Myths about women building muscle VIDEO

 

How To Build Muscle For Women - Some Key Facts

When many people think about muscles, they often don't consider how to build muscle for women. They start to think of guys, but that's not fair, because many women like to have muscles as well. In this day and age, women should look into building their muscle. Mind you, this does not mean you have to look like "macho woman." Women like to build their muscles up, because they believe it makes them look good and helps them shed pounds. If you are looking for information on how to build muscle for women, you have come to the right place.

Sure, you may already have the basics of building up those muscles, but you could always use some additional information. Take a look at the following advice to get you started on a program for increasing your strength.

To begin with, we know it may seem hard, but you need to push yourself. Mind you, you do not want to workout more than you are able to, you need to make sure you are not able to do one more repetition in the set because you are exhausted. You do not want it to be easy, because if it is easy, you are not doing it right. You want to feel the burn, you need to make the next set harder to do than the first. This is going to require you pushing your body to the max, but during this time, make sure you stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

When you feel that burn, there will be resistance, and when there is resistance, there is a stronger girl with a toned look. There are three main exercises you should turn to when learning how to build muscle for women. Those three consist of squatting, deadlift and bench pressing. You should always included these three exercises in your routine if you wish to build that strength quicker. These three exercises build strength, condition and of course, bulkiness.

The minimum amount of times you should work out during the week is three times. Three times each week should give you more than enough exercise for building some good core strength. If you are more advanced at exercising, then maybe you could attempt a couple more exercises each week. On the same note, if you are new to learning how to build muscle for women, start with only doing two exercises each week.

You should also focus on those cardiovascular workouts. Some good cardiovascular workouts include walking, running and riding a bike. It is a good idea to mix both strength training and cardio, but don't push each one of them to the max all at once.

Of course, your diet counts. You need to eat healthy food to support your efforts in how to build muscle for women. The food you eat needs to be catered to the strength you plan on building. When one is trying to lose weight and gain that strength, they need to drop the amount they consume and make sure they keep the protein levels the same.

It is important that you consume protein. Many recommend consuming protein before and after you exercise. You need to have at least ten grams of protein and no more than twenty grams no less than one hour before your exercise program for how to build muscle for women.

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The Right Way to Breathe During Weightlifting

Fitness freaks are aware of the importance of different types of exercises like weightlifting, strength training etc and the kind of diet one should be following for a healthy living. However, most of them tend to miss a very crucial aspect of healthy living - correct breathing techniques. Most people are ignorant about the fact that breathing has a huge impact on how the body reacts to exercises like strength training, weightlifting, running etc. The cardiovascular capacity of the body is hugely determined by the amount of oxygen sent to the muscle cells by the lungs and heart. These muscle cells require energy for proper operation. Breathing allows more oxygen to be passed to the heart and lungs. As a result more amount of energy is produced and this in turn improves the ability of the body to perform various activities.

It is important to mention here that proper breathing techniques are important in both aerobic and anaerobic exercises. When a person is performing anaerobic exercises like strength training and weightlifting lungs are required to work harder and this is the reason why a person should never run out of breathe while exercising. Additional advantages of correct way of breathing during weightlifting include:

• Correct breathing techniques help a person to burn more amount of fat.

• It has been proved that breathing improves the ability to lift weights.

Below some tips are provided regarding how to breathe rightly during weightlifting exercises.

• Avoid lifting excessive weights.

• It is important to take few deep breaths just before one is ready for a weightlifting session. This will allow the oxygen to flow into the brain and the muscles. If necessary, breathe using a little force so that the body gets enough oxygen supply.

• There are many weight lifters who make the mistake of holding breath during exercising. This is one risky move that must be avoided. When a person is holding the breath and doing weightlifting at the same time, blood pressure rises higher and unnecessary burden is put on the heart.

• It is advised to put initial force against the weights when one is lifting it and then exhale in a slow manner. The exhalation must be maintained till the end of muscle contraction. The type of exhalation may vary depending on the weightlifting workout routine. It could be either a fast burst of air or a long exhalation.

• Remember that exhalation is important when one is doing most strenuous part of the weight lifting (known as exertion) session like curling, pulling etc and in a similar way inhalation is crucial when one is performing the simple parts of the exercise (known as recovery) like releasing. An example would make the concept clear. Imagine that a person is pushing a weight training bench press off the chest. At that point it is important that he/ she exhales during the push and starts inhaling as the weight training bench press are brought near the chest.

• It is important to inhale through the nose and exhale through the mouth during weight lifting. This will help one to control the inhalation pressure. Inhaling through the nose helps in the intake of air and this in turn regulates the levels of oxygen that are present in the blood.

• It is advised that one devotes full concentration to breathing while doing strength training. Each breath should be steady and calm. It can be mentioned here that breathing too slow or too quick during weightlifting can have a negative impact on a person's health.

• Many people breathe from the chest during weightlifting. This is a wrong move. When a person breathes through the chest, only a little volume of air is pushed in, which in turn, lowers the body's energy levels. It is advised that one must breathe from the belly or diaphragm because it ensures that sufficient volumes of oxygen are pushed in.

Inhaling and exhaling during running is also crucial because it helps to enhance the body's ability to endure and perform. Additionally a correct breathing pattern will make the sports comfortable and easier. Below few tips regarding how to breathe rightly during aerobic exercises are provided.

It is advisable to breathe from the mouth rather than the nose while running. Health experts agree about the fact that mouth allows more amounts of oxygen to enter. This in turn relaxes the facial muscles and a calm composure is created.

The tip of breathing from the belly that has been highlighted earlier while discussing weightlifting exercises is also applicable in case of aerobic exercises. Also it is important to ensure that the breaths are shallow and short. In contrast to weightlifting, don't go for long breaths while running because this may prevent a person from covering long distance. However, deep breaths are necessary when someone is running up a steep hill that requires huge amounts of effort.

One of the most important aspects of breathing during running is the rhythm. Inhaling and exhaling must be done at a consistent rate. One can check the natural breathing pattern by counting the number of steps while running. There are many who breathe in for three steps and then breathe out for one step. Knowing the natural breathing pattern helps a person to breathe consistently.

This might sound a bit weird but one can use the ears for controlling breathing. Breathing heavily while running at an easy or moderate pace means that one is running too quickly for his/ her condition.

Though breathing is a natural process, breathing techniques needs to be learn, no matter whether a person is interested in doing weightlifting, strength training or aerobic exercises. And it is equally crucial to stick to the routine. Practicing healthy breathing techniques will help a person to gain more energy and fulfill the goal of healthy living.

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Deadlift Breakdown

The deadlift is one of the top two exercises to perform, in my opinion.

It is a natural, functional movement that gives us so many benefits to our health.

Whether your goal is to build mass and size, tone up, gain strength, or for general fitness and flexibility, this is a must for any program. You just have to manipulate the finer details depending on which target you have.

As a personal trainer, I make sure every plan I do contains this movement somewhere.

The correct form for a deadlift is essential, so making sure you get this right is paramount before adding any weight or resistance to the movement.

Keep your back straight at all times, do not arc, this is where you will get injuries, especially
when lifting heavy. This is why I say to get correct form first, then add.

With a barbell on the floor, keep your feet shoulder width apart and your toes just underneath the bar. 
Keeping your back straight, bend forward from the hips, with a slight bend in the knee. 
Grip the bar, typically with one hand prone, the other supine. 
Lift the bar up, drive through your heels as you do until you stand tall and your shoulders square. 
Repeat the process back down. 
If you are on an Olympic pad, and are lifting seriously heavy weight, you may need to drop the bar to the floor from the standing position. 
The muscles this exercise uses are incredible, nearly everyone in the body. It is a full body workout, so very time efficient too.

There are some very important hormonal effects from performing a deadlift.

Performing a deadlift with a heavy resistance will create a testosterone response that places your body in an anabolic environment. So you will repair and build those muscle fibres making you stronger.

Here's a little bonus to this though, the more muscle mass you have, the more fat you burn at rest.

Try to keep your rest periods down to a minimum, don't do your next set fatigued obviously, but the shorter the rest, the more growth hormone is released, which essentially means better recovery and guess what, increased fat loss.

How can we not do this exercise?

There are too many benefits to miss out on this.

Deadlift-Muscles-Worked

Here's a quick list of the major muscles worked;

quads 
hamstrings 
glutes 
calves 
back 
shoulders 
abs 
arms 
chest

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Should I Do Cardio When Trying To Build Muscle? - A Short Guide On When To Use It

Many folks wonder whether they should do cardio when trying to build muscle...after all, cardio consists of fat loss exercises used to burn calories and we want to increase our calories when we build muscle not decrease them, right?

In this article I'm going to go over some important points so you can decide for yourself whether cardio should become a bigger factor in your workouts or not.

What Is Your Body Type?

The key to understanding what your cardio needs are and whether you should include it in your muscle building routines, is in identifying your body type. Each body type will respond differently to cardio and affect how you build muscle.

Are you an:

• ectomorph - naturally skinny, finds it difficult to gain any kind of muscle or weight
• endomorph - gains weight and fat easily
• mesomorph - gains muscle quickly but is able to burn fat quickly too.

Depending on which body type you are you will need to approach your cardio differently.

Ectomorphs can probably get away with very little to no cardio when trying to build muscle, while endomorphs and mesomorphs will need to make it a part of their workout routines, since endomorphs will no doubt find that the increase in calories needed for gaining muscle may often create new fat deposits.

What Is Your Priority At This Stage?

Importantly, it is necessary to assess what your current goals are at this stage and what you want to achieve in your workouts.

If your goal is to "bulk up" and you're not too concerned about a little fat gain, since you can burn it off later, then you may want to eliminate or significantly reduce your cardio training until you reach the "cutting" stage.

If you're after a small increase in muscle but more concerned with additional body fat gains, then performing some cardio in your sessions will keep you on track.

For skinny guys and girls I would recommend that you focus on bulking and gaining muscle first (reduce your cardio) and then look to "cut" later. It is easier to focus on one goal at a time than try to do everything at once. Plus the additional muscle gains make will increase your metabolism and make the cutting easier later on anyway.

What Too Much Cardio Can Do

Lack of sufficient rest can prevent your body building muscle tissue,and this can obviously be aggravated by performing a lot of cardio in your workouts, particularly on your "off" days - when you're not lifting weights.

Too much cardio will also eat into your calorie allowance, meaning you have to be ultra careful about how much cardio you do and how this may be affecting your calorie needs.

If your goal is to burn excess body fat while building muscle, the best results from your cardio will be when it is performed at high intensity - incidentally, this can also lead to additional muscle gains.

How Much Cardio Should You Do?

Studies have shown that as little as 15-20 minutes can be enough to burn excess body fat. Ectomorphs can probably get away with less than that.

As mentioned earlier though, the key to success is in the intensity of the cardio that you perform. Make sure you include it into your weight training workouts to avoid having to train on your rest days - it can make a great warm-up before lifting.

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How to Increase Your Bench Press and Build Muscle Mass Fast

Everyone knows to build muscle mass one of the best exercises for the upper body is the bench press. One of the first questions you are likely to be asked by another bodybuilder is 'how much can you bench press?' Whilst it may not be the best measure of overall strength it does have a certain macho feel to it and a big bench press is certainly very impressive. So lets cut to the chase and find out how we can get a bigger bench press:

Grow your triceps. Your triceps are a crucial muscle in performing the bench press and make up two thirds of the muscle mass on your arm. It may well be that under-developed triceps are restricting your bench press progress. The best exercises to build muscle mass on your triceps are using barbells and dumbells: close grip bench-presses and skull crushers. Isolation exercises like tricep press-downs are less effective. They should definitely help notch up your bench press.

Try training your triceps separately. More often than not muscle building programs will suggest that you train the triceps along with the chest. Try training them on their own for a change. Doing this allows you to attack them when they are fresh and really concentrate and focus on hammering them to stimulate growth. Do this for a number of weeks and see how much more poundage you can press.

Variety. have you been following the same routine for a number of weeks or months? time to mix it up then. After your muscles have done the same workout a few times, they have already adapted to it and therefore the need to grow has been removed. Keep changing things, they can be subtle changes like altering the grip width or reversing the order of your routine or they can be larger changes like doing super sets, compound sets and so on, these will give you a real pump by the way.

Make sure you are not doing too much! While with most things in life more is better, in muscle building this is not quite true. If you do too much and overtrain your chest then it can struggle to recover and find it hard to grow more. Instead of focussing on quantity, focus on technique and intensity. A short intense workout is much more effective than a long drawn out one.

Quality rest. Your muscles do not grow on the weight bench! They grow when they are at rest. If you don't allow then enough time to recover they ain't going to get bigger. Of course, never train when your muscles are sore and a good guideline is only do 6-9 sets each session for the chest, more than this risks over training.

Take some time-off. if you have hit a chest muscle mass building plateau then have a break. let your body fully recover, get rid of all the niggles aches and pains and then comeback fresh a week or two later with renewed energy and motivation.

Use negatives as a form of pushing your chest muscle harder during a bench press workout. Negatives are when two spotters (gym partners) help you press the weight up but then let you lower it under full control. We do this because you can actually lower more weight than you can lift. So if we can get the body used to lowering more weight this will help you get stronger for the lifting/effort phase. The lowering/negative phase also stimulates more muscle growth than the effort phase.

Check your diet. Are you eating 5-7 meals a day with approximately 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight? If not then you may be restricting your progress by not following an effective muscle building diet. Each meal should be roughly 50% carbohydrate, 30% protein and the rest made-up of fats. Use supplements if you can such as whey protein, essential fatty acids and multi-vitamins.

Focus on your technique. Are you pressing correctly. Poor technique can shift the focus away from the chest muscles and can also put you at increased risk of injury. Make sure you are not lifting your feet off the ground and that your hands are not too close together, these are two very common errors.

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Photo to show you what weights you should be using to build muscle