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Ladies, it is not rocket science to build muscles. But if you prepare the right mindset, straightforward approach and practice these six tips, you will surely surprise yourself even after a few week. Muscle building is usually a mystery to many of us, especially for beginners. So, here we go.
Where is the problem?
Many people, and not only women, start with excessive enthusiasm and lack of knowledge, which only leads to dissapointment. Many of us start in a snappish way, with advanced training and think, that muscles can be built quickly – but they can not. Perhaps you belong to the second group of people and use too much variability, while you think that this will “confuse” the muscles to grow – but this is not the solution either. There is one important fact that affects many women – women hope that everything, including muscle building and also eating, is in the process of fat loss.
The key to achieve your dream physique is not limiting your enthusiasm, but the long-term effort, that you follow consistently. This mindset allows you to make progress and keep it for longer time.
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1. Skip advanced splits for certain parts of your body
Many advanced athletes use splits – split trainings, that are at least specific. They target only one or more parts of the body and kill them until they are submitted. However, this way of dividing trainings is very difficult for begginers.
If you are so tired after your workout that you can not even move on the next day, you might have overstepped your boundaries. On the other hand, you have to know that you have been training and feel the appropriate amount of muscle pain in the target muscle group. However, not so much pain that it would threathen your ability to train next time.
Tip: Start with a two-day split and do each part twice a week during four training days. Do not perform more than two exercises for any part of the body and limit it to 3-4 sets per exercise. Keep your dropsets and other intense workouts for the future. For now, practice 8 to 10 reps in one set, although last reps can be a tough fight.This is a sample verified split:
• Training 1: legs, abdominal muscles, biceps, triceps
• Training 2: chest, back, shoulders
2. Eat in order to build your muscles
You may be able to avoid eating (but that is not right), when your goal is fat loss, but not when you are trying to build muscles. It is critical to feed your body with the right nutritients to have enought energy for trainings. Your body also needs raw material to build and restore muscle tissues.
This is th etime when you should seriously think about your diet, eat enough and skip junk food. This is not the time for fast foods or processed carbohydrates like white flour and sugar. Importance should be placed on sources of poor protein, fruit and vegetables, slowly digestible carbohydrates (beans and legumes, oats, sweet potatoes) and healthy fats (olive and rapeseed oil, fatty fishes and avocado).
Tip: If you want to maximize the amount of muscle tissue through the diet, multiply the target weight by number 45 and the result is number – the approximate amount of calories you should consume daily. So if your weight is 52 kilograms and you want to have 56 kilograms, you need to eat about 2520 calories daily – 56×45, while 40% of your total calories should come from protein.
3. Focus on the muscles of your whole body, not only on the problem areas
One of the mistakes, made by many begginers, is overestimating “problem” areas of their bodies. This is especially not good for begginers, that have not trained enough these problem areas to give it a basis for growth. It is more likely to cause injury or imbalance than to strengthen your weaknesses. For the first eight week you better focus on overall muscle building rather than on one of the uncared muscle groups.
Tip: Follow training sessions four days a week, in two-day splits for the first 8 weeks. If the amount of your muscle mass noticeably increases, you can progress to a three-day splits.
4. Find time
It is great to have a positive attitude, but it is even more important to be committed and disciplined – especially in the beginning. Eight weeks, four trainings a week – that means 32 days needed to handle it all and also get used to it. Each of these days is as important as the others. It is also important for healthy eating.
We are sure that there are also days when you are not excited to go to the gym, have another leg training and another protein meal and vegetables. You also may not be excited to have a mess in your kitchen as you cook and prepare meals to the meal containers. But muscles are built through consistency. Put these words on your dashboard, to your phone, to your toilet or anywhere else to truly raise your awareness.
People that achieve results are usually those who stay consistent every day because muscle building takes time.
Tip: Try to adjust yourself to go to the gym without considering whether you like it or not, whether it is what you want to do at that time. If you really do not have enough time, try to find a way to shorten your training without sacrificing its effects.
For example, you can change your 60-minute workout to 30-minute training where you simply train more body parts without rest periods. Reduce the weight you use and stay in motion. This type of workout will make you pant for breath, but you will have a great workout, especially when we compare it with the possibility to skip it.
5. Build your muscles before shredding
If you wish to build muscles, be stronger and more shredded, you firstly need to built these muscles, obviously. Why? Because if you are on a diet, you are more likely to lose not only body fat, but also hardly obtained muscle tissues. And that is the last thing that you want.
Moreover, beginner have very often lack of muscle mass and need it more than they think. If they try to shred, they usually end up disappointed due to the shape or flaws. Remember that you firstly need to supply your bones with a meat. You probably do not want your weight scale hand to move up, but you need to trust the process and the idea of ” I will get now, I will lose later”.
Tip: Do not start dieting if you have already reached your target weight. Gain at least 4,5 kg more than your desired weight is and only after that lower your calorie intake to reduce body fat.
If you want to support lean muscle tissue growth more than body fat level increasing, maintain calories – again around 20 calories per 0,45 kg of your target body weight – so you provide your body all the necessary nutritients to gain muscle tissue while maintaining body fat level on minimum.
6. Change your targets as soon as you reach them
Muscle building is a lifetime journey and the result improves consistently. There are many diets and training plans for 30 days, 12 weeks or anything else, but if you really want to make progress, the goal is to continue. Naturally, none of us follow the same training plan for our whole life. Not only because it is boring and monotonous, but your body can easily get used to it and you will notice only small results after 8-10 weeks of the same training plan.
Tip: You should be prepared to the significant change in your training after following the 8-week training plan (or it can last longer if you still see consistent results).This change should reflect what works best for you, as well as what you need to do the most.
You can later add some cardio exercise in a HIIT training form between strength trainings to support fat-burning process while maintaining your muscles. If you wish to start the body fat loss phase, reduce your calorie intake from 20 calories per 0,45 kg of your target weight to approximately 15 calories, but do not choose too ambitious goal. You can also change the strength exercises and focus on some more difficult exercises or switch to a three-day training split.
Keep in mind that even the most experienced bodybuilders and fitness athletes reorganize their training routine almost every two months. Some of them change their training plans more often than others, but practising 8-10 weeks in one training phase is usually an effective point to keep progressing for most people.
You will soon realize that you are committed to do for your whole life. Good luck! What techniques of exercise or training splits have worked best for you? Let us know in the comments below. If you liked this article, support it by sharing.