Women and Building Muscle – Photo Credit: April Greer
Before I begin, this article was inspired by a lady I had the wonderful opportunity to converse with a few weeks back. I hope this helps answer all of your questions and thanks for the inspiration.
While I understand most women aren’t training with the hopes of becoming a competitive bodybuilder, I know many would like to tighten up their physique and achieve that coveted, athletic look – the look you might see on the cover of Oxygen Magazine or in many of the mainstream fitness advertisements. Then, in the rare case, there are ladies who desire the full blown, big and ripped physique similar to those who’ve obviously been taking plenty of androgenic drugs.
Regardless of the look you’re after, both groups got from point A to point B in a similar fashion. They took their time and did things right. Building muscle, especially for women, takes years of hard work; therefore, regardless of taking drugs or not, both groups busted their ass, watched their diet, and set goals they thought to be reachable and acceptable (realistic).
So now, let’s take a look at exactly what it’s going to take for the women who wish to build muscle in a sensible and practical manner.
Training
1. Focus On Strength Training – For the most part, increased strength will result in increased muscle mass for women (as well as men). I’ve yet to meet a person who lifted baby-weights and became enormous as a result. Gains in strength with relative gains in bodyweight will result in an increased amount of lean muscle mass.
Strength training also offers benefits such as increased bone density, healthy joints and a heightened self-esteem. I’ve found that those who set specific and measurable goals for strength gains are often much more focused and satisfied than those who fail to set such goals.
2. Women Can Build Muscle Using Safe and Comfortable Compounds – There is no ancient rule in stone proclaiming you must do the bench, squat and deadlift in order to build the most muscle possible. It’s just not true. I always encourage an individual to choose a movement that is comfortable and safe for them. An example is the person whose shoulders are not in the best of shape. A safe alternative to the bench press could be a neutral grip machine press or one of the Hammer Strength variations. Someone who lacks flexibility to do full squats can always opt for the leg press.
The most important factor when selecting a certain muscle building movement is that you can progress for a lengthy period of time. Compound movements are usually best for long-term progression as opposed to isolation movements. Plus, you have more muscles involved which will cut down on training time. Who doesn’t like to be both efficient and effective?
3. Automate Your Training – When I refer to automation, I mean to choose a training program and simply stick with your decision. There should be no weekly or daily changes to your routine; everything, for the most part, should remain static. The goal is to measure progress over a period of time and there is no way to measure how far you’ve come when the variables are constantly changing. This means you’ve no need to change up your routine every other week or so to “shock” the muscles. This ideology is pure nonsense.
If changes need to be made for whatever reason (injury, discomfort, schedule etc), fine, just ensure you keep variables as consistent as possible.
4. Don’t Train Like a Bodybuilder – Not the ones on the pharmaceutical cocktail, at least. Research, along with plenty of anecdotal evidence has proven that high(er) frequency training(hitting each body part 2-3x per week) as opposed to low frequency training(hitting each body part once every 6-7 days), is superior for muscle gains and improvements in strength. Look at all the tried and true programs. They hit each body part 2-3x per week. This is no different for women looking to build as much muscle as possible. The rules don’t change.
So, in light of this, I always recommend women start off with a bull body routine such as NROL4W, Starting Strength or something similar. After a few months of full body training and respectable strength and muscle gains, one can always switch to an upper/lower split. In short, train like a man.
5. Remember to Rest – On your off days, make sure you relax. Intense training sessions should be kept to a maximum of 3-4x per week. It’s imperative to use the other days to rest and recoup. Is it okay to insert some low intensity cardio if you so wish? Sure. But you needn’t do it daily. If you’re training hard on the weights 3x per week, I’d say you should do no more than 2 cardio sessions for the week. Always take 1-2 days for complete rest; sit on your rump and chill out a bit.
Diet
1. Protein – Protein, among other nutrients is the primary building block of muscle tissue. Without protein, there is no special training program or diet that will yield the muscle gains you’re so desperately after. According to Lyle McDonald’s research from the Protein Book, optimal muscle gains are going to be present when one’s intake is roughly between 1 and 1.5g protein per pound of body weight (3.3kg/kg body weight).
2. Caloric Intake – Without excess calories, no muscle building plan will ever work. Read that again. You must eat enough to grow.
I understand this might be scary news to most females. I assure you, I’m not crazy; so please stay with me here. Since muscle gains for women, genetically, are roughly half of what a man will accomplish (more on this in a bit), their diets needn’t be so aggressive.
Since I am positive no female wishes to pack on an excess amount of weight for the sake of muscle gain, I recommend we take things slowly. I always suggest females eat over maintenance on training days by about 300-400 kcals and consume their maintenance allotment on off days. A good starting point for finding your maintenance intake is to multiply your body weight (bw for later use) in pounds by 14, monitor your weight for a few weeks and adjust if need be.
As far as your intake goes, I always recommend a diet full of lean protein, plenty of fruit and veggies with a healthy dose of fat. Setting up your intake is easy if you follow these simple guidelines. I actually stole them from Lyle or Alan, I cannot remember who came up with them first.
Multiply BW by 1-1.5 to get your protein intake.
Multiply BW x .4-.5 to get your fat intake.
After you’ve come up with calories for these 2 macronutrients fill in the rest of your intake with carbs*.
Take 3-5g fish oil per day and make sure to get plenty of vitamins and minerals in the form of food or a pill.
*Of course your intake will require an increase in carbohydrates on training days.
Let’s Be Real About Women and Muscle Gain
The maximum rate of muscle gain for men is roughly 35-50lbs of lean body mass, over their lifetime from beginner to advanced, according to Lyle’s brilliant article aptly titled What’s My Genetic Muscular Potential?
So while men and women barely differ in terms of anatomy (muscles, bone, etc) our hormonal profiles differ tremendously (mainly testosterone and estrogen levels). As a result of such differences, a woman’s genetic potential will be roughly half that of a man.
If we take a woman who weighs 110lbs and is untrained, meaning she has gained no appreciable amount of muscle mass, she can theoretically gain anywhere from 17-25lbs of muscle mass over her lifespan. This is assuming she trains sensibly and correctly while all other variables (rest, nutrition, stress) are optimal as well.
So, if said female reaches the end of her genetic rope at the same body fat, she will weigh between 127 and 135lbs. While this may sound horrific to gain that much weight, 20lbs of muscle on a woman appears much different than 20lbs of adipose tissue.
There is one more thing I want all women reading this to remember. Due to the lack of testosterone, you have no need to worry about getting big and bulky. Also, there is no need to “shape and sculpt” the muscles with high reps and light weights. All of that is non-sense and wastes time. Women looking to build an appreciable amount of muscle are going to have to train intense and fairly often (like I discussed earlier). While you may not wish to be huge and bulky, if you want to attain that Oxygen-like physique, you must train like you’re heading for the Arnold!
Remember to Have Fun
If you’re the anxious lady out there who’s recently discovered fitness and strength training, remember this muscle building hobby takes commitment and patience. Have a good time setting and reaching your goals, because the joy is in the journey, not the destination.
Give yourself room to make some mistakes and don’t be upset if you’re not perfect all of the time. I’m confident all of you can and will reach your goals if you put these principles into place, set some goals and bust your ass.
Nothing worth having ever comes easy; and if it does, it’s likely not worth having. Go out there and make it happen.
Hey JC,
Just came across your article, I have been reading up on how to get bigger for quite a while now. But I can’t seem to get a grasp on a real muscle gain goal. I’m 5’7” weigh 128 Ibs, have 17% body fat and a BMI of 20. Im more of a cardio endurance type. However I feel so flippin week, I know im a woman but come on..I can’t even lift half the freakin couch. So anyhow, what do you think my muscle gain goal in – lets say, 4 months (if any) would be?
hard to predict. I’d just train, eat well, get strong and see where you end up.
I actaully read this article awhile ago but didn’t want to report back until I made some progress. First off, I have to give you a visual of what I had to work with – bodywise. Friends and family always tell me that I’m the blonde version of The Real Housewife of NY, Bethenny Frankel. Eerily we are the same age, same height, same weight, same dress size and yoga enthusiasts. So…halfway decent body but not much in the way of real muscle development. Anyway…
I was one of those girls that lifted teeny tiny weights and wondered why my arms still looked scary skinny until I fell upon this post. I went out and bought dumbbells that were 5X heavier than what I’d been previously using. I also started upping my caloric intake thrice weekly like you suggested and was freaked out at first but then when I actually saw what 300 calories looked like it wasn’t much.
I had to fight the urge to be impatient and constantly scruntinize my body to see if there was any improvements. I also really tried not to pay attention to the scale which swung anywhere from 115 to 119 lbs. BTW, I’m 5’6″ tall. I sound kind of light on paper but remember what Bethenny looks like – lanky, lol.
Then a couple of days ago the most amazing thing happened. I was brushing my hair and looked in the mirror and wash shocked to discover that my arms were sporting some biceps when my arms were in a raised position. Not huge ones, mind you but smaller biceps. I couldn’t believe it because for so long, I was under the impression that my body type (ectomorphic) was really incapable of building any real muscle. Also, I never wanted to train like a man because I was scared that I would turn into one, lol.
Long story short, I’m far from done but am encouraged by my progress thus far so…thanks!
thanks for sharing.
Congratulations on you bicep growth, that is very exciting when you see the results starting to pop.
Adam Stoffa suggested these links to me in a recent blog post, he was right to do so. I have enjoyed reading these and hope to discover more over the next few days. I have been lifting weights for longer than I care to report here and can attest to the amount of food that needs to be eaten, don’t worry ladies it gets burned off. As long as your food choices are sound you shouldn’t have issues, many of my non lifting friends are astounded by the amount of food I put away and as they put it “still stay fit and trim.” I advise them all to exercise and lift but that sounds like too much work they say or they don’t want to get big muscles. That line always makes me laugh to myself as I would love to develop a bit more and work hard to do so.. If they only knew…
thanks for stopping by! Glad Adam showed you over here.
Wow awesome post. I’ve been reading so many articles on women lifting weights and i’m very interested. But since i am a newbie, i’m also a 15 year old girl who is skinny-fat and plays sports but wants to start lifting heavy. I’ve done P90X for awhile but i want to bring it up a notch. Unfortunately joining the gym right now isn’t an option for me, do you think doing Starting Strength would be good for at home training? I have a couple dumbbells but do you know what equipment i would need for the program? For the barbell, how much weight should i begin with? Thanks so much for your articles they are very helpful btw!
SS is a good program – but it’s hard to get the form down if you’ve never done it before. I would check out The New Rules of Lifting for Women.
Love it JC. I agree yes yes yes to it all. Lifting or body weight exercises shape your body in a way that cardio cannot. I went through the fat loss stage. the skinny stage and the mix up workout stage. Consistency is the key and eating the correct foods with the necessary nutrients in it at correct times, protein a must and definitely make it fun otherwise you will fall off the wagon. Awesome post
Hey, I like your website. I used to be one of those skinny ( 5 4 106-111 lbs) cardio bunny females; then I ventured into the weight room at the gym , even though my stepmom insisted that I should not train with more than 1 kg (2.5 lb) weights. I then discovered p90x the following year, and did that twice followed up with p90x plus, then one round of Chalean Extreme and then mixed it up, also incorporating HIIT, intervals. Within the first two years of resistance, my weight climbed up to 115 -117 lbs range; I got my BF tested and it went down from 19.5 -20 range to the 17-18 % range (not bad for a female) and of course I added strength and visible definition all over.
I’d been doing 50 crunches 4 days of the week with hours on cardio and bike and had been wondering why I had a flat skinny tummy but no abs and incorporating the various ab exercises–including dips raises on the pull up bar–I finally developed that definition, not 6 pack per se but 3-4 pack I’d say.
My concern is this: lately I’ve been focusing also on the lower body lifting truly heavy and doing deadlifts, squats, lunges–this is part of my program and though I was mostly on a maintenance regime with 120 to 180 grams of protein (also supplementation with whey and glutamine), and my weight has climbed up to 120 and my clothes fit tighter. My guess is that on days that I went overboard with protein and calories, I also added fat or at least did not lose any and muscle still takes 78% as much space as fat.
I am a mesomorph so I guess I have the predisposition to gain muscle more so than my female counterparts. Oh when I started lifting I was 27 now I’m 30 (no kids, single, never preggars; I only give that info as it affects hormones and body composition).
So is this possible ? with lifting, on maintenance diet, clothes can actually become tighter?
I added volume all over–mostly shoulder and biceps and then lower body–quads, glutes and some in the mass so how much of this gain in volume is fat I wonder?
I know I’m going in the right direction and approaching the Oxygen look–not quite there yet–and finally got the definition in hard to define places for women like thighs and lower abdomen–but I fear I’m also packing on fat. I know it’s voicing a classic female fear but I can’t help it. Now I’m trying to ‘cut’ by increasing the cardio to 90 to 120 min a day in addition to resistance training 3-4 times a week, and going down to 1200 -1300 calories. Is this recommendable?
I posted on yahoo and no one replied–except for some spam advertisements and you sound knowledgeable and wise on this topic so I’d appreciate it if you could reply here…
Hey Lamia,
thanks for writing. lots of stuff here so I’ll take a quick stab at your questions.
if your weight is climbing, then you’re not truly at a maintenance intake. So, somewhere in there, you’ve definitely been overfeeding, thus the weight gain.
If you’re still visibly lean, it’s a good indicator that most of the weight you added was muscle – but it’s really hard to say either way. Did your lifts go up significantly?
Your calories are fine for fat loss at your weight. I wouldn’t advise doing cardio everyday tho. I’d like to see you strength training 3x per week and doing cardio 2-3 days with 1 day completely off.
Hi JC,
Many thanks for the response here; I admit it’s really a hard calorie deficit to maintain when I’m adding in the extra cardio and every day–esp on an empty stomach in the mornings to get the first session out of the way, it’s tough. I’m not talking about craving sweets and being lazy, I’m talking about feeling faint and dizzy at times.
That is the funny thing–I look leaner with much more definition–others have commented on it–accompanied by increased strength, and less ‘fat’ to grab onto –like how they’d do the basic test with a caliper–and so I was dismayed upon noticing that my pants fit tighter. I believe I was at maintenance most of the time but I would go over the calories occasionally–never on sweets or alcohol , so usually on ‘clean ‘stuff (yeah I read you don’t buy into this concept but you get what I mean) and usually on lean protein and I thought I was compensating for this with days eating below the intake.
My guess is that I’ve put on both muscle and fat but it’s mostly muscle and that is why I can see more definition and overall tighter look and feel but together with the fat it’s just added volume. I’m talking about an inch gain overall.
Oh and I found your website when searching for info on ideal caloric deficit. I had the Body Bugg (I suspect you’d be the type to be opposed to fitness gadgets ) and had a subscription to it and know that with that added cardio and resistance I burn approx 2250 calories–anything between 2000-2450 per day depending on exercise and other activities–per day with that regimen so right now I’m shooting for a 1000 calorie deficit. I know that this would definitely not cause the so called starvation mode (perhaps you think this is a myth as well since I have the impression that you’re the sort to debunk extant beliefs that are taken for granted in the fitness world) but would it cause some % reduction in metabolic rate (RMR)? I suspect that if I could shake off 4-5 lbs of ‘fat’ the extra inch would be gone, revealing more of the toned new muscle and so this regimen is intended to be an emergency temporary short-lived thing. If my metabolism were to slow down, how long would it take to recover ? my guess is that with a 800-1000 cal deficit and 1.5 to 2 lbs or less loss per week, esp with sufficient protein grams and lbm protecting glutamine at night, I’m not at a risk of losing much of the muscle tissue. and I don’t think 2-3 weeks of this regimen is sufficient to wreak havoc on my bmr/rmr. Am I correct?
I’m not opposed to fitness gadgets. I’m only opposed when they end up making us crazy. I actually used the bodybugg for a good while, more than once.
It just reassured me that we burn a lot of calorie through NEAT.
A 1000 kcal deficit for the short term is not going to wreak havoc on your metabolism. But any deficit, for a long time will cause a down regulation in metabolism and other hormones. That’s why it’s important to take diet breaks and have carbohydrate refeeds to bump hormones such as leptin.
JC,
Where were you when I first started working out? Oh, yeah, you weren’t born yet. I just regret many years of wasted time and wasted anxiety trying to achieve those goals with the absolute wrong game plan.
Anyway! How the heck do you get that much protein in everyday? And seriously, cardio only 2x per week? I HATE doing cardio. It just sounds too good to be true.
Lol at the opener.
Protein powder makes it really easy.
I hate it too, therefore I never do it.
@Alex: Whoever said that working is not for women??
I don’t mean to sound sexist but I always thought that women do not need to work out because its not meant for them.
Of course this is how I used to think so if someone wants to get in shape, even if its a woman, they have my full support.
-Alex Allmert
Great article! Do you have any suggestions for a woman who has been lifting for a year – full body workouts 3X a week – and is in need of a change. I love the way I look except for………… you guessed it! My abs.
Yes, if you’re ready to move to a different routine, Lyle McDonald’s Bulking Routine is a good one. It’s best suited for intermediated trainees but if you’ve a solid year of progressive training under your belt, you’ll be alright. I’d recommend beginning on the lower end of the range regarding volume.
and about abs… that’s highly dependent on body fat levels. If you want to see your abs, gotta lose some more fat.
Great article JC,
thanks for including the muscle gaining potential for females. Most articles for women never seem to touch on the subject. It’s a true reality check and for us women that have been training for a long time and actually want to gain muscle knowing that the gains will be so minor, at least for me takes some of the pressure off. For women that are afraid to train because of bulky fears, hopefully it will put things in perspective.
thanks for chiming in. I’ve found many women never train for the fear of becoming abnormal looking. The good news is 99% of women will never become huge without drugs.
Always like reading about women lifting weights! My body seems to work differently than a lot of people so some of this does not work for me but that is always the key, find what works for you.
I did do a basic routine when I first started lifting & during bodybuilding years but after that, I changed it up a lot & my bod liked it. Also with age, change is pretty darn important for my bod.. it is just that way it is…
I also gain muscle easier than some women so I watched that too.
Glad you are getting the word out for women to lift!
yea, I figured it was time for this article.
plus, I really, really like women.
“plus, I really, really like women.”
I’ll have to agree with that statement sir.
Hi JC,
Great post! I love your training tips. What if you want to gain muscle and lose fat at the same time? If you are gaining muscle, is it “replacing” the fat? I love the look of the Oxygen models, that’s what I’m aiming for!
gaining muscle and losing fat rarely occurs in anyone except for the newbies. It’s not that it’s impossible; it’s just very sloooooow.
I’d much rather a person focus on one goal at a time as it’s much more productive and progress manifests more quickly.
I will definitely write about this in the future.
This is an awesome article that most woman need to read, A very good reality check. I will definitely be telling all my female friends to read this.
Great article, JC! I like that picture of April. I would love some abs like that
Working my way there now.
I am planning to add creatine next week so I can add some muscle. Other than that, I won’t be increasing my calorie intake just yet.
Anna
Creatine is good.
Nice!
I’ve had my girl on Rippetoes SS for a month or so and currently trying to clean up her eating… but thats a task in itself. Gonna have her read this article.
cool. tell her that it’s you who’s been authoring the site this entire time since we appear to be twins.
Good stuff JC. As much as it sucks, women who have been training are looking at such a small rate of muscle gain it can be a bit discouraging-but it still adds up, over time. The slow and steady approach works better from not just a physiological standpoint, but a psychological one as well. The GFH approach just does not still well with most women, nor does it seem to work very well. Plus, we’re a little nutty to start with. Then add the OMG I’m FAT! on top of that-and we’re full on nutso. Slow and steady, lift heavy, work hard, and be patient. Patience sucks
GFH is not a good approach for anyone unless you’re an underweight teenage boy.
and yes, patience sucks.