Building muscle guidance please

be prepared for it to take years yes, as Sardelsa said above. It took me a year of solid lifting and dieting to get a flat stomach and the top abs.

You do need to work the abs for them to grow anyway under the fat so that when you do get lean enough they will show through.

I did martial arts prior to baby and we used to do a bazillion sit-ups in class. I think that's actually what has made me have the top abs showing - they were already there, but I never bothered with dieting back in those days because I wasn't fat. I wasn't muscular like now because not going to the gym, but I was "fit" looking - not skinny, but you know - looked like I was an active person. All body-weight exercises from martial arts classes, no lifting at all.

SIGH - what a pity I hadn't discovered lifting 10, 15 years ago!!!

Hi imxnianne,
The journey to(/of) fitness is a lifelong one. Congratulations on your hard work and especially your mental fortitude to get to where you are right now. I have two sisters, a mom and my wife and countless other friends that rely on me for sound nutrition and fitness advice. My wife gave birth to our baby girl almost three years ago. Initially nutrition was the foundation for everything that we have achieved.
Muscle building is not as easy as weight loss. Fat loss is a catabolic state of the body, where the net calories(food - excercise) in the day/week/month. On the other hand muscle building occurs in an anabolic state, where the net calories(food +excercise) in the day/week/month. Fat loss is easy as anything can help you get to this goal. However, muscle building is a regimented process. the process involves finding a routine and progressing on the weight. The easiest and time proven method is the 5 x 5 or 3 x 5 routine. I believe there is an app for it as well. No one will talk about it much but it is a simple muscle building routine if done with correct form will add muscle to your frame without doubt, provided you have a good nutrition plan. And no you won't look like those body builders with freakishly large bodies. It takes years to get to their level ..5+ years at least and steroids.
I did a lot of cardio to lose fat but once I would get busy I would put all that weight back on due to bad nutrition and inactivity. But once I switched to the 5 x 5 routine in the past year and a half I put on muscle and have biceps without doing a single bicep curl. Visible and tangible changes. Numbers don't lie.
I was so weak I couldn't even bench a minimal amount of weight but I have progressed from 80 lbs bench to 170 lbs 5 x 5. My goal is 225 x 5 x 5. This isn't a goal for everyone but for me specifically.
I couldn't do a single pull up ..now I can do close to 12.
Squats, deadlifts (that tight rounded butt) have gone through the roof but I injured myselfwhile sprinting so I only deadlift now.

I hope this post changes your life... Any routine you do, stick with it for at least 6 months religiously. That is the key to success as you may have already gauged by now. All the best I hope to hear more from you in terms of your progress.

Regards,
Karl Correa.

After my second child I lost 28 kilos with the treadmill and weights at home . I ended up at 47 kilos at the height of 5 foot 3.
Eventually you do keep losing and losing to the point of wondering what goal you’re after next because I was just so fixated on being skinny and not strong. You get hungry due to the restrictions and not understanding nutrition for your body and how much food you need to tone up but not lose muscle at the same time and stop the starvation that leads to cravings for the bad stuff.
It has taken me years to start seeing food as fuel rather than toxic , macros really helped me realise that you can eat a lot of food (healthy proteins and vegetables) and it can keep you satisfied.
I did a body scan at the gym which tells you what your body needs to keep running and your max amount of calories which surprised me , I went from 800 calories to needing 1200 (if sleeping all day) otherwise 1900 was the maintenance. Eating chicken breast, turkey mince, black beans, broccoli , oats . Timing your carbs for before a workout in the morning will make those carbs handy. Maybe get some personal training sessions to help drop the cravings for bad food (support networks help me) and they can give workout tips.
You don’t necessarily have to lose weight to lose body fat .. eating clean can drop your body fat percentage but show the same number on the scale as well as building lean muscle. Slow and steady and being very strict is the only way unfortunately. But hey, we all indulge. Life’s too short not to enjoy the little things.

OdditiesC wrote: »

Increase protein intake ... caloric deficit isn't really the answer ... of course you want to remove any evidence of belly fat but it will only show when you actually formed the abdominal muscles. It will also help if the skin is a bit darker or tan, this is why ig models use dry brush, or why I took a selfie in a dark bathroom.

Most of the fat usually group themselves on the sides of your tummy and with or without the belly you can still make abs - just look at some natural bodybuilders. Another thing is that caloric deficit if done incorrectly will take away your fat and muscle mass at the same time, but you want to maintain/grow muscle mass. The practice is you bulk using the typical diet, then you cut using the low-calorie diet (at this point you should lower the workout routine because a low carb & protein diet might signal the use of muscle fibers for energy). There are ways so you could grow muscle while losing the belly fat, but of course it is still more practical to bulk then cut if you want to grow the abs efficiently.

I rarely jog too ... I lost it sometime but core exercises at the end of every workout did the job

Show abs
-Lose Fat
-Sit-ups, Crunches, & Planks
-Stay Hydrated

-Eat Small Meals of Protein & Fiber & Healthy Fats ~ just to maintain a flow of amino acids in your bloodstream, aim for at least 1g of protein per pound of lean bodyweight (your weight without the fat)
-Eat Carbs Before & After Exercise ~ store glycogen inside your abdominal muscles
-Remove Sugar ~ too simple carbohydrate, will significantly increase blood sugar level
-Reduce Weight Training Volume & Frequency ~ what you want is to do it more often

-HIIT (High-Intensity Interval Training) = +GH ~ you need the growth hormone, you can do the same with squats
-Prioritize Recovery During Rest & Sleep ~ this is when most of the anabolic process happen, avoid stress
-Lower Insulin Resistance ~ the only way for muscle cells to grow is to get enough amino-acids & glucose for energy

While most of this isn't bad, there are a few things I would contend. First, you dont need to eat small meals to maintain levels of amino acids, especially since protein can take hours to digest. There is minimal evidence that 3-4 meals a day might provide some benefit, but it hasnt' been replicated that many times. Total protein levels is what is more important.

Second, unless you are endurance training, one will not have much impact on glycogen storage. So pre and post feeding is a bit unnecessary. I will note, if you feel better in the gym by incorporating a meal before, than by all means.

If anything simple sugar is very beneficial prior to exercise as it provide quick energy. In fact, my best lifts are when I consume gummy bears, skittles or sour patch kids prior to lifting.

Also, Growth Hormone =/= more muscle. It's a misnomer. Increasing in GH rarely result in changes outside the physiological range. And this doesn't even take in consideration that even exogenous GH doesn't result in more muscle. It results in increase in total water weight and increase in connective tissue (i.e., LBM). The same goes for fasting. If you are interesting in the meta analysis, please let me know and I can pull it up.