These days a lot of women are taking up muscle building as a hobby and also as a means of keeping fit. We think this is a smart move as muscle does help to burn fat and, if you’re worried about looking too manly, there is a limit to the amount of muscle gain women can naturally make.
We’ve kept it simple this time; truth be told, no one really likes a very complicated workout plan and we know it’s much easier to keep up with a plan if you can just keep the plan simple in the first place. We’ve come up with a really simple list that shows you the three most important components of a good workout plan that you simply must not overlook if you’re going to succeed at building muscles.
-
Nutrition
We believe that a good muscle building plan should begin with proper nutrition. A lot of people make the mistake of overlooking the importance of an adequate diet in muscle building but you are literally what you eat so don’t expect to grow lean and muscular if you’re overloading on junk food. Also, women’s bodies are not naturally designed to optimize muscle growth or development so you’re going to need to utilize an effective diet to support and increase the productivity of your workout efforts.
What to eat
Protein has got to be the number one item on your foods to eat list. Muscles are primarily composed of protein so it makes sense for you to eat more protein to help build up your muscles. Some good examples of excellent proteins for muscle building are lean meats, fish, cottage cheese, greek yoghurt, whey protein and soy.
Eat as much of protein as you can and as often as you can. You should also consider taking protein supplements, especially if you don’t think you’re getting enough protein from your regular meals.
What not to eat
We know you’ve probably heard this so much that it’s probably beginning to sound like a broken record, but junk food has got to go. Fast food, fatty foods, fried foods, chocolate, soda and stuff like that may taste nice, but won’t aid the process of muscle building.
-
Workout
Once you’re eating a healthy protein-rich diet, the next step is a developing a matching workout plan. Your workout sessions should focus on resistance training–a group of exercises that force your muscles to exert force to overcome some form of resistance, and thereby makes them stronger. Common exercises like bicep curls and the bench press are good examples of resistance training that will help you isolate and develop specific muscles in the body. What you want, ideally, is to do resistance training exercises that targets multiple muscles and joints at the same time and yields much greater results for muscle building. These are called compound exercises. Examples of compound exercises are push-ups, squats, walking lunges etc.
Post-exercise recovery days are very important and you have to get the timing just right. Too little and too much post-workout recovery will both prevent you from growing muscles at the rate you want to. Ideally, you should focus, intensely, on a particular muscle group for a day with a two day rest period during which you should target other muscle groups with the same level of intensity. Also, note that after a while the body will adjust to any workout and it will get easier to perform but less effective for growth. To keep maintain steady growth we recommend that you increase the number of reps you do by 10% each week or, if you’re using weights, graduate to moderately heavier weights.
-
Sleep
It’s probably a bit obvious that too little sleep is bad for you especially when you’re actively working out and trying to achieve a fitness goal. Your body needs sufficiently high energy levels and your tissues need to be rested in order for you to workout effectively. When you don’t get this right, working out will be much harder for you and you will also be much more prone to suffering injuries. Sleep is also critical for your post-workout recovery as your tissues will be damaged and in need of repair which only effectively happens when you sleep. So if you’re one of those workaholic, sleep when I die types, please note: working out without sleeping enough is one not so smart way to waste your time and probably crash your immune system to boot.
Conclusion
A lot goes into a successful workout plan, but these three are absolutely key: nutrition, exercise and adequate sleep. Consistently missing out on any one piece of this puzzle could mean a massive setback for your entire muscle building plan so make sure you get this right.