Muscle-Building Tips for Women

At times, it can be difficult for a woman to build lean muscle. Don’t be discouraged, though! Just a few lifestyle changes can help you get stronger and feel more confident.

Here are some muscle-building tips to consider:

Forget the fad diets – What would you say is the most important element of a successful muscle-building regimen for a woman? No, it’s not taking supplements or even lifting more weights. The answer is taking in more calories. Here’s the thing: without additional calories, your body won’t have the energy to generate new muscle tissue. Our advice? Don’t just think that stuffing your face will lead to lean muscle growth. Instead, make it a point to increase your calories at a slower rate over time. Coupled with heavier lifting, you should begin to see changes in lean mass.
Set realistic expectations – You’ve gotten to the point where you’re sick and tired of not building muscle. As a result, you begin to eat everything imaginable. We’re not just talking about healthy food, either. By taking this approach, you can count on gaining fat as opposed to muscle. The key to a muscle-building program is patience. Stay consistent with your workouts and what you eat. It’s okay to gain some body fat if you’re also maximizing muscle gains. Ideally, you should aim for about 10-15 pounds of muscle in one year. Whatever you do, avoid setting unrealistic expectations, as this strategy will set you up for failure.
Find the right time to start – A common misconception among women is that it’s necessary to reach single-digit body fat levels before working on building muscle. Keep in mind that being extremely lean can throw off your hormone production, energy levels, and the ability to recover after workouts. Don’t forget that you need a healthy amount of body fat to function well and to gain lean muscle mass.
Stick to a workout plan – Think of a sound workout regimen as the foundation to your muscle-building goals. Should you just go to the gym several times a week and lift weights at random, you probably won’t see much success. Our personal trainers at Atlas Nutrition recommend targeting a particular muscle group twice per week. Lastly, be sure to keep cardio exercises to a minimum during this muscle-building period.
Be smart with supplements – A surprising number of women mistake supplements as magic pills for building lean muscle mass. That said, you’re only going to see results if you make the necessary adjustments to your diet and workouts. In terms of the best supplements for women, we recommend creatine, whey protein powder, and fish oil, among others. Get in touch with your doctor before incorporating supplements into your daily routine.
Manage those macros – Macros, short for macronutrients, consist of protein, carbohydrates, and fats. So why are they important for a woman’s muscle-building efforts? Well, by effectively managing your macros, you can be more precise with your nutrition. Try to shoot for a meal plan that consists of 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat.
Be mindful when increasing calories – We touched on this briefly but it’s worth explaining in greater detail. As time-consuming as it may be at first, start tracking your calories for three straight days. Once you have an average, increase your calories by 500. Then consume an additional 80 calories or so every other week. This type of calorie management can help you increase your metabolism without forcing your body to store those extra calories as fat.

Contact Our Bodybuilding Professionals

When it comes to natural bodybuilding, nobody does it better than the personal trainers at Atlas Nutrition. We should also mention that we have three incredible women on staff to help you achieve your muscle-building goals.

With Atlas, you can expect to receive a customized bodybuilding diet and strength training program. Never will our trainers take the easy way out with ‘cookie-cutter’ or ‘one-size-fits-all’ approaches.

There are times when you just can’t seem to achieve fitness goals on your own. Not to worry! The Atlas team will provide the necessary tools and motivation to get you where you want to be.

Stop by today so we can get started creating your workout plan. We are the experts when it comes to: