gaining strength/muscle

tar0809

So I've been trying to do my own research about gaining muscle and strength, but come across so many different things that I'm still unsure what the best route would be good to take to achieve my goals. I want to gain lean muscle and also become stronger as well. I obviously don't want to become bulky but enough muscle to show when I look in the mirror, I have a little muscle tone now but I want to increase them and make them more pronounced while being able to lift fairly heavy for being a 24 yr old woman who is 4'11" and weighs 111lbs! I should specify I want to get muscle mostly in my biceps, shoulders and back, my legs are pretty good but upper body seems to be harder for me to swing. Please give me some suggestions, anything would be helpful. Thanks

ana3067

If you're still working on losing fat, then some more definition will come if you're eating enough protein (90-100g would likely be enough for you) to minimize the loss of your lean body mass (muscle, bone, anything not fat in your body). But if you're at a happy weight and happy wtih your body fat percentage, then switch to maintenance until you figure out how many calories you need to maintain your weight, then switch to a surplus (10% extra is usually enough, or up to 200-300 cals) while eating enough protein and lifting weights regularly. If strength is your primary goal, then use a strength rep/set scheme: about 3-5 sets for 4-6 reps each. I do 4 sets (with 3-4 warm up sets first) for 4-5 reps. Lift as heavy as you can. And if you'd like a bit of muscle increase - more than what the strength training will provide - then throw in a hypertrophy day or some hypertrophy sets; 6-10 reps for a few sets at whatever weight you can handle for your rep max (so if you choose to go all the way up to 10 reps, then by the time you get to 8-9 reps you should find it tiring).

But to emphasize, if you're not at a low enough body fat % (likely below 20% as that's when you start getting more definition without flexing) then any training you do while in a surplus is potentially going to result in you looking "bulky," in that you will grow both your strength/muscle AND increase your fat a bit. So there will be a little bit more fat, nothing major though, and it will be covering your muscles. So you will look larger than you'd like. When training to bulk/increase strength while eating appropriately, being at a lower body fat will really help with the aesthetics portion of it.

jimmmer

Right, you need to separate out a few concepts.

It's possible to get stronger without adding much (if any muscle mass). Do a strength programme and eat at a slight calorie deficit or at maintenance.

You sound like you want to drop your bf%. Progressive strength training, high protein, moderate-small calorie deficit and plenty of time and patience will do what you want. You will look slightly more muscular by virtue of keeping your existing muscle mass and dropping fat - this reveals the cuts and makes you look what people call "toned" (although I hate that word)

If you actually want to add muscle, then you need to do a progressive programme and eat at a calorie surplus. You'll gain some fat too (but you'll be able to cut this off afterwards by following the paragraph above), so be prepared for that. Building actual muscle mass is hard (for men and even harder for women due to hormonal differences), takes hard training and a long time. Be prepared to stick with it if this is what you want to do.

Finally you need to choose a decent programme. That will depend upon what equipment you have available to you and what you want to use.

tar0809

Thanks for the info!

tar0809

bump

Cherimoose

So I've been trying to do my own research about gaining muscle and strength, but come across so many different things that I'm still unsure what the best route would be good to take to achieve my goals.

What are you unsure about?

dbmata

Also, you won't be getting bulky unless you work hard and long for years, or start dosing some prohormones.

moeheep

You wont get bulky!!

Gaining a noticeable amout of "Bulk" is hard and takes a long time.

If it was fast and easy, everybody would be walking around jacked.

tar0809

Bump

Cherimoose

Pick any of the popular lifting programs mentioned every day here and begin. You can't go wrong with either NROL4W (book) or Stronglifts (website). Or work with a good personal trainer.