Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Female Muscle Growth 101

Female Muscle Growth 101
Ladies, are you pounding away at the iron, yet not showing
much muscle improvement? Today there is so much
bodybuilding information plaguing the fitness magazines and
Net it's literally exhausting to filter through. What's
worse is that current bodybuilding data is so grossly
lacking of a scientific system. It's come to the point that
anyone who can get a free website thinks they are a fitness
expert.

In this article you will find there is much more to muscle
building than just what the newest trainer on the block
just copy/pasted from another forum, or read in an article
written by a teenager who has been training for a solid 8
months.

Discover what you need to do to blast muscle gains like
you've never imagined, with an all natural approach. This
is nothing new or revolutionary. It's simply forgotten and
overlooked basic essentials. By law, you can build dynamic
muscle.

1 - Find Your Starting Point - Many ladies training to
induce muscle growth fail miserably because they disregard
finding their unique starting point. Your personal starting
point will differ than your friends. Your starting point
should be based on your body type and/or shape, as well as
your stats, activity level, current diet and exercise
program.

If you don't know your personal body status, how will you
find your nutrition and training starting point? You won't.
Do some homework and find your starting point and build a
training and nutrition program based on that.

2 - Implement Progressive Overload - Far too many ladies
are not challenging themselves when they enter the gym. If
you want to build muscle you have to stimulate your
muscles, and you have to challenge them on a continual
basis.

Going to the gym three times a week and doing the same
exercise for the same number of sets, and reps will only
burn calories. Your object when weight training is to build
muscle. To build muscle you must progressively overload
your muscles. This can be done with increased poundage,
varying sets and reps, and even changing exercises.

Always keep your muscles off guard and always challenge
them.

3 - Employ Proper Form - Just because you are weight
training doesn't necessarily mean you will sprout muscles.
Two sets of proper curls will yield far greater results
than two sets of curls with bad form. There is a technique
to every exercise and knowing how to properly execute each
will catapult your muscle gains in record time.

4 - Confused Personal Goals - I find far more female
bodybuilders than male bodybuilders having trouble with
this one. Many ladies think they want to build muscle, but
when muscle weight on the scale goes up, they freak out,
thinking they are getting fat. Out of the "weight gain
fear" they change their goal back to fat loss. Then they
decide that they indeed to want muscle and keep going back
and forth between building muscle and losing fat goals.
This type of goal confusion will not produce results. Goals
are only good when followed.

The scale is unable to distinguish between bone, muscle,
water, fat, and organ weight. The scale weighs your body as
a whole. To find your muscle building progress you need to
be taking your body fat composition.

Stop focusing on numbers ladies. The fine details of
intricate weight fluctuations are irrelevant when you want
to build muscle.

5 - Information Overload Most - newbie's and many
intermediate level bodybuilders struggle with information
overload. Information overload is simply having so much
information available that the reader is incapable of
assimilating it, or feels so overwhelmed to absorb any of
it.

Many bodybuilders get in this state by reading every
conceivable piece of information in magazines and the Net.
The downfall to this is they don't really understand the
basics to know how to sufficiently sift through it all to
find the true information.

One way to overcome this dilemma is to find one person to
listen to, or one set of ideas to focus on. Gather your
information on the concept and get a thorough
understanding. Once you are able to successfully understand
the information, you can move on to other notions.

You will find much greater information reading books
written on kinesiology and other works by scientists and
doctors in the field of sports nutrition, and natural
healing. You just won't find true information in hyped-up
muscle magazines.

6 - Track Your Progress - If you are not tracking your
muscle gaining progress, how will do you know you are
progressing?

For paramount muscle growth, track your training days,
exercises, poundage, sets, and reps. By using this
information weekly, you can build on it with progressive
overload to ensure muscle gains.

7 - Neglecting Weaker Body Parts - Come on. We are all
guilty of this at one time or another. Really... I mean
what kind of ego is behind working a weak body part that
isn't very strong?

Most bodybuilders tend to train their strengths; for one
it's ego boosting and it's more fun. However, the true
bodybuilders train their weaknesses harder. Improving your
weakness makes it a strength and creates balance.

One example is my legs. I had very skinny legs my first few
years in bodybuilding. They were obviously weak so that
made it just that much harder to want to train them. After
a few contests and judges feedback, I literally built
massive and powerful legs in just 8 months by using these
Laws you are now reading.

8 - Defining True Intensity - A large percentage of lifters
are confused about what intensity actually is; this can be
a problem if your goal is to build the best muscular
physique you can.

A true certified personal trainer can tell you the
difference between aerobic and anaerobic intensity. Aerobic
intensity is based on time factor. Anaerobic intensity is
based on poundage used.

So, is doing more exercises, sets, and reps higher
intensity? Sure, if you want to build your cardiovascular
system and muscle endurance. However, if you want to build
muscle, stick with 2-3 exercises (including one compound
exercise), and 3 sets, in the 6-8 rep range.

9 - Trusting the Latest "Breakthrough Supplement" - The
supplement industry is over a $15 billion dollar market.
Each year itintroduces nearly a thousand new supplements,
including "improved" ones. Supplement companies prey on
your hot buttons. Most use persuasive advertising or
promotional hype to pull you in to buy their product.

Most supplements are useless. If you do your homework and
read the science of sports nutrition and human physiology
you'll understand why some supplements are useful and the
rest are just plain garbage.

10 - When You Just Can't Do It, Get a Coach - There are
times you may be too overwhelmed or just need personal
guidance or direction in your muscle building efforts. Some
of the best professional bodybuilders have someone to coach
them. Having a qualified coach takes the guess work out of
your training program and eliminates costly mistakes.

Conclusion - You have the facts outlined. Read through them
thoroughly and examine your own bodybuilding approach to
tweak it for the better. The worse thing you can do is lie
to yourself. Use every step to bring you closer to the
attractive physique you want.


----------------------------------------------------
Karen Sessions has been in the fitness industry since 1988.
She is a nationally qualified bodybuilder and holds two
personal training certifications. She has written 6 ebooks
on fitness and has helped hundreds of clients transform
their bodies.

http://www.Iron-Dolls.com
"Use of this article is authorized provided it is
reproduced in full, and all web URLS are active hyperlinks
directed to the author"

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