Geschatte leestijd: 3 minutenYes, many women still find the word ‘muscle mass’ sound scary. Yet, it’s a good idea to increase the quality of your muscles (sounds better already, right?!) when it comes to getting your ideal body. Besides the aesthetic goals, muscles also help with a nice body posture and are very healthy. Think of better insulin management and a higher metabolism.
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The benefits of muscle mass for women
For many women, the nightmare of losing weight is ending up looking like a ‘skeleton’. This is usually the result of crash dieting and not doing strength training. However, it remains very popular to want to get ‘in shape’ by going for a run and eating much less. Of course, it’s important to watch your calories, but you have to be careful not to lose too much muscle mass, and preferably even gain some muscle mass.
So how do you build muscles? Going to the gym and training a lot, everyone agrees on that. However, when you know the best way to go about it, you can achieve more results and probably even save time.
We can learn a lot from athletes like powerlifters and bodybuilders. These two groups of athletes have impressive muscle masses. Although as a woman you probably don’t aim for this amount, it’s still important to know how you can ensure that you develop fuller, rounder buttocks and a nicely shaped upper body.
More muscle growth!
Theoretical foundation of muscle building
1. Mechanical stress
This is the stress exerted on a muscle, also called mechanical tension. When training with heavy weights in a full range of motion (ROM), this provides the respective muscle group with a large mechanical tension. A good example is a powerlifter performing a squat with the weight he can lift for one repetition. To achieve maximum results, you should not only train the muscle in the full range of motion but also at different angles. So, vary your exercises!
2. Metabolic stress
Glycolysis, the process in which ADP is converted into ATP and lactic acid is formed, is one of the characteristics of metabolic stress. Metabolic stress is mainly caused by putting a muscle under tension for a longer period. Feeling the affected muscle burn and the well-known ‘muscle pump’ are characteristics of metabolic stress recognized by everyone. Train with longer time under tension and ‘feel’ the muscles at work.
3. Muscle damage
Training with overload causes tiny tears (microtrauma) in the muscle fibers. The body responds by repairing and strengthening these muscle fibers, in case there is a similar load coming soon. Microtrauma is largely responsible for the muscle soreness you feel after a tough workout and is mainly caused by training with an emphasis on the eccentric part of the movement.
In an earlier article about getting firm buttocks, we already described which exercises are best suited for which purpose. It mainly has to do with the number of repetitions you do, which is very similar to the 3 pillars described above.
Building blocks for more muscle mass
For significant increase in muscle mass, besides a good training stimulus, sufficient (and the right) nutrition is needed: the proteins, or protein. After all, muscles cannot be built from the air you breathe. Building muscle mass is like building a wall. You can be the best bricklayer in the world, but if you don’t have bricks, you won’t get far.
Will I, as a woman, not become too broad through strength training?
A question frequently asked by female athletes. So let’s talk about the role of testosterone. Women produce on average only 7% of the amount of testosterone a man produces. The amount of produced testosterone is seen as the main potential for building muscle mass, so no worries about getting too muscular. Sometimes, however, it happens that a woman (thinks she) becomes too muscular. What to do? Stop strength training? No, that would be a shame because it offers you many benefits. The tips in this article tell you what to do if you as a woman build too much muscle mass or feel that you are getting ‘bulky’.
Strength training remains, together with a good diet and sufficient (night) rest, the best way to get in shape. Whether you want to get firm, round buttocks before summer or want to feel stronger, training with weights gives you the best chance of success.
References
- THE MECHANISMS OF MUSCLE HYPERTROPHY AND THEIR APPLICATION TO RESISTANCE TRAINING
http://www.lookgreatnaked.com/articles/mechanisms_of_muscle_hypertrophy.pdf
