What is muscle building?
In weight training, muscle building is a period during which you increase the volume of the muscle, which is therefore characterised by weight gain. However, you have to distinguish between a gain in fat mass (body fat) and a gain in lean mass (muscles).
Many women turn to a low-calorie diet and cardio exercises for fear of building too much muscle mass if they lift weights during their workouts.
However, muscle building is the ideal solution to obtain a slim, toned body while keeping feminine curves, and nowadays more and more women are turning to muscle building with the aim of improving their physical appearance and their health and triggering weight loss.
Women have a different hormonal system from men. The greater amount of androgens allows men to build more muscle mass and less body fat than women. Women also have smaller and fewer muscle fibres.
Women have more "growth hormone" than men, which is responsible for the accumulation of tissue and makes up for the low testosterone level in women. This is why women tend to gain weight and fat more quickly.
What diet should women follow to build muscle?
Each person has a different calorie requirement, which is measured according to sex, weight and the physical activity undertaken.
A diet suited to muscle building in women must contain enough protein. Women who do weight training should take 1.7 to 1.8 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight each day, divided across several meals (between 5 and 6 meals per day).
This protein must come from complete protein foods such as those of animal origin (meat, dairy products) and/or complete vegetarian sources such as pea or hemp. Only the essential amino acids, present in abundance in complete proteins, stimulate muscle protein synthesis and stop its breakdown.
For good muscle building, a woman must also consume 3 to 4g of carbohydrates per kg of body weight and consume 1g of fat per kg of body weight. A meal suited to muscle building is made up of 50% carbohydrates, 40% protein and 10% fat.
When following a diet suited to muscle building for women, it is recommended to eat a calorie intake 300 to 500 calories higher than what your body burns per day. For example, if you burn 2,500 calories per day, you should eat 2,800 to 3,000 calories per day. Please note, consuming a calorie surplus will lead to muscle building only if you train regularly and correctly. Otherwise, you will store the extra energy as fat. This is what is known as a gain in fat mass.
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During muscle building in women, many food supplements can help build muscle and promote weight loss. For example, omega-3 food supplements, polyunsaturated fatty acids that improve insulin sensitivity and reduce the formation of new fats, or BCAAs, which increase insulin sensitivity and help build more mass without storing fat.
Which sport should you favour for muscle building?
To stimulate the growth of muscle fibres, it is necessary to train according to the principle of "muscle hypertrophy" and to create a programme suited to your needs. Weight training at the gym is the ideal sport for building mass and helping you lose weight.
Lift heavy during your muscle building.
To stimulate muscle growth, a stimulus must be placed on the muscle. Women tend to stick to weights they are comfortable lifting for three complete sets. However, a greater stimulus is needed to see real changes. You have to step out of your comfort zone and work your muscles harder.
Your muscles must be tired out by the exercises. You should carry out your sets of exercises until muscle failure. That is to say, doing a set of an exercise until you can no longer do one more repetition correctly. Make sure you regularly increase your weights so as to stay within the range of a maximum of eight to twelve possible repetitions.
What training frequency should you choose for your muscle building?
To promote muscle building, you need to work each muscle two to three times per week and allow 48h between two sessions working the same muscles.
Not taking recovery time between each session will prevent your muscle from rebuilding and therefore from growing.
On the other hand, taking too much recovery time between two sessions working the same muscle means your muscle will not be worked enough and it will not be effective in developing it.
If you choose four workouts per week, you can do two sessions for the upper body and two sessions for the lower body for example. Your main muscle groups will be stimulated twice per week.
How many sets and repetitions during muscle building?
For muscle building, it is recommended to do three to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions per exercise. If you choose a heavier weight and do fewer repetitions (for example, 3 to 6), you are more likely to gain muscle strength, whereas lighter weights and higher repetitions lead to a gain in muscle endurance.
Which exercises should you choose during muscle building?
Preferably choose "compound" exercises, which aim to work an area of several muscles, such as the squat, the deadlift, the bench press, pull-ups… etc. because they are the most functional and they work several muscles at once. These exercises are quite complex; if you are not sure how to do them, ask a trainer for advice.
Having a smaller amount of muscle fibres, women have on average less strength, particularly in the upper body. While women's lower body can generate 70 to 75% of the strength of men's, their trunk and arms generate only 25 to 55%. It is therefore important that women's workouts are designed to strengthen the upper body.
In summary.
Muscle building in women will not have the same results as in men because of the difference in sex, and in particular the greater production of testosterone in men. You therefore have little chance of building too much muscle mass. In order to build muscle mass, it is important that the training programme works in synergy with a good diet including an optimal calorie and protein intake, to repair and develop the muscle proteins, leading to muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth).
To start muscle building, it is strongly recommended to ask a health and sports professional for advice.
