About this 6 week bikini body challenge

Intensity level: beginner/intermediate

Benefits: this challenge is designed to tone up your whole body, with exercises for legs, arms and abs

Safety: please read the general safety information here

Warm up: warm up exercises are given below for the leg exercises and arm exercises

What you need

Legs days: no special requirements, other than non-slip footwear if you’re working on a hard floor.

Arms days: you’ll need a set of hand weights – see a buying guide here.

Abs days: you’ll need an exercise mat or some other form of cushioning for your spine – see an exercise mat buying guide here.

 6 week bikini body challenge chart

The challenge is divided up into legs, arms and abs days. There are 4 exercises for legs days and 3 each for arms and abs days. The chart shows the reps for each exercise every day and instructions for the exercises are below the chart. For the leg lift behind and side leg lift exercises, do the given number of reps for each day on one leg, then repeat on the other leg. So for example on day 1, do 16 reps on each leg of these exercises.

Exercise instructions

Warm up exercises

Do 12 knee lifts before you do the leg day exercises and 6 arm circles before you do the arm day exercises.

Challenge exercises

Leg day exercises:

Exercises for arms days:

Exercises for abs days:

Strength training for women – sculpting not bulking

Women are often put off strength training because they don’t want bulky muscles. However, this won’t happen without high volume, high weight dedicated training and a strict nutrition program. Here are some of the reasons why.

1. Hormones: Testosterone, the primary muscle-building hormone, is naturally much higher in men. While women do produce testosterone, it’s significantly less, making it much harder to achieve large muscle mass.

2. Muscle Makeup: Women have a higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers, which excel at endurance activities like running but don’t readily hypertrophy (enlarge) like fast-twitch fibers, which are more dominant in men.

3. Training and Intensity: Building significant muscle mass requires intense training with heavy weights and a consistent calorie surplus. Unless you tailor your training specifically to these goals, you aren’t going to develop bulky muscles.

So, what can you expect from strength training?

• Toned and Sculpted Physique: Strength training helps build lean muscle, leading to a toned and defined appearance.
• Increased Strength and Power: You’ll get stronger, lift heavier weights, and perform everyday activities more easily.
• Improved bone mineral density: most exercise helps to increase or maintain bone mineral density, however strength training is particularly effective. This is important for women as lack of bone density can be a debilitating problem post-menopause.
• Boosted Metabolism: Muscle burns more calories at rest, even after your workout. This can help with weight management and fat loss, contributing to a leaner physique.

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