My Top 3 Tips For Building Muscle As A Woman
What makes you feel strong? Is it muscle? Is it conquering a fear? Maybe it’s creating a boundary. I never thought about this much until more recent years, and I make a more intentional effort on feeling strong now. For me, I feel strongest when accomplishing something I set out to do. Doing the right thing, doing things for yourself, following through, feeling and finding your strong, that’s what’s important.
Along this journey, I have come to find that weight training has been a source of strength in all aspects for me. Being able to grow immensely in mind and heart has changed who I am as a person. It makes me feel strong, capable, and adaptable. I’m in love with it.
Lift Heavy
Letting go of my preconceived notions of "getting bulky", and my fear of the "boys section" of the gym and using the PWR Program (hypertrophy program) changed my body entirely. In order for a woman to achieve a “bulky” look, there are so many things that she would have to do in order to achieve that that most women not in the bodybuilding industry will not do. You won’t get bulky. Lifting heavy weights will create the type of muscle growth the leans and tones your body and burns fat.
If you feel that you are not capable of jumping into the gym and getting set up in a squat rack right away (I definitely was not in the beginning) I recommend starting with a beginners weight lifting program (PWR is obviously my favorite) that has guided videos and tutorials. And remember that no one is paying attention to you at the gym, everyone is busy focusing on their own programming and workout so it’s okay to go into the weight section and do your thing! You are allowed to take up space.
Consistency
The transformation of my body required the evolution of a lot of things...evolution of mindset, diet and exercise, growth as a woman, parent, friend, partner. It was HARD. Intentional work every single day FOR YEARS. Fitness and weightloss did not come easily for me. I just started one day, and kept making the next best decision, day by day. There in lies the second key to growing muscle, day by day.
For many of us, gaining muscle is no easy task but in knowing that is a spectacular journey of learning to love the process. It requires patience and consistency, being willing to be in the gym and lifting on a very regular basis. I lift on average around 5 or 6 days a week pretty consistently. I also throw in a cardio workout or two like Zumba, a bike ride or running. I promise that with a protein packed diet and 4-6 weeks of consistent weight training workouts, your body will begin to change in ways you never imagined.
Rest
Resting from training is as important as training. I try to time my rest days around events I have, or I absolutely make it flexible if I'm feeling like I need a break etc. I can’t stress enough how important it is to listen to your body. You have to remember that in order to power thorugh and perform your best in your scheduled training, your body needs to rest. Energy will be through the roof on training days BECAUSE you gave your body time to recover.
I've found that once my workouts became routine a couple years ago, I was able to take the time and grace for myself when I needed it, and get back to routine workouts when I was ready again pretty easily. Without the "tracks" and "bandwagons" to fall off of, everything became less stressful. If I still thought of my rest, sick and mental health off days that way...I'd have been "off track" like 900 times the last 6 months.