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Muscle Building for Women. Diet and Mindset.
There are a few things to expect when you’re bulking. Being aware of these things and preparing yourself mentally goes a long way in sticking to your goals and seeing results.
Muscle Building Mindset
You will gain some fat
Gaining a little fat is inevitable when gaining muscle. This is why I recommend dropping down to around 20-25% body fat / around size 8 / around 120 pounds before starting a muscle building plan. The good news is that you creating an ideal environment for muscle growth when you’re in a caloric surplus. Gaining muscle takes time but losing fat can be done quickly, so don’t fear a little weight gain.
You have to eat a lot more than usual
If you’ve always been a restrictive dieter, then eating large amounts of food can be scary at first. Don’t worry, start slow, and remember that this journey is helping you get healthier, fitter and stronger.
You don’t have to eat trash or a ridiculous amount of food but you will have to eat a certain proportion of protein, carbs and fat in higher amounts. Junk food is okay in moderation, but your diet should mostly consist of clean whole foods.
Your clothes will feel a little tight
Your entire body will start to reshape… think hourglass! Leggings will fit way better but your jeans and clothes that don’t have ‘give’ will probably feel tight. Your waist should stay the same or reduce.
The scale will mess with your head
For those of us who obsess over the scale, this is going to be challenging! Ideally, the numbers go up which indicates ‘more muscle’ and is good!!
The scale is a useful tool when you’re trying to gain muscle. Just don’t obsess over it as it is not very reliable. The best way to track your progress is to use multiple measurement tools. Read my post here on how to track your progress accurately
You have to put in the work
Muscle Building is hard. Muscle tissue grows only when it is challenged and this means pushing those weights as hard as you can.
You can literally ‘lose fat’ just by restricting the amount of food you eat. But gaining muscle requires consistent effort and discipline both at the gym and with your diet.
Say goodbye to Cardio
I’ve gained muscle both with and without Cardio and to be honest, Cardio was slowing down my progress.
The purpose of Cardio is to burn calories. However, you need calories to build muscle tissue.
My recommendation is to remove Cardio entirely when trying to build lean muscle. If you want to do Cardio for conditioning, then either do moderate intensity cardio for 20 mins 2x a week OR High Intensity Interval training on a treadmill or recumbent bike 1-2 times a week for 10 minutes (Fast for 20 seconds and slow for 40 seconds every minute).
High Impact circuit training will not help you build muscle. I’m talking about ‘boot camp’ style workouts where you’re dragging your sweaty self off the floor within minutes. It will deplete your energy and impact your lifts. You won’t recover very well and it will burn precious calories that are needed for muscle building. In fact, unless you want to have exactly the same muscle mass one year from now, stay away from Crazy Cardio.
Say goodbye to abs
Although your waist will start to shape up while building muscle, ab muscles are only revealed at very low body fat levels. So, your abs won’t ‘pop’.
You will gain a little fat overall. It’s a trade-off and working towards building more lean muscle even if it means that abs hide for a while is okay.
My waist measurements actually dropped when building muscle and the last bit of love handles vanished. This is because compound exercises in strength training such as squats, lunges, deadlifts, hip thrusts etc. develop core strength.
When you’re happy with the amount of muscle you’ve built, you can always shed fat quickly after and do some ab exercises to reveal that 6-pack!
You will tell yourself that you’re fat and want to give up
Eating all this food can make you feel like you’re getting fat. Don’t be tempted to stop. You are transforming into a sexy beast (did I actually say that?!)! Hang in there and keep pushing those weights.
Here’s my transformation in one year… I put on 6 kilos of mostly muscle and lost around 8 cms around my waist.
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