5 Muscle-Building Tips for Women

     Building a muscular body is something that we typically associate with men, although that is a completely wrong perception to have. Women can build muscle mass as well for a fitter, stronger and healthier body. Now, it is true that the female body does not naturally produce the primary muscle-building hormones such as testosterone in sufficient quantities to match the production rate of those hormones within a male body, but that’s perfectly alright because the little they do have is enough to get what is needed. However, to make the playing fields somewhat even, here are five tips that should help you get jacked faster.

5 Muscle-Building Tips for Women
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Do Less Cardio

     If you are looking to gain muscle mass, you need to cut back on the cardiovascular exercise. This may seem counterintuitive to most women at first, especially since you will be eating a lot more too and that generally triggers a natural tendency to double up on the cardio! If you burn off too many calories on the treadmill, your body will not have enough to build muscles with. Concentrate on free weights and other forms of resistance training more.

Heavy Lifting

     The theory behind heavy lifting is quite simple really; the more weight you lift, the bigger your muscles will feel the need to be in order to become strong enough for the next lifting session. However, there are certain points to keep in mind while doing this and they are as follows. The weight in question will still need to be lifted in proper form for at least 6 – 8 reps. If you are sacrificing form, then the targeted muscle won’t be worked and you could get injured. Increase the weight you are lifting gradually, not suddenly.

Ketogenic Diet

     Gaining muscle mass usually requires increasing calorie intake significantly and as a side effect, people do end up gaining some fat as well in the process. However, that is the bulking up method, but if you want to gain absolute lean muscle mass from day one without gaining the fat, you will need to try a ketogenic diet for bodybuilding. It’s not easy, but the low-carb-high fat and protein diet is definitely the fastest way to naturally get shredded and gain muscle mass at the same time.

Protein is Everything

     If you follow the ketogenic diet, you will realize this fact more, but even if you don’t, protein is everything when it comes to gaining muscle. You can work yourself to shreds but you won’t see those muscles grow, unless you are putting in the protein with main meals, supplements and even snacks. Don’t go crazy though because consuming a lot more protein than your body needs can have side-effects as well.

Train to Failure

     The number of exercises and sets are not as important as reaching failure at the end of each set is. What this means is that when you are lifting heavy, your goal is to make sure that the weight you are working with, doesn’t let you do any more than 6 – 8 reps per set, even if you tried to. It is at that point (aka failure) that the muscle breaks down and the rebuilding process makes it grow back bigger and stronger with time.

     Most of the tips here are actually effective for men as well because the science behind bodybuilding is not that different for men or women. Also, when you put yourself through the right muscle-building routines, even the female body will start producing the necessary hormones for building muscles in a much higher quantity than it did before. This of course, helps in overcoming the biggest obstacle in the path of female bodybuilding.