How to Build Muscle (for women)

Building muscle can be difficult, especially if you’re a girl. This is partly because testosterone levels are lower in women than in men. However, with a few lifestyle changes built on healthy nutrition and muscle building exercises, girls can also increase muscle mass and strength. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Table of Contents

Building muscle in adults

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Consult your coach and/or doctor. Before starting the process of training to build muscle, you should consult with your doctor. Muscle-building exercises are very demanding on the body, and people with certain chronic conditions (such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, or stroke) are not suitable for this type of exercise. ^{[2] X Research Source}

If you have high blood pressure (hypertension), you should not lift heavy weights without consulting your doctor first. If your blood pressure is higher than 180/110 mm Hg, you should not lift weights until your blood pressure returns to normal through medication. ^{[3] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

Claudia Carberry, RD, MS

Nutritionist

Claudia Carberry is a licensed dietitian specializing in kidney transplantation and counseling for weight loss patients at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. She is a member of the Arkansas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Claudia received her MS in Nutrition from the University of Tennessee Knoxville in 2010.

Claudia Carberry, RD, MS
Nutritionist

Claudia Carberry, a registered dietitian, advises: “The best way for women to build lean muscle is to do muscle-strengthening exercises.”

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Plan to do muscle strengthening exercises. Muscle strengthening exercises involve every muscle group in the body, and force them to work against a certain amount of weight. By making the muscles work against the weight, you are forcing the muscle fiber bundles to respond to the tension you’ve added, thereby increasing muscle size and definition. To build muscle, you need to add strength training (also known as endurance training) to your weekly workout regimen. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

A typical muscle-strengthening program will use weights (single/doubles, barbells), machines, elastic bands, or even your own bodyweight (push-ups, pull-ups, belly sticks).
Establish a well-balanced, comprehensive resistance training program to build muscle (see section three).

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Do not do too much cardio exercise. Building muscle is not burning fat. The best way to increase muscle mass is through weight training, while the way to lose muscle is to do too many cardio exercises (you’ve never seen a marathon runner who can do that). big muscles, right?). ^{[5] X Research Sources}

However, you should not completely eliminate cardio because they will help improve the cardiovascular system and bring many health benefits, including strengthening bones, lowering blood pressure, reducing chronic diseases. (diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular disease), and improved mood. ^{[6] X Research Sources}
At the same time, you should also keep in mind that reducing your overall body fat will also make your muscles “more defined” and your body will look more toned and healthy.
The key to establishing a cardio plan during muscle building is sprinting instead of doing aerobic exercise for an extended period of time. You should only spend 20 minutes on high-intensity exercise, in which, you need to rest for 1 minute after sprinting high intensity for 30 – 60 seconds.
You should separate cardio from weight training. Never do cardio after weight training, do these exercises another day.
You should only do cardio for 20 minutes, 3-5 times per week. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

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Rest a lot. In fact, weight training puts muscles into a catabolic state (breakdown of muscle protein). In response to this process, your body needs to regenerate muscle tissue, and during this time, you are “building” muscle. So you need to strike a balance between muscle training and adequate rest. ^{[8] X Research Sources}

You should only train for endurance about 3-4 days a week and should not train the same muscle group for many days in a row.
Make sure you get enough sleep each night; Adults need at least 7 to 9 hours of sleep each night. ^{[9] X Research Source}

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Learn about correct technique and understand risk. Lifting weights not only puts a strain on your muscles, but also on your joints and bones. If you don’t perform the exercise correctly, you run the risk of injury.

Always remember to consult your trainer and take the time to learn how to do each exercise correctly before adding more weight.

Build muscle for kids and teens

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Consult a pediatrician. Before engaging a young child or teen in any strength-training activity, you should consult your doctor first. Muscle building programs for children of this age will be slightly different because their bodies are still developing. Too much and too much exercise can cause injury and long-term effects on a young person’s body. Conducting a medical evaluation in advance will help you and your child determine: ^{[10] X Sources of Research}

Training goals.
Understanding the right technique.
Risk factors, such as injury and the use of steroids or other supplements.
You should keep in mind that since the primary goal of strength training is to increase muscle size, it is important to discuss steroid use with your pediatrician, especially if your child is participating. training program for competition. ^{[11] X Research Source}

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Do muscle strength training exercises. This type of exercise focuses on lifting weights but using your own body weight (like sit-ups and push-ups), and you can also add in endurance and agility training to build strength. as well as muscle size. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Lifting weights is the most common muscle strength training technique in sports and in basic exercise.
To get started, you should consult with a fitness coach who can help you or your child learn about each type of exercise and how to do them correctly.
Always remember to warm up first to reduce the risk of injury by spending at least 5 to 10 minutes on cardio.
Stretch gently before and after exercise to improve muscle elasticity.

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Start with lighter weights and gradually move to heavier weights as your body becomes stronger. Using weights that are too heavy can cause injury. At the same time, you also need to learn about each exercise correctly before adding more weight. ^{[13] X Research Source}

Maintain the mechanics of the body in every movement: move slowly, breathe, and understand the range of motion. If you exercise too quickly or move the wrong way, you will get injured.
Listen to your body. The intensity of your workout will depend on the number of repetitions, your weight, and how long you rest before each set. Don’t exercise too hard.
However, you can still push yourself. If you don’t challenge your muscles and start switching to heavier weights, your muscles won’t grow.

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Stay away from powerlifting or competitive weight lifting. Adolescents and young children should not participate in competitive weightlifting, powerlifting, or bodybuilding. They require you to build a lot of muscle groups and are not suitable for young children, and they also have a high risk of injury. ^{[14] X Research Source}

Consult your doctor if you’re not sure what type of weightlifting or strength training you or your child should be doing.
The bodies of adolescents and children are still developing, so the risk of injury is higher.

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Add aerobic exercise to your weekly workout routine. Aerobic (or cardio) exercise is physical activity that increases your heart rate and works with your respiratory system. Regular aerobic exercise will bring many health benefits, such as maintaining body weight, reducing stress, improving cardiovascular system, reducing the risk of chronic diseases (diabetes, cancer), and release endorphins that improve mood.

Aerobic exercise that includes weight-bearing exercise, such as walking, dancing, tennis, and jogging will also help strengthen bones. ^{[15] X Research Source}
Adding aerobic exercise to your weekly routine will help balance your strength training and give you a better foundation for later.

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Know the risks. Any physical activity carries risks, and this is especially true for strength training. According to the National Injury Surveillance System, between 20,000 and 26,000 strength training-related injuries have occurred in people under the age of 21; 40-70% of injuries are caused by muscle strain, mainly in the lower back. ^{[16] X Research Source}

A strength training program must be carefully planned and conducted to minimize the risk of injury. You can achieve this by: ^{[17] X Research Sources}
- Have someone watch or supervise you while lifting weights.
- Understand the instructions of the exercise to avoid injury.
- Know how to use the exercise machine.
- Clean the training area to eliminate hazards.
- Include warm-up and cool-down exercises.

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Avoid exercising too much. Excessive training can be harmful to the body and lead to a catabolic state (the breakdown of muscle protein). During adolescence, the body is still developing, so too much endurance training or burning too many calories can cause your body to have problems. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

Workouts should last an hour or less, and you need to rest a day (or two) between workouts to give your muscles time to regenerate. ^{[19] X Research Source}
Signs of overtraining that you need to look out for include: an increased heart rate when the body is at rest, trouble sleeping, and exhaustion.
If you or your child has any of these symptoms, you should reduce the time or intensity of your exercise and consult your doctor.
Note to Parents: Excessive exercise can be a sign of an eating disorder. If you think your child is over-exercising, watch for these symptoms: upset over missing a workout, working out even when sick, resenting having to sit still because he can’t burn. calories, and think you gain weight when you don’t exercise for a day. ^{[20] X Research Source}

Focus on the right muscle group

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Take advantage of the benefits of muscle coordination exercise. Exercises that work major muscle groups (muscle coordination exercises) will help increase your muscle mass significantly and speed up your metabolism. ^{[21] X Source of Research} For example, the lying down push-up will work the pectorals, triceps, and deltoids in a single exercise. Separate exercises such as triceps will only work the triceps. ^{[22] X Research Source}

Coordination exercises work more muscle fibers with each lift, so you spend less time in the gym. ^{[23] X Research Sources}
Try building a compound muscle workout routine with 4 days upper/lower body or 3 days full body to avoid overworking your muscles, which often happens in individual exercises.
Use individual exercises to improve muscle clarity once you’ve reached your goal. ^{[24] X Research Source}

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Build muscle in your legs and butt. To strengthen the muscles in the lower body, you need to do exercises that focus on the muscles in the thighs, calves, and hips. When it comes to building muscle, increasing weight (or resistance) and reducing repetitions are key (the opposite of improving endurance).

To build muscle in your thighs, you need to do exercises that target the hamstrings, hamstrings, and inner hips, like the knee flexion, thigh lift, and step up exercise. ). ^{[25] X Research Sources}
To build muscle in your calves (abs, calves, and calves), you can either do standing leg raises or sitting leg raises. ^{[26] X Research Sources}
Some leg exercises (like thigh lifts and knee flexes) will also work the muscles in the hips and glutes (external glutes, internals, flexors, and external rotators), but to strengthen a few exercises: Specifically for these muscle groups, you should try the hip extension and thigh kick. ^{[27] X Research Source}
You should also use a heavy enough obstacle that you can only do 4 to 8 reps of each of these exercises. If you can easily do more than 8 reps, you’re using too light an obstacle and are building endurance instead of building muscle.
Note for minors: always be sure to consult your trainer or pediatrician before performing these exercises. Your body is still developing, so you should avoid exercises that are too intense and too heavy.

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Strengthens and builds muscles in the back. To build muscle in your back, you should focus on working out your lats, lats, scapulas (upper, lower, middle), scapula, rhombus, subspinous, small round, and scapula. muscle below the shoulder blade. ^{[28] X Research Sources}

There are quite a few different exercises you can use to build these muscle groups. You can try doing dumbbell exercises (such as crunches, squats, and sit-ups), or pull-ups, barbell pull-ups, lat pull-ups, and shoulder exercises.
You can use single/double dumbbells and machines or even a stretch band or bodyweight for the above exercises.
Strengthening your back muscles will also help improve your posture.

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Strengthening your abs will help you to have firm abs. To build abs, you should focus on training the straight abs, transverse abs, intercostals, lumbar muscles, and lower back muscles.

When it comes to abs, you can use your body weight to do backbends, straight back crunches, leg lifts, or you can try a different movement and use dumbbells. /single, rope or bar to add weight and get your abs working more. ^{[29] X Research Sources}

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Build the pectoral muscle group. Women often look down on training chest muscles, but this is an inappropriate thought. Working your chest muscles will help you maintain muscle balance, especially if you’re building muscle in your back; Focusing on only one side of your body will make you look disproportionate. ^{[30] X Research Source}

To work on the pectoral muscle group, you should focus on exercises that focus on the pectoralis major, pectoralis major, and anterior serosa.
Choose from two or three different types of exercise, such as barbell pushups, supine pushups, freestyle lifts, chest presses, and/or chest presses. ^{[31] X Research Source}

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Strengthen arm and shoulder muscles. Many women want to have slim, muscular arms and shoulders. To achieve this, you need to work the deltoids (anterior, mid, and posterior) as well as the supraspinatus muscles of the shoulder and triceps, biceps, forearms, flexors, and triceps. wrist extensor.

To build muscle in your shoulders, you can do shoulder presses or standing dumbbells, front shoulder lifts, stand rowing, or reverse arm swings, you can use ropes, doubles/singles, or barbells for added gains. weight. ^{[32] X Research Source}
When working out for the arms, you can use double/single dumbbells or exercise machines to do exercises such as barbells, triceps, biceps triceps, biceps curls, wrist curls, and triceps. Exercises using rollers. ^{[33] X Research Source}^{[34] X Research Source}

Build muscle with nutrition

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Start your morning with oats. Building muscle starts with paying attention to the food you consume. When it comes to choosing the right carbs that are low in processed and low on the glycemic index (GI), there’s no better breakfast item than oats. ^{[35] X Research Source}

In addition to being high in fiber and low in calories, the benefits of oats include: providing an ideal variety of micronutrients, reducing hunger and increasing satiety, and minimizing energy expenditure in the body. next meal (second meal effect). ^{[36] X Research Source}
Overall, oats are a good way to add healthy carbs to your diet.
Avoid prepackaged oats, as they contain a lot of sugar and artificial colors. Use broken oats and add some healthy toppings like chopped peas and blueberries.

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Eat lean meat. Consuming high-quality, protein-rich lean meat is an important part of building muscle. Your digestive system will break down the protein in meat into amino acids, which are the building blocks of muscle tissue and are essential for muscle repair and recovery after exercise. ^{[37] X Research Source}

Eat lean cuts of beef (such as rump, tenderloin, and top rump) or ground beef with less than 7% fat. Low-fat beef is often loved by bodybuilders for its nutritional content (zinc, iron, and many B vitamins) and high-quality protein. ^{[38] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}
Use skinless chicken or low-fat turkey, they are great sources of lean protein. ^{[39] X Research Sources}

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Use low-fat dairy products and eggs. These foods also contain the nutrients and protein needed for building and maintaining muscle. Dairy products will also help strengthen bones in children and adolescents. ^{[40] X Research Source}

Add low-fat cottage cheese to your diet. In addition to being a healthy dessert when paired with a variety of fresh berries, it also contains protein that is digested fairly slowly and is ideal for muscle maintenance. ^{[41] X Research Source}
Note: If you are lactose intolerant, you can use soy products rich in calcium and Vitamin D.
Add eggs to your diet, they are packed with protein and nutrients (including essential amino acids, chpine and vitamin D). Although chicken eggs are considered high in chpesterp, many recent studies have proven that it is not harmful to health. ^{[42] X Research Source}

Advice

Get enough sleep. Good sleep will keep you alert and focused, and you won’t want to fall asleep while training or competing.
Workout takes time, so don’t expect results to show up overnight. To be successful, you have to be patient.
Don’t forget to drink water. Exercise will increase your need for water and to prevent dehydration, you should drink about 10-12 cups of water a day. ^{[54] X Trusted Source Mayo Clinic Go to Source}

Warning

Don’t try too hard! You should only do muscle building exercises 3 to 5 days per week to allow your muscles to recover.
Always consult your doctor before starting any exercise program.

Steps