how much exercise a day to help build lean muscle and tone

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NaomiAnna22
NaomiAnna22 Posts: 36 Member
in Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
hi I am currently 5 ft 5 110 lbs and would like to get to 120 lbs but in toned muscle and so have been working out for about 10 minutes 3 days a week which i know is nothing but ive never consistently worked out in my life so just getting myself to keep up with this is a good start but how long will i have to get to to actually see a difference, gaining muscle weight and being toned, primarily abs and butt, 20 minutes, 30? and how often do i need to up my weight? using 8lb dumbbells at the moment, thanks!

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  • tuckerrj
    tuckerrj Posts: 1,453 Member
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    This should work: 1) Set your MFP goal to gain 0.5 lb. per week and eat accordingly, 2) Do your resistance training 3 or 4 times a week for 30 minutes. 3) If you are doing more than 20 (some say 30) repetitions per set of an exercise, it's time to go up in weight. Muscle building (hypertrophy) is a byproduct of increased resistance and/or volume and/or frequency. Give it a try, give it some time (say 3 or more weeks) and I bet you'll be pleasantly surprised.
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,389 MFP Moderator
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    The first thing to realize, for a person who hasn't worked out, it's likely going to take a long time to build muscle.

    Second, if you want to gain weight, realize that you will gain fat. This is often why people will bulk and cut. Alternatively, you could eat around maintenance, start a solid progressive overload program and work to build muscle and lose fat concurrently (known as a recomp).

    Third, I'd recommend getting on a program aligned to your goals. So if you want abs, maybe look into Jeff Cavaliers AthleanX programs, especially if you don't have a gym or a lot of weights at home. Or if you want booty, than anything by Bret Contreras is the way to go.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    Four, work on getting your diet in place that allows for sufficient protein (80-120g) and a mix of healthy fats and carbs to supprt health and exercise.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,503 Member
    edited February 2021
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    psuLemon wrote: »
    The first thing to realize, for a person who hasn't worked out, it's likely going to take a long time to build muscle.

    Second, if you want to gain weight, realize that you will gain fat. This is often why people will bulk and cut. Alternatively, you could eat around maintenance, start a solid progressive overload program and work to build muscle and lose fat concurrently (known as a recomp).

    Third, I'd recommend getting on a program aligned to your goals. So if you want abs, maybe look into Jeff Cavaliers AthleanX programs, especially if you don't have a gym or a lot of weights at home. Or if you want booty, than anything by Bret Contreras is the way to go.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    Four, work on getting your diet in place that allows for sufficient protein (80-120g) and a mix of healthy fats and carbs to supprt health and exercise.
    I follow Jeff Cavaliere AthleanX channel. Dude is very concise on many things when it comes to training. Ripped as hell too all year around. Wondering if there's any enhancement there.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png
  • Chieflrg
    Chieflrg Posts: 9,097 Member
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    ninerbuff wrote: »
    psuLemon wrote: »
    The first thing to realize, for a person who hasn't worked out, it's likely going to take a long time to build muscle.

    Second, if you want to gain weight, realize that you will gain fat. This is often why people will bulk and cut. Alternatively, you could eat around maintenance, start a solid progressive overload program and work to build muscle and lose fat concurrently (known as a recomp).

    Third, I'd recommend getting on a program aligned to your goals. So if you want abs, maybe look into Jeff Cavaliers AthleanX programs, especially if you don't have a gym or a lot of weights at home. Or if you want booty, than anything by Bret Contreras is the way to go.

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you/p1

    Four, work on getting your diet in place that allows for sufficient protein (80-120g) and a mix of healthy fats and carbs to supprt health and exercise.
    I follow Jeff Cavaliere AthleanX channel. Dude is very concise on many things when it comes to training. Ripped as hell too all year around. Wondering if there's any enhancement there.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
    9285851.png

    He was outed for using enhancements and using "fake weights" as well. I don't think it was 100% proven but in my professional opinion I believe 99.9% he is using fake weights for 7-8 years and deceiving people.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,876 Member
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    NaomiAnna22 wrote: »
    hi I am currently 5 ft 5 110 lbs and would like to get to 120 lbs but in toned muscle and so have been working out for about 10 minutes 3 days a week which i know is nothing but ive never consistently worked out in my life so just getting myself to keep up with this is a good start but how long will i have to get to to actually see a difference, gaining muscle weight and being toned, primarily abs and butt, 20 minutes, 30? and how often do i need to up my weight? using 8lb dumbbells at the moment, thanks!

    Not so much about "minutes" as it is running a good program with progressive overload to stimulate growth. 8Lb dumbbells aren't going to go very far, especially when you're talking about bigger muscles like your legs and glutes which are very powerful and can easily handle 8 Lbs of weight...they are carrying far more weight around than that just moving you around place to place. Most weight training programs are going to take 45 to 60 minutes...it doesn't have to be daily and in most cases shouldn't be as you need to give time for your muscles to rest and recovery as that is where the magic actually happens.

    Full body programs are typically run 2-3x per week on non-consecutive days...with a full body program, you work all major muscle groups each workout. These types of programs are very good for novice lifters and beyond because they are efficient, and you hit every major muscle group 2-3x per week. You would need to find a program that incorporates bodyweight as well as maybe resistance bands to work your whole body...8 Lbs is probably good for arm curls and such, but I'm sure you could easily squat or deadlift an 8 Lb dumbbell without it being much of a challenge...and you have to challenge your muscles to grow them.
  • Sportertje354
    Sportertje354 Posts: 50 Member
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    One of my learning points when I started lifting was finding the right weight, I tended to want to lift more than I could.

    Looks like you have your scheduling down well, and that with regularity is one of the key factors for success with this in my experience. Lifting too heavy can cause injuries and too light not enough result.

    Abs is crunches and stuff, you don't need weights for this usually, unless you want to go hard core.

    Instead of dumb bells you can use bands or calisthenics too. Bands are lighter to carry around and store for example,
    also some favor them over dumb bells for the way you can use them.

    There are various apps and fitness centers that can help you set up a program for you.

    Some gains you will see quicker than others, but it took me years and I am still working on areas. It's an ongoing
    thing. Slow and steady wins over the years the race in this regard, as opposed to hitting the gym really hard for a few months, and then dropping out.

    You're making a good start with your schedule, and asking advice.


  • FitAgainBy55
    FitAgainBy55 Posts: 179 Member
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    The "expert consensus" is around 1 lb per month max of muscle growth under ideal circumstances. Younger people will add faster than older. Women will add slower than men. Newbies (first timers) can grow faster than long time lifters. And then the most important part, most people don't even come close to the definition of ideal to reach that max rate.

    Here's a study that shows around 2 lbs gain of lean mass over 8 weeks (.25 lbs per week) using a couple of different methods:
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4836564/


    I've never specifically targeted weight gain but lost weight (9 months) with some recomp (eating at maintenance for 3 months). The transformation below took 1 year at age 45. I'm trying to get back to this again now (10 years later) and after 2 months I can let you know that gaining strength, losing weight are "easy" for me but there isn't a lot of physical change yet at this point regarding muscle growth. If you need to see results to stay motivated you will probably need to rely on gaining strength and fitness as results and not gaining muscle.

    In addition to what everyone else has said above, I will highlight one thing. One of the most important things in strength training is picking the right combination of reps vs weight. If the last rep in your set isn't difficult (nearing impossible) then you are cheating yourself. You need to either increase the weight or the reps. This will be difficult to achieve with only 1 small dumbbell or with body weight exercises given your bodyweight is already pretty low. You'll have to carefully pick the correct exercises that will allow you to reach fatigue in a set without turning it into just cardio.

    16whotj39l1d.png

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