This barbell workout plan for women is for anyone who has outgrown their dumbbells and wants to start lifting properly.
Most of us start strength training with dumbbells, and honestly, they’re brilliant. They’re easy to use, they don’t take up much room and you can do pretty much everything with them.
But eventually, you can hit a point where the dumbbells you have just aren’t cutting it anymore.
You’re using the heaviest pair you own. The workouts are starting to feel easier. The next weight up feels like a huge jump, or you just don’t particularly fancy buying another whole set of dumbbells.
So what happens? You add more reps. Then a few more.
And before you know it, what was supposed to be strength training starts feeling a lot more like conditioning. That’s where adding a barbell can completely change your training.
And I’m not talking about needing a giant Olympic setup, a squat rack and half a commercial gym in your garage. You really can start with just a barbell and some plates.
What A Barbell Gives You That Dumbbells Cannot
You can actually start loading your bigger lifts properly. This is probably the biggest difference. With dumbbells, you’re always limited by what each arm can comfortably hold and control. Once you put both hands onto one bar, that changes.
Suddenly your squats, deadlifts, hip thrusts and rows can get heavier without you needing to somehow wrestle two enormous dumbbells into position. And these are exactly the movements where you’ll often outgrow your dumbbells first.
You can progress in much smaller steps. This is one of my favourite things about barbell training. With dumbbells, the jump from one weight to the next can be pretty big.
Going from a 10kg dumbbell to a 12kg dumbbell, for example, is a 20% increase. That can feel like a LOT, especially on upper-body exercises.
With a barbell, you can simply add a pair of 1.25kg plates and increase your total load by 2.5kg. Small increases. Gradual progress. That’s exactly what we want.
Strength is really just about asking your body to do slightly more over time, and a barbell makes that “slightly more” much easier to control.
You can see exactly what you lifted. There’s also something really satisfying about having an actual number to work with. You know what’s on the bar. You can write it down.
And the next time that exercise comes around, you know exactly what you’re trying to match or improve. It takes the guesswork out of it.
You get really good at the basic lifts. Squats. Deadlifts. Romanian deadlifts. Rows. Overhead presses. Hip thrusts. Nothing fancy. Just really good strength exercises that you can keep progressing for a very long time.
I’m a big believer that we don’t need endless exercise variations just for the sake of making workouts feel new. Sometimes getting better and stronger at the basics is exactly what we need.
And yes, getting stronger matters more as we get older. Maintaining muscle and bone strength is something I care about more and more as the years go on. Giving your body a reason to stay strong matters.
And one of the simplest ways to do that is to keep challenging it with resistance that actually feels challenging.
Here is what a barbell strength session in this barbell workout plan for women looks like:
You Do Not Need A Power Rack. A Pump Bar Is Enough
I think this is where barbell training can start to feel a little intimidating. You hear “barbell” and immediately picture a huge 20kg Olympic bar, a squat rack and a gym setup that takes up half the house.
It doesn’t have to look like that. A pump bar, sometimes called a studio bar, is the type of barbell you’ve probably seen in group fitness classes. It’s shorter, usually weighs somewhere around 5kg and uses smaller plates.
It doesn’t take up much room. You can keep it in the corner of a room or garage. And it’s generally much more affordable than buying a full Olympic setup.
For home training, I think they’re fantastic. And they’re not just a “beginner version” of a proper barbell either. They actually give you some really useful training options.
- The empty bar is a manageable starting weight. A 20kg Olympic bar can already be too heavy for some exercises, particularly pressing overhead. With a lighter pump bar, you can learn the movement first and then gradually add weight.
- You can use it for conditioning too. Complexes, circuits and higher-rep barbell workouts work really well with a lighter bar because you can keep moving without the load becoming ridiculous.
- You can still progressively overload. Add a little weight as you get stronger. Then a little more. Those small plates give you plenty of room to progress.
- It works brilliantly for home workouts. You don’t need a huge setup. You don’t need to drive to a gym. And you can get a really solid session done in 30 minutes.
I use a 15-20kg bar in most of these workouts, and throughout the sessions I’ll show you what I’m lifting so you have a reference point. But please don’t feel like you need to lift what I lift.
Go lighter. Go heavier. Start with the empty bar if that’s where you’re at. That absolutely counts.
How This Barbell Workout Plan For Women Is Built
Barbell Strong is a barbell workout plan for women that gives you 20 follow-along barbell workouts mapped across a balanced 28 day calendar. I didn’t want this to just be 20 random barbell videos thrown together.
There’s a rhythm to the month so you’re getting different styles of training while still coming back to the lifts that actually help you get stronger. Every week includes three main things:
Barbell strength. This is where you’ll see supersets, tri-sets and more traditional strength blocks. The idea is to slow things down a little, use a challenging load and focus on getting stronger.
These are the workouts where I really want you paying attention to your weights. If you used 25kg last time and it felt good, maybe next time it’s 27.5kg. That’s progress.
Barbell conditioning. This is where we have a little more fun with the bar. Circuits, EMOMs, complexes and HIIT-style sessions where the bar keeps moving and your heart rate comes along for the ride.
You’ll generally want a lighter bar for these workouts, and that’s the beauty of having different ways to train with the same piece of equipment. Heavy isn’t always better. The load has to suit what you’re actually doing.
A dedicated lower body day. Every week. No negotiating. 😂 Your legs and glutes contain some of the biggest muscles in your body, and getting them stronger is a huge part of getting stronger overall.
It’s also very easy to keep choosing full-body workouts and somehow never quite get around to that proper leg session. So I’ve already made that decision for you. Your lower-body day is in there.
Active recovery and rest days are built into the calendar too. I want you to treat those as part of the program, not as days where you’re somehow doing nothing. Training works better when you recover from it.
Here is one of the conditioning sessions, using the same bar in a completely different way:
And here is one of the weekly leg days:
What’s Inside Barbell Strong
- 20 follow-along workout days across a balanced 28 day calendar
- A dedicated lower body day every week
- Tap any calendar day or workout title to go straight to the video
- MY WEIGHT boxes to log your weights on every single exercise
- Tick every move off as you go, plus space for notes on every workout
- Active recovery and rest day guidance built in
- Fill it in on any device, or print the lot
Who This Barbell Workout Plan For Women Is For, And What You Need
Barbell Strong is for you if you already exercise, you’re comfortable with the basic strength movements and you want a bit more structure around your training. You don’t need to be an advanced lifter.
You just need to be ready to stop choosing workouts completely at random and start paying a little more attention to getting stronger.
You’ll need a barbell and a selection of plates. A pump bar and smaller plates work perfectly. If you already have an Olympic bar, absolutely use that.
Some of the workouts also use dumbbells or individual weight plates, but you don’t need a squat rack and you don’t need a gym.
The workouts range from around 20 to 50 minutes. So some days you can get in, get your strength work done and move on with your day.
Other days, if you’ve got a bit more time, you can settle into a longer session.
If barbell training is completely new to you, start with the free calendar and keep the bar light. There is absolutely no prize for loading it up too quickly. Learn the movements. Get comfortable. Then build from there.
How To Get Started
Option one, free. Grab the free 28 day calendar. Everything is already mapped out for you and every workout title links straight through to the video.
You can keep it on your phone, use it on your tablet or print it out and stick it on the garage wall. Basically, I’ve taken away the “what am I doing today?” part.
Get the free Barbell Strong 28 day calendar
Option two, the full plan, $17 USD. If you want to actually track what you’re lifting as you work through the month, this is the version I’d go for. You get everything from the free calendar plus the full interactive ebook.
Every workout is laid out for you, with a MY WEIGHT box beside every exercise, tick boxes as you work through the session and space to add your own notes.
So when that movement comes around again, you’re not standing there thinking, “What did I use last time?” You know. And that makes it much easier to actually progress.
Get the full Barbell Strong plan, $17
You can also watch the whole programme on YouTube here: Barbell Strong playlist
Barbell Workout Plan For Women FAQs
Do I need a barbell, or can I do this with dumbbells?
You really do need a barbell to get the most from this particular barbell workout plan for women. You could substitute dumbbells for a lot of the exercises if you absolutely had to, but the whole reason I created Barbell Strong was to make use of the things a barbell does really well, particularly being able to increase your load gradually.
If you’re going to do the whole program with dumbbells, I’d probably choose one of my dumbbell-based plans instead.
What weight bar should I start with?
A 5kg pump bar with a range of small plates is a really practical place to start. If you already own a 15kg or 20kg bar and you’re confident using it, use what you have.
And if an exercise is new to you, there is nothing wrong with using the empty bar while you get comfortable with it.
Is a pump bar heavy enough to actually build muscle?
Yes. Your muscles don’t know what brand of barbell you bought. 😂 They respond to the challenge you’re giving them.
If your pump bar is loaded to 25kg, you’re lifting 25kg. The important part is that the load continues to challenge you and, over time, you’re able to increase it.
Do I need a squat rack?
No. The exercises in this barbell workout plan for women are designed so the bar can be lifted or cleaned from the floor into position. You don’t need a rack.
How long are the workouts?
They range from around 20 to 50 minutes, with most sitting somewhere around the 30-minute mark.
What is the difference between the free calendar and the paid plan?
The free calendar gives you the full 28-day schedule and links you straight through to every workout. So if you simply want someone to tell you what workout to do each day, start there.
The paid plan gives you the interactive ebook as well, which lets you record your weights exercise by exercise, tick off movements and keep notes throughout the month. For me, that tracking piece is what turns it from simply following workouts into actually seeing your strength improve.
What To Try Next
- 30-Minute Full Body Barbell Workout for Women Over 40
- Low Impact Max Out: How to Build Lean Muscle and Burn Fat Without a Single Jump
- Knee Friendly & Strong: How to Get Lean and Strong Without Wrecking Your Knees
Load the bar and start where you are. Then we’ll build from there.
Penny x
Garage Fitness Girl
