Any advice on gaining muscle?

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papillio12
papillio12 Posts: 14 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
Ok. So I am trying to lose some inches, in as much as I'm trying to lose body fat - I'm wanting to lose 6 inches of the bust, waist and hip (each) over the next 16 weeks which sounds fairly reasonable.

Thing is, I want to build long, lean muscle mass to replace the fat (hence why I said I wanted to lose inches rather than weight) so I can be more healthy as well as slimmer.

I can build muscle in the legs and abs very quickly and easily - hell I can still lift 60/70 kg without a sweat, and whenever I do exercise in those areas I build quickly, but my arms are a nightmare. My limit is about 3kg when using dumbbells and I can't do push-ups, not even on my knees.

This is something I really want to work on! So does anyone have some tips on building muscle in the arms when you're pathetically weak?

Replies

  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Check out new rules of lifting for women.
  • rejectuf
    rejectuf Posts: 487 Member
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    You cannot gain muscle mass when losing weight unless you are coming from a very overweight/untrained state and even then it's short lived.

    You CAN gain strength and reveal the muscles that were under your body fat.

    Continue trying push-ups and other body weight exercises. If you can, hit up a gym and seek out a personal trainer who can help you learn some strength building exercises.
  • BreeJaxon
    BreeJaxon Posts: 128
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    Lift heavier and eat more protein
  • ahlias1
    ahlias1 Posts: 3 Member
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    Since you are aiming to lose body fat, and by that decreasing your calories, gaining muscle is nearly impossible. Focus on strength by lifting as heavy as you can with the lowest amount of reps. Bicep Curls and Tricep dips are a good way to start.

    Keep your protein intake to at least .85-1lb of your body weight. Macro should be around 40 P/ 35 C/ 30 F. Keeping your carbs moderate will prevent you from losing whatever muscle you have gained so far. When you reach your ideal goal, look into increasing your calorie intake and carb intake by 2-300 and gauge it every 2 weeks.

    In order to build muscle you need more calories. Just keep pushing and stay consistent to your diet, along with physical training. If you need guidance, look for a personal trainer or someone who can point you into the direction with a good routine.
  • RavenLibra
    RavenLibra Posts: 1,737 Member
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    lift things up and put them back down over and over... increase protein and caloric intake... to increase muscle through strength training your body requires building blocks. and there can be no gain without some pain... BUT that pain can be significantly reduced by doing research and providing your body the proper fuel and nutrients... best of luck
  • deksgrl
    deksgrl Posts: 7,237 Member
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    Do pushups against the wall, adding resistance daily by placing your feet farther away from the wall and your hands lower on the wall. Then graduate to a counter top. Then a chair. Keep going farther down until you can do them on the floor.

    One arm dumbbell rows. Get an empty gallon jug and fill it up with water, that is about 7 or 8 pounds. If that is too heavy, take some of the water out.
  • Galatea_Stone
    Galatea_Stone Posts: 2,037 Member
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    Are you currently lifting weights? If not, then you ABSOLUTELY can gain muscle while eating at a deficit and losing weight.

    You'd fall into one of the "you can't gain muscle and lose fat" exceptions that most of the population falls into. This general rule mainly applies to people who have trained a while and/or are already relatively lean.

    Here are the exceptions:

    Untrained
    Previously trained but haven't trained in a long time or only recently started training again.
    Obese

    Given that you'd like to lose 18 inches, I'm going to presume that you fall into all three categories.

    Eat 20% below your TDEE (go to IIFYM.com and find your TDEE, subtract 20%)
    Eat 1-1.4 grams of protein for every pound of lean body mass (you'll have to estimate this unless you've had a scan).
    Lift heavy and continue with a progressive loading program until you stall out. Once you stall out, you probably aren't going to gain any more mass while on a deficit.
    Include hypertrophy work into your routine and consider taking creatine monohydrate.
  • TrailNurse
    TrailNurse Posts: 359 Member
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    Lift heavier and eat more protein

    ^^^^^^ This.

    Also I do arms/biceps twice a week.
  • Sam_I_Am77
    Sam_I_Am77 Posts: 2,093 Member
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    Well, Chase Karnes wrote a brief article recently for Elite EFS about his body comp method. Basically on strength training days he eats 500 calories above maintenance and on non-liftng days 500 below. You could always try that. Other than that, you're gonna have to eat a lot of food, possibly as much as 20 x your current bodweight. I'm sure you can Google a good calculation method. Or keep it simple and eat to maintenance and then drink a 1/2 gallon of chocolate milk per day. LOL, seriously that does work actually.

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