How to Build Muscle for Women

Chances are, you’ve been on Instagram and have witnessed many of the fitness models on the social media performing their own workouts that inspired you towards building your own dream body. The problem with that is, these pages often don’t share proper information on how to actually build muscle for women. They only shared what worked for them while other pages share improper advice on how to actually build a proper physique.

Truth is, in order to to build your dream physique, you will need to learn how to build muscle as a woman to maximize your aesthetic. That will not happen with those Instagram 10 minute ab workouts, high-rep 2lb dumbbell marathon “toners”, or even doing 45 minutes on the stair master. Instead, it will require heavy lifting (relatively) with challenging intensities and proper exercise selection in order to gain muscle as a woman, and to actually build the body you want. This article will be a guide on why and how to build muscle for women

But Won’t Training to Build Muscle for Women Make Them Bulky or Manly?

No, because building muscle for both women and men(and it’s easier for men) is a long and difficult process. Training to build muscle for women takes even longer because of the hormonal and structural differences. If it is indeed a long process that won’t happen overnight, then there is no reason to think that you will wake up one day looking like she-hulk. You can never accidentally get too big. Instead, you will notice every little change in your own body. In fact, once you get the hang of training on your own, you will feel like the muscle building process isn’t fast enough.

Benefits of Building Muscle

It builds strength and life is simply easier the stronger you are. Everyday tasks become easier, like picking stuff up, opening jars on your own, and carrying your groceries home without taking a second trip back to the car. As well, Picking up new hobbies that involve physical movement is not as difficult. Again, it just makes life a little bit easier. The only downside is, you might get called more often to help people move stuff.
It helps you actually get more “toned”. Many women exercise to get “toned”, but all that really means is having sufficient muscle mass and low enough body fat. That’s it. And building muscle as a woman will cover half of that equation.
Having more muscle=more calories burned. Speaking of building muscle and losing fat for women, did you know that building more muscle also translate to burning more fat? This is because the process of building muscle is “metabolically expensive” and requires more calories to maintain. This means you will burn more calories, hence more fat by just existing with more muscle on your frame.
You will look better. I’m not sure where the myth of lifting weights makes you look manly comes from, but it makes no sense. Women have different hormonal profiles and body structures from men. If you train properly, it will actually accentuate your feminine features, not detract from it. Building up back muscles will fix your posture. Building your arms and shoulders will make them look “toned” and slim and will contribute to the top portion of the “hourglass” shape. Building your legs will and butt will contribute to the bottom portion of the “hourglass” even if your hips are small. There are truly no downsides to lifting heavy weights and building muscle as a woman.
Building Muscle prevents injuries. Some people see injuries as random accidents that just happen to them. But in reality, they typically occur in the presence of a muscular or structural weakness in the body. For example, low back issues may be attributed to weak hips, back, and glutes. Or shoulder pain may stem from weak back and rotator cuffs. What’s the solution then? Build some muscle and strength around the weak area through a full range of motion! (but start light)
It helps with graceful aging. Similar to the previous point, people tend to think fragility in old age “just happens”. They think after you reach a certain number in age, you will just lose energy, gain weight, lose the ability to lift anything overhead, and even lose the ability to walk. But these things will only happen if you were sedentary leading up to old age. It’s true, when you’re older, it’s easier to lose these abilities. But you can still maintain them if you decide to stay active for life. You can minimize these things from happening to you by simply learning how to build muscle(especially as a female) and maintaining a muscle building routine. If you still don’t believe me, look at the elderly who can’t walk without a walker. They are always bent over, their steps are small, and they keep their feet in front of their body while never bringing them behind their body. That’s a weakness in the glutes, hamstrings. If they can’t stand up straight, that’s due to a weakness in the back. Again, if these muscles are built up in your youth, they can be more easily maintained in your old age.
It just builds confidence plain and simple. If you started working out and building muscle, you will notice you’ve gotten stronger, better looking, losing fat and keeping if off becomes much easier, and you get injured less often. How can you not help but to feel more badass and confident? It’s basically impossible. Try it to feel bad about yourself after experiencing all these benefits, it won’t work.

So you can see, there is basically no reason to not start a muscle building routine today. Not only does it not make you manly, it actually accentuate your feminine features, builds confidence, and helps you age like fine wine.

How to Build Muscle as a Woman? (Actually)

This is a bit misleading because women don’t need to do anything drastically different from men. The only reason why training between men and women is different is because of the difference in goals and anatomy(and men build muscle faster, especially the upper body). Other than that, the muscle building process is the same. Only the routine will need to be tailored for each person’s goals. Before we get into what exercises to do, let go through the essentials for any training regiment.

The most important factor is that you’re consistent. Consistency is the cornerstone of all successful habits and since building muscle(especially for women) is a long process, there is no way to succeed without it.
Once you have established your habit of going into the gym to lift weights, you need to train hard and challenge yourself with heavy weights and do it consistently. That is the only way to make meaningful progress. It will be uncomfortable at first and it may feel awkward, but the gains are worth the pain.
Do exercises you enjoy. After you have worked out consistently for a few months, you will have figured out which exercises you connect with and which you like the most. Pick the exercises you like more often and it will be easier to stay consistent and it won’t be as much of a drag to workout hard consistently.
Make your workouts more challenging overtime. This is what we call progressive overload. While keeping your technique and form clean and crisp, aim to do more over time. Whether more weight, more reps, more sets, or more range of motion. Whatever it is, do a little more each time you go to the gym. The key here is to do a little bit more over time.
Recover well between each session. That means you need to eat enough quality calories, sleeping with enough quality hours, and keeping the stress to a minimum. If you can’t recover well enough, you won’t be able to perform to the best of your ability in the gym.

Best Exercises to Build Muscle For Women

So this isn’t an exhaustive list and won’t be everything you need to build your dream physique, but it will help you get started. These will you to use and build the most muscle overall, but again it’s everything you will ever need. As you advance through your journey, you need to add to your own list of exercises. With that being said, here are some of the most effective exercises to build muscle as a woman(you can find tutorials for these exercises on youtube):

Squats

Romanian Deadlifts

Reverse Lunges

Bulgarian Split Squats

Bent Over Rows

Dumbbell Rows

Lat Pulldowns

Assisted Pullups

Dumbbell Overhead Press

Pushups

Of course, if you still find yourself lost, don’t worry. Click here to get your free training program. If you don’t know what a training program is, it’s basically a plan that organizes your workouts. So don’t wait any longer! Just click the link, get your free program, and start your fitness journey today.