanced diet. Workouts for athletes are specially designed to strengthen muscles, build stamina and improve the flexibility of the body at the same time. These workouts are meant to increase the performance of the athlete and to make sure that strength and speed easily mingle with their stamina. Since the girdles of males and females are very different structurally, women need special workouts and tips. Read on to learn about workouts that will specifically be helpful for training a female athlete.
It’s necessary that you do at least one hour of aerobic exercises for 5-6 days a week. These exercises provide you the very base of other exercises. It’s a kind of ‘warm-up’. Next on the list is resistance training, also called strength training. This is the one that increases your athletic performance. Stretching exercises are the next on the list. They make your body flexible and also prevents you from serious injuries.

And now, without further ado, get a more in-depth understanding of these workouts:

Aerobic Exercises – These exercises include simple workouts like jogging or running , cycling, swimming, any sport of your choice, and even walking. For the athletes, it’s better than you choose running or cycling. In this way, you would not only increase the stamina but also strengthen the muscles required for winning races. Make sure that you don’t get bored after only one or two exercises. Instead, do 5-6 of these exercises with maximum preference to running. This is called a cross-training. The time to be spent on these exercises is about 1 hour in total. Try this cross-training for 5-6 days in a week.
Strength training – Strength is the basic need of an athlete. This training is to be done 5 days a week. Before taking a look at the workout, first familiarize yourself with the women’s workout gear that is required for the workout:

Recommended Read: How Strength Training And Hypertrophy Benefit Women

Olympic bar (specifically women’s bar)
Fixed weight bars
Dumbbells
EZ Curl bars
Trap bars
Squat stands
Squat racks
Power racks
Smith Machines
Weight machines
Cable machine
Pull up bar
Bench press

Now let’s dive right into the strength training workouts.

The workout plan:-

Body weight squats(20)
Push-ups(10)
Walking lunges(20)
Dumbbell rows(10)
Plank(15 seconds)
Jumping Jacks(30)

Repeat each of the above for 3 rounds

Recommended Read: Core Training: Separating Fact from Fiction

Now, for some leg- specific workouts:-

Deadlift – Stand straight on one leg and hold dumbbells close to the body, bending slightly in the knees. Bend at the waist and slowly lower yourself toward the floor. Keep your head up, chest out and the low back in a flat position. Make sure that your back is flat at every moment of the workout. Return to the initial position by extending at the waist and the hips using the low back and hamstring muscle groups.
Step-Up – Stand upright holding dumbbells in front of a step or a box. Place one leg in the center of the box and shift the body weight to the lead leg. Concentrate and use the quadriceps and hip extensors of the lead leg. Maintain support of the body weight with one leg. Return the other leg to the floor and lower the body using the lead leg.
Squat (1-leg) – Use the wall as support. Stand on one leg. Lower the body in squat motion. Begin by bending at the hips. Make sure that you keep the back straight and head up.

Talking of reps, use the following table for all the above-mentioned workouts as you progress through each of them:-

Reps (1-5) – Build super dense muscle and strength.
Reps (6-12) – Build somewhat equal amounts of muscular strength and muscular endurance.
Reps (12+) – Build muscular endurance and size.

Flexibility training – The American Council on Exercise recommends spending at least 15 minutes on stretching exercises. These exercises are to be done twice a day, every day.

Recommended Read: Harmonizing Bodybuilding with Endurance Training

Workout plan:-