If you have been working out for a while you have probably noticed physical changes and have managed to improve muscle tone you probably are looking great. Some women may want to take things one step further and add more muscle mass, if this is you, below I will tell you about the best exercises you can do to gain muscle.

In order to gain muscle, your workout routine will change significantly, why? because in order to gain muscle there are certain exercises that work better than others to help you gain muscle.

The best exercises to build muscles are those that work major muscle groups in your body, these include your back, abdominal, legs, and glutes.

What are the benefits of training large muscle groups

Training these muscle groups not only helps you gain muscle but also gives you more overall body strength.

in the case of women, there are many strength training benefits, they can help improve balance and prevent the onset of osteoporosis which is something that affects women as they get older.

Many of these exercises will have to be done in a gym where you have barbells and dumbbells available to you.

Another thing I should point out is that in order to ensure you continue to gain muscle you should switch up your workouts periodically every 4 to 6 weeks.

Benefits of gaining muscle

Most women believe that if they lift heavy weight they will get overly muscular, this is a myth because this is not going to happen, on the contrary, what you will notice is that you will improve the shape of your body, gain more curves, which is why you should not be afraid of lifting weights.

Nutrition is important

While this article is focused on the best muscle gain workout routine, I should stress that proper nutrition is important in order to make gains.

In order to push through an intense training session, you may want to consider taking a good pre-workout supplement, this will help you give you more energy and reduce fatigue, allowing you to train hard with intensity.

A pre-workout supplement is not mandatory but they do help.

Train to failure

One of the things you will need to focus on is making sure you perform that last rep to failure, this means forcing a particular muscle group to the point of not being able to do one more rep, this is when you have completed exhausted that particular muscle group.

Below is my list of exercises for muscle gain.

Squats

This is not my favorite exercise, in fact, training legs is hard, but if you have ever seen women in the gym with a nicely rounded and firm butt you can assure yourself these women are doing squats.

Squats target your lower body and help increase muscle mass in all the right places. Squats strengthen the hamstrings, quad muscles, and gluteus muscles.

The squat is one of those exercises that will help you gain muscle in your glutes, and legs giving you an incredible hard body look.

When my friends begin talking about booty implants I cringe, squatting is one of the best ways to make your butt look amazing.

Stiff leg deadlifts

Stiff leg deadlifts are another exercise that will help you gain muscle, this exercise targets the hamstrings, glutes, erector spinae, trapezius, and deltoids. I love this exercise, if done correctly it can give you a good stretch and add muscle to your lower body.

The reason this exercise is called the stiff leg deadlift is that your legs remain straight while performing this exercise.

Note: you do want to have just a slight bend in your knees when performing this exercise.

The stiff leg deadlift does a great job at isolating the glute and hamstring muscles,

this exercise can also be done with a set of dumbbells.

Walking Lunges

Lunges are not a mass weight exercise, a lot of women do this exercise with dumbbells, I much prefer using a barbell and do walking lunges, “if space is available” these really work the hamstrings, from quads and glutes.

Starting off with a regular barbell and as you get used to the exercise you can gradually increase the weight.

Not only does this exercise help improve overall coordination and balance it will also help you gain thickness in your legs and glutes.

Rack Pulls

Rack pulls are a great strength exercise and a good way to build muscle, this exercise targets your back muscles and also targets the muscles that extend your hip.

This exercise also helps develop the hamstrings and the back of your thighs. Bodybuilders perform this exercise to develop their backs while powerlifters do it to increase overall deadlift strength and power.

Rack pulls are normally done with heavier weight and low reps, in this case, it’s not a good exercise for beginners.

Barbell rows

Barbell rows are an exercise that targets the back muscle and the lats, this is an effective exercise to not only increase strength it will also help you gain muscle.

This is a favorite exercise among female bodybuilders and fitness models for adding muscle definition in their upper back and increase the size of the lats.

Bench press

This is one of the best upper body exercises for increasing your chest muscles, triceps, and shoulder muscles. Building up the chest muscles will make your breasts fuller-looking, help eliminate and eliminate sagging.

Since this exercise also targets the triceps muscle and shoulders it will improve your physique giving you more proportion in your upper body.

Final thoughts

The above exercises are some of the ones that have personally helped me gain muscle, you can obviously ad these exercises when you train a specific body on certain days. These can be complemented with exercises that focus on using less weight and more repetitions.

Rosalie Bennoto

Hi My name is Rosalie and the author of Womenandmuscle.com I started this blog to help women understand a little about the side effects of anabolic steroids and share some of my favorite alternatives that have helped me stay in shape and improve my performance in the gym.

The post Best Muscle Gain Exercises for Women appeared first on Women and Muscle.

The term dieting always gets me, when people mention weight loss I always cringe, I used to go on diets only to end up with less muscle and a bit more body fat. In this article, I will tell you about the best 5 foods to eat for lean muscle.

When I was searching for the foods to eat for lean muscle, I found there were so many fluff articles, many of them seemed so generic, and suggested a lot of foods I could eat but they were just not practical.

While many suggest fresh salmon and other types of seafood they just aren’t practical. Without a doubt, salmon is packed full of nutrients but it’s expensive and not always available.

I feel my list of foods to help you gain lean muscle is more down to earth and things that in most countries are readily available.

I feel a lot of women are just like me, many have full-time jobs and they cant always focus 100% on their nutrition, so the easier you make your meal plan the easier it will be to follow.

A word about fats

One of the biggest issues I struggled with was understanding fats.

Every article I read would say you need to avoid fats. This is true to some degree, however, not all fats are the same.

While it is true we do gain weight from eating unnatural fats there are fats we need to consume even when trying to gain lean muscle.

Fat is one of the macronutrients you need to make available to the body, the other two are carbohydrates and proteins.

Fats are classified as:

• Monounsaturated
• Polyunsaturated
• Trans
• Saturated

Monounsaturated fats are synthesized by the liver, these are found in things like almonds, avocados, cashews, pecans, and olive oil.

Monounsaturated fats help promote weight loss, help maintain a healthy memory, and protect things like cardiovascular disease.

Polyunsaturated fats

These come from the food you eat, these kinds of fats are considered essential and are some of the more talked about fats when it comes to gaining lean muscle.

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These fats include omega 3 and 6 fatty acids, when these fats are consumed equally they can have a positive benefit on preventing certain illnesses which include preventing cardiovascular disease, improved brain function, and reducing inflammation.

Saturated fats

These are good fats that are healthy when consumed in moderation these fats come from dairy products, meats as well as coconut and palm oils.

While saturated fats have had a bad reputation in the fat recent studies have shown that if consumed in normal amounts they can help increase HGL (good cholesterol) and reduce LDL (bad cholesterol).

The reason I wanted to discuss a little about fats is that some of the foods you will be eating will contain healthy fats you will need for energy and overall health.

Trans fats

These are the bad fats and the ones that cause people to gain weight and contribute to poor health.

Many of the diseases we suffer from today are caused by trans fats, these are the foods many of us like to eat, unfortunately, most of these foods are not healthy.

Trans fats are usually in the form of fried foods, fast foods, and most things processed. These are the kind of fats we should avoid whenever possible.

Eating for muscle

Certain foods offer more benefits for gaining muscle for others the ones below are some of the ones you may want to consider in order to lower body fat and main a well-sculpted body

Our muscles thrive on protein and that’s because it is important for repairing muscle.

Not only does protein help you gain muscle it also helps you burn more calories by boosting your metabolism.

Since protein is harder to digest which is not a bad thing because it helps burn more calories in the process.

1. Chicken

One of the most popular protein sources you hear everyone talk about is lean chicken.

A cooked skinless chicken breast contains 31 grams of protein per 100-gram serving.  Not only is it high in protein it is also filling.

2. Eggs

Eggs are easy to prepare and affordable, there are so many creative things you can do with eggs making them a staple among bodybuilders.

A whole egg contains 5-6 grams of protein and about 60 calories, egg protein has a high biological value making it one of the best muscle foods around.

There are many ways you can prepare eggs including scrambled, fried, and poached eggs. My favorite meal is making them in an omelet with sauteed bell pepper and mushrooms and maybe some lean ground turkey.

3. Peanut butter

There are some foods that contain a good balance of carbohydrates as well as healthy fats and protein.

Peanuts butter for example contain a balance of protein, carbs, fat, and amino acids.

All-natural peanut butter is not only filling it can make a good pre-workout meal when spread on a piece of whole-wheat toast or accompanied with celery sticks.

Peanut butter keeps you full longer and gives you energy.

2 tablespoons of peanut butter(32 grams) have 190 calories and contain 7 g of protein, 190g of potassium, this is one of my favorite pre-workout foods not only does it give me energy and keeps me full.

4. Fish

There are many different kinds of fish, many of them contain healthy fats are loaded with protein, for example, 100 grams of salmon contains 25 g of protein. Salmon also has healthy amounts of omega 3 fatty acids and vitamin D.

5. Oysters

While a lot of women may snub their nose at oysters, there is a lot to be said about the nutritional value they offer for building muscle.

Oysters are packed with essential minerals such as Zinc and magnesium. 100 grams of cooked Pacific oysters contain 20 grams of protein and only 5 grams of fat making oysters the perfect food for gaining lean muscle.

Final thoughts

While there are dozens of protein-rich foods, these are my favorite foods to eat for lean muscle and the ones that have helped me maintain a lean and toned body.

Rosalie Bennoto

Hi My name is Rosalie and the author of Womenandmuscle.com I started this blog to help women understand a little about the side effects of anabolic steroids and share some of my favorite alternatives that have helped me stay in shape and improve my performance in the gym.

The post Foods to Eat for Lean Muscle appeared first on Women and Muscle.

Can women gain muscle like men? This has been a subject I have always been curious about. I love to workout but I normally spend most of my time in the weight room. I love lifting weights because of the results I get from doing it.

I’m sure most gyms are the same, you will notice the majority of women doing cardio, I never see a lot of women working out with weights. The research I did for this article has helped me understand a lot more about gaining muscle, I hope it will help you as well.

Many women are reluctant to train with free weights, a lot of them believe that they will get big and blocky like men. Yes, women can gain muscle in proportionate amounts but not quite the same as men.

Common myths about women who lift weights:

• It will turn you into a hulk
• Only guys do it
• It does not burn as many calories as cardio
• Women should only lift light weights
• You will get a thick and blocky physique

None of those are true, in fact, the benefits of strength training for women far outweigh the negatives.

Male and Female Muscle Differences

Gaining muscle is not that simple, even men struggle with gaining it, that is why anabolic steroids are so popular. If gaining muscle were that easy everyone would be doing it.

While women think that they can’t gain muscle like men they can. In fact, it is equally possible for women to gain as much muscle proportionately as men.

The difference is that men already have an advantage in that their body has more muscle than women, this gives them an obvious advantage.

While men start off with more muscle and strength, the short term strength gains in women happen faster, especially when upper body strength is concerned.

Long term muscle gains seem to be equal among women and men plus women seem to make larger gains relative to their body mass when compared to men.

One of the reasons there is little information about how much muscle women can gain is due to a lack of research on the subject.

There are not as many women who participate in strength training or compete in the sport.

While men and women gain muscle in the same way, there are some significant variables that affect both training and recovery, these I found very interesting.

I found dozens of studies done on the effect of strength and muscle gains in both men and women and the results are eye-opening.

Briefly analyzing the studies of both men and women who lift weights showed that men got stronger by 29.41% compared to women who showed a strength increase of 37.42%. It seems women gained strength 27% faster than men did.

These strength percentages further increased in younger women by as much as 48%.

While men seem to gain muscle faster over a shorter period of time women seem to gain more muscle over the long term. It appears that long term strength training in women has a significant impact on reducing body fat and increasing lean muscle mass.

When we think of gaining muscle we think testosterone.

I always thought that the reason men gained more muscle was that they produce more testosterone. I was shocked to find out this is not the reason. It is true that testosterone is highly anabolic but it’s not the only thing that contributes to gaining muscle.

If you ask the average person why men have more muscle most will agree that its because men have more testosterone than women. Normal testosterone levels in women age 30 range between 30 – 95 ng/dL whereas for men it’s between 264 to 916 ng/dL this is a huge difference.

Testosterone is not the only thing that helps build muscle.

It seems women have higher levels of certain hormones than men do such as IGF-1¹ and while you may not think that estrogen ² does not have a muscle-boosting effect it does.

Due to the difference in physiology ³ between men and women, it seems women suffer less from fatigue allowing them to train longer with more sets and higher reps.

Menstrual cycles can influence muscle gains

I thought menstrual cycles were just responsible for causing cramps and causing depression, it appears that timing is everything when it comes to gaining muscle and your menstrual cycle ⁴.

It takes women longer to recover from training during the last half of their menstrual cycle (luteal phase). Studies show that the best muscle gains happen during the first half of your menstrual cycle called the (follicular phase) During this time women experience more strength and muscle gains.

Women who take contraceptive pills may not experience these fluctuations.

How much muscle can women gain?

We already know that women can gain the same amount of muscle proportionately as men and in some cases, it can happen faster.

On average women can gain anywhere between 0.5 to 1.5 pounds of muscle per month, a lot depends on training frequency, intensity, diet and of course your age.

What does a woman’s body need to gain muscle?

A muscle building diet is about the same for women as it is for men, women tend to store more body fat than men which should be taken into consideration but the fuel your body needs to gain muscle includes health proteins and carbohydrates.

Women who can afford the extra cost may want to consult a certified nutritionist to guide them with a proper muscle building meal plan. I found that sticking with healthy meals that include fresh vegetables healthy carbohydrates and lean meats is pretty much what works best for me.

Final thoughts?

For years I thought that women were not as capable of gaining muscle as men, the truth is we are, but when you place those proportions on a woman’s more petite body it does not seem possible but it is.

The only exceptions are those women who take muscle development to extremes and take anabolic steroids to gain muscle, steroids not only increase muscle mass but also can increase bone thickness.

Most women just want to look good and feel better, strength training offers many long term health benefits plus it keeps your body lean and toned.

Rosalie Bennoto

Hi My name is Rosalie and the author of Womenandmuscle.com I started this blog to help women understand a little about the side effects of anabolic steroids and share some of my favorite alternatives that have helped me stay in shape and improve my performance in the gym.

The post Can Women Gain Muscle Like Men? appeared first on Women and Muscle.