Women's guide to building muscle

For decades, women have been conditioned that their place in the gym is over by the cardio machines, and that lifting heavy weights and striving for muscle gain is for the big guys. Oh how wrong that was. 

I love to see more and more women hitting the free weights section at the gym, and performing strength-building exercises as opposed to spending 100% of their session in the cardio zone .For the longest time, I was your typical cardio bunny, eating very little, doing lots of cardio and being very confused as to why this approach isn’t getting me any closer to my dream physique. Much has changed since then, and I couldn't be more satisfied with the results I've been able to achieve.

To achieve the impressive physical transformation you see above, the key change Rachel implemented was deciding to focus on building lean muscle.For so many women new to exercising and using weights, i know that embarking on this journey of muscle gain can be intimidating to start due to the misinformation they've been hearing for years.For those who want to build their shape, i hear a lot of concerns about what if they gain too much fat in the process, and lots of questions about how long it can take and how to approach eating. With the proper education, nutrition guidance and a lot of support, i promise you can build your dream shape.

Deciding to take the route to build muscle can be scary, so today I’m diving into exactly how to approach it for the best results, and answering all the frequently asked questions so you can start chasing those gains.

How to approach building muscle

When it comes to putting on lean muscle, there are several important rules to follow throughout your journey. Here are 6 necessary pillars to gaining a lean, strong and toned shape in the most healthy and sustainable way.

#1 Consume enough calories

You might have heard that to build muscle you need to in a calorie surplus.

But what exactly does that mean? Breaking it down, you basically need to consume more calories than you burn throughout the day to create "building blocks" for muscle growth. While it’s not entirely impossible to build muscle in a calorie deficit or maintenance, it’s incredibly difficult and taxing on the body. 

When you’re eating under your energy requirements, creating lean muscle isn't your body’s priority — it’s too busy trying to conserve energy and keep your body functioning. Eating slightly above your maintenance calories is a far more efficient way to give your body the fuel it needs to handle extra training or weight training.

There are different approaches to exactly how much you should increase your intake by, but for women, anywhere between 5-10% more than your maintenance calories tends to be a good starting point.

For example, for someone whose maintenance point sits around 2000 calories, an initial target for muscle gain could be between 2100-2200 calories. If you're coming from a calorie deficit, taking on a reverse dieting approach to slowly increase your calories to maintenance, then into a surplus is recommended.

#2 Distribute your macros wisely

While calories are a very important consideration, your macronutrient split is something you need to approach wisely

You want to consume around 1.6-2.2 g of protein per kg of your body weight each day to stimulate muscle growth and recovery (if desired, this amount can be increased - but this won’t necessarily give you more muscle building benefits).

The rest of your calories are to be distributed between carbs and fats. For most women, around 55-70 g of fat per day is a good range to aim for, and the rest of your intake would be allocated to carbs.

And while we’re at it, restricting carbohydrates is a very bad idea when trying to build muscle, as moderate to high carbohydrate intake helps both performance and gains.When reaching a substantial surplus in this journey, I recommend to my clients to eat between 250-400 g of carbs per day, depending on their preference, physique and goals - and this is one of the contributing factors for their results.

#3 Train Hard

When training for muscle gain, you need to keep constantly challenging yourself by applying progressive overload. This means implementing a gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during training. 

Some ways to achieve progressive overload include:

·         Increasing the number of sets you perform

·         Upping the number of reps in each set 

·         Or applying more resistance to perform an exercise. 

So, variety is key, while adding more resistance (i.e. upping the weights) is the most well-known progressive overload method, I like utilising all options equally when creating training protocols. This ensures that each of the components gets emphasised in different workouts, which means more training variety and ultimately, better results.

#4 Use mind-muscle connection

While focusing on building muscle, you need to be especially focused and purposeful when completing your sessions. Don’t just “go through the motions” - this results in a mediocre workout and can even increase your risk of injuries if you’re working with higher weight ranges.Instead, place your entire focus on the muscle groups you’re targeting, and purposefully go through every phase of the movement. You will feel those muscles “switching on” much quicker, and maintain much better form throughout, maximising the benefits of your session.

#5 Don’t neglect rest and recovery

Recovery is NOT optional - especially when you’re incorporating some seriously challenging workouts into your schedule to build lean muscle.

Always plan your sessions in a way that allows ample recovery before targeting that body part again, don’t make your sessions longer than they need to be, and instead of adding endless exercises, perform a reasonable number of sets but give those your all.

I highly recommend incorporating at least 1 complete rest day each week, during which you should not be performing any high impact activities.

When you give your body the rest and recovery time it needs, you will be rewarded with ongoing results and be able to sustain consistently high energy levels.

#6 Get enough sleep

Speaking of recovery, sleep deprivation is one of your worst enemies when it comes to muscle growth. It’s a double-edged sword, affecting both your body’s ability to build muscle tissue and reducing your strength, reducing the chances of you being able to successfully implement progressive overload.

Add reduced concentration and low energy levels to the mix - and you are pretty much depriving yourself of any opportunities to have a safe and effective workout.

For most people, 7-9 hours each day is a good amount of sleep to aim for - and I’d strongly recommend working on your sleep schedule if you’re not getting enough hours in on a regular basis.