Want to Increase Muscle Mass for women? Even though you do weight training regularly, the muscles don’t show up? In addition to exercise, you also need to change your diet if you want an effective way to increase muscle mass in women.
Not all women who exercise only aim to lose weight, and some tend to want to build muscle. If you are one of them, it is essential to know how to increase muscle mass in women right. Building muscle, especially for women, cannot be careless. Read the full details in this article.
How to increase muscle mass for women
Some people may think that having muscles is a scary thing. Quote Verywell Fit, muscles don’t just make you look and feel stronger. Muscle mass is also helpful to help reduce the risk of chronic conditions, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, to osteoporosis.
However, unfortunately, the female hormone testosterone is less than the male, and it causes the process of female muscle formation to be slower.
Here are some ways to increase or increase female muscle mass, including:
1. Do strength training
Strength training is the main factor so that women can increase muscle mass. You should do exercises for the whole body, not just one area of the body but also for maximum muscle growth.
In addition, you can also focus on working the largest muscle groups, such as the glutes, quads, and hamstrings.
Some exercise movements to train the most significant muscles include squats, bench presses, deadlifts, lat pulldowns, and the overhead press. Give each set rest for about 60 seconds.
2. Routinely lift weights
Lifting weights may be synonymous with exercise that men more often do. This exercise is also one way to increase female muscle mass.
Weight training helps stimulate muscle growth or hypertrophy. Women generally tend to like low weights.
An enormous load can stimulate the muscles to increase muscle mass. For that, change your view of lifting weights.
Try to choose a weight that can lift ten times with two repetitions. Don’t forget to maintain proper posture and movement.
If your posture begins to change, reduce the amount of weight slightly, then rest. The main goal is to increase muscle mass correctly, not hurt muscles.
3. Pay attention to sets and reps
Another way to increase muscle mass in women is to do 3-4 sets of 8-12 repetitions of the exercise.
If you choose heavier weights and do fewer repetitions, you have a greater chance of gaining muscle strength.
Meanwhile, you will get muscle endurance in lighter weight training and more repetitions.
4. Exercise frequency
Consistency is one of the critical elements in increasing a woman’s muscle mass.
You can do strength training and lift weights 4 to 5 times a week if possible. Also, pay attention to sets, reps, and weights during your workout to see if you’re getting more muscular or not.
Here are some ways to divide the frequency of practical exercise to build muscle:
- Monday, upper body (upper body)
- Tuesday, lower body (lower body)
- Wednesday, rest/cardio/abdomen
- Thursday, upper body
- Friday, lower body
Consistently doing exercises on a schedule can help you maintain muscle mass. Do not forget to set a rest day (rest day) so that the muscles recover quickly.
5. Cardio and HIIT Exercises
Cardio exercise is helpful to keep blood circulation smooth, so muscles can receive more oxygen to help growth.
However, you don’t need to do cardio too often to increase female muscle mass. Focus on strength training three times a week and one cardio.
Also, note that you shouldn’t do cardio before strength training on the same day, and this can tire the muscles and put them at risk for injury.
In addition to cardio, you can also do high-intensity exercise (HIIT). A 2017 study in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sports shows that HIIT training is one of the best ways to gain proportionate muscle.
How to increase muscle mass by maintaining a diet
Exercising with strength training alone is not ideal for increasing female muscle mass. It would help if you accompanied exercise by maintaining a diet and paying attention to adequate calorie intake. Ideally, carbohydrates and protein are necessary for a proper calorie intake to increase muscle mass.
Protein is the most vital macronutrient to help build muscle. Choose proteins with healthy fats, such as chicken, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts, etc.
The body still needs carbohydrates as energy to stay strong during exercise and function in the formation and recovery of muscles.
Some carbohydrates that you can choose as a way to increase female muscle mass such as:
- Green vegetables and broccoli
- Nuts
- Brown rice
- Sweet potato.
Women who want to increase muscle mass aim to improve health and fitness. So, you should do muscle strength training and consume the proper food intake.
