Unlocking the Power of Female Muscle Growth: Tips and Techniques for Optimal Strength and Fitness

Haven’t you heard? Female muscles are in! No, we don’t mean that women need to hulk out and look like bodybuilders. That isn’t really possible unless a woman makes the gym her new job. What we mean is that toned, lean muscles look great on women and, more importantly, can help women lead healthier, more active lives. Female muscle growth, in other words, is a style we think will stick around.

Do you want to build muscle? If so, you’ll need to learn how muscles grow, what you should be doing in the gym, and what you need to put on your plate to support healthy muscle mass. We’ll also discuss the best supplements for muscle growth and the right amount of daily protein intake for muscle growth. 

Why You Want to Build Muscles

A toned, shapely female body looks amazing, but looks aren’t the only reason you should consider adding muscle mass to your frame. Muscles can help improve the quality of your life and keep you fitter and less prone to injuries in your later years.

Here are just a few benefits of female muscle growth:

Stronger Bones

Building muscles through strength and resistance training helps you maintain good bone density. This is especially important for women who are at an increased risk of osteoporosis after menopause. 

Weight Management

You might have heard that muscles burn more calories than fat. It’s true. Every pound of muscle you add to your body will boost your metabolism, helping you maintain a healthy body weight.

Everyday Activities

Muscles aren’t just a nice accessory to have. They make your life better by allowing you to do everyday activities, like carrying groceries up the stairs, picking up your kids or grandkids, or lifting a box of documents at work. 

Protection Against Lifestyle Disease

Consistent strength training may be able to reduce the risk of nasty chronic diseases like

• Obesity
• Heart disease
• Diabetes
• Arthritis

Injury Protection

Strong muscles can help improve your balance and protect your joints. This can lower your risk of falls and other injuries, allowing you to enjoy a higher quality of life and maintain your independence as you age.

How Muscles Grow

You want to build muscles, but how do they actually grow? You may assume lifting heavy weights in the gym is part of the equation, and you’d be right. However, there are many more ingredients that go into the formula.

Ingredient 1 – Muscle Tension

Your body is a machine that continually adapts to the stress you put on it. When you put tension on your muscles in the form of strength training, your muscles will respond by growing stronger and larger. The only way to build muscle is to work them. The CDC recommends that adults perform at least two days of strength training per week. 

Ingredient 2 – Muscle Damage

When you put your muscles under sufficient tension, it will cause micro-tears to your muscle fibers. This is why your muscles may ache after a workout. This may sound bad, but it’s actually a good thing. After your workout, your body will send in satellite cells to repair the damage. 

Ingredient 3 – Rest

You may assume that your muscles grow stronger when you pump iron at the gym. Interestingly, that’s not true. All muscle growth happens when you are at rest. This is when your body will work to repair the damage to your muscles after a workout. As part of the repair process, satellite cells will fuse to your muscle fibers, making them stronger and bigger. This is how you increase your muscle mass.

How Hormones Affect Muscle Growth

Many women worry that strength training will make them look “bulky.” However, this is unlikely to happen unless you train for hours in the gym every day to look like a bodybuilder. That’s because women possess far less testosterone than men. Testosterone plays a large part in supporting muscle growth. While women can increase their muscle structure and improve their strength in response to resistance training, they won’t develop the massive pecs and bulging biceps of their male counterparts. 

How to Build Muscles as a Female 

Ready to get your strong on? You’ll need to put in the work, but female muscle growth isn’t difficult if you have a plan. There are many different ways to create a strength training routine, and they can all work as long as you follow these important principles.

Perform a Strength Training Routine that Works for You

If you don’t feel comfortable picking up a barbell or swinging a kettlebell, that’s okay. There are many ways to increase your strength. Beginners or those with joint pain may want to start with bodyweight movements, like:

• Pushups (with knees for assistance)
• Air squats
• Situps 
• Dips (with or without assistance)
• Pullups (with or without assistance)

As you begin to feel more comfortable with these movements, consider using strength machines at your gym. Machines allow you to choose your weight and make it easy for you to isolate different muscle groups.

Finally, if you want to step up your strength training game, try free weights, like dumbbells, barbells, and kettlebells. Free weights recruit more muscles and help you work on balance and body awareness. 

Be Mindful of Reps and Sets

Always come to your strength training session with a plan. If you just try a few machines at the gym and guesstimate your weights, you probably won’t see much progress. Instead, choose a number of exercises you want to do and then determine the number of sets and reps you want to perform for each movement. 

Write down your routine and then record your results. This will let you see your progress over time. You can also do research online to find existing strength training programs.

Not sure where to start? Here are some suggestions:

• Beginner: Perform 3 sets of 10-12 reps of each exercise at a light weight
• Intermediate: Perform 3 sets of 5-8 reps at a moderate weight
• Advanced: Perform 3 sets of 3-5 reps at a heavy weight 

Increase Tension Over Time

Regardless of which exercises you do, the key to growing muscles is to continually challenge your body by increasing the tension you put on your muscles over time. You can increase tension in two ways, by upping the weight you use on your exercises or performing more reps of a movement. It’s a good idea to use both methods. 

For example, if you can perform 3 sets of 8 bicep curls with a 20-pound dumbbell and don’t feel tired, try using a 25-pound dumbbell next time. Or, see if you can do 12 reps at 20 pounds for each set. 

Continue to push yourself so that you avoid falling into a rut.

Focus on Correct Form

Don’t invite an injury by training with bad form. Using machines at the gym can be a good starting point, as they often don’t require balance. Read the instructions on the machine carefully, and don’t be afraid to ask an employee at the gym if you aren’t sure how to use a certain piece of equipment. 

When working out with free weights, start with light weights and focus on perfecting your form before trying heavier weights. 

Nutrition and Supplements for Muscle Growth

Female muscle growth doesn’t end at the gym. The nutrition you put into your body also plays a big role in building muscle. First, give yourself enough calories. You need to eat more calories than you burn in order to build muscle. 

You also need to consider what you put on your plate. Protein provides your body with the amino acids that are the building blocks of muscles. The right daily protein intake for muscle growth is generally considered to be roughly 1 gram of protein for every pound of body weight.

Some sources of the best protein for muscle growth include:

• Lean meats, like chicken and turkey
• Lean fish
• Eggs
• Nuts
• Lentils
• Yogurt
• Quinoa
• Leafy green vegetables

If you worry that you aren’t getting enough nutrition in your diet to support your health goals, you can also take supplements and vitamins for muscle growth. Popular supplements for muscle growth include

• Whey protein powder
• Creatine
• Amino acids
• Glutamine
• Carnitine

Another option that’s growing in popularity is to try IV therapy for female muscle growth. At Lone Star IV Medics, our Performance Plus IV is formulated for athletes. It includes vitamins and minerals designed to give you energy and focus so you can get the most out of tough workouts. It includes saline and electrolytes to keep the cells in your muscles hydrated. It can also help your recovery and the muscle-building process. Take a look at all our IV therapy packages.

Muscles look beautiful on women and offer many important health benefits. If you’re looking to increase your strength, improve the appearance of your body, and reach a healthy weight, Lone Star IV Medics can support your muscle growth journey.