Female training to build more muscle help

[Love_lifting]

Hi gymnation crew

need some advice please I am a chick who has been weight training for about a year - 5-6 days a week body part splits  (back/bis, shoulders and abs, chest/tris, legs abs, glutes) I try lift heavy generally 10-12 reps max except legs because I already have good size on them so do light high reps for legs - but I just ain't seeing the changes I hoped for .  I have first lost a considerable amount of weight slowly but I need to be tighter and build muscle. 

I recently started thinking maybe I'm not eating enough cals I have been focused for so long on loosing fat I don't think I'm eating enough to put on quality muscle.  My resting is 1800 and max cals I eat a day is 1500.  Do women  do "bulks"? Of course I am scared of putting on weight as I was previously a fatty lol .  I do monitor/watch macros.  I only tend to supplement with protein powder  and fat burners and I take omega 3 

I hope to do a novice figure comp later this year 

look forward to your ideas for gaining muscle; maybe it's just giving it time and being patient *help*

[Gym rat]

I would suggest using fish oils as well which help protect your joints.

[Rebel101]

Hi Love_lifting its great that you are enjoying training with weights so much, it really is the way to go for a healthy body. Setting yourself a goal of competing in a Figure competition is also a good idea to motivate yourself.

Your training sounds reasonably good so I think you may need to focus on getting your nutrition organised, it really is 70% of the battle for a girl.

Counting calories is the first learning objective when it comes to improving your nutrition but now you want to go further you need to start considering macros ie what amounts of protein, carbohydrates, and fats are in your diet.

If you want to improve muscle condition and not gain fat then it is absolutely essential that you understand the balance and composition of your macros.

A good start would be to analyse the food you currently eat and figure out the current breakdown of your macros ie X grams protein, x grams carbohydrate, x gram fats. If you do this then I can help you further and figure out if you are having sufficient of the correct macros.

And no bulking is not the answer for a girl it is too hard to remove.

[Love_lifting]

Thanks very much for your reply and the no to bulking  

I have until recently been on relatively low carbs but have come to the realisation low carb ain't good well I don't think it is!! 

i generally have oats with protein for breakfast; snacks are corn thins and cottage cheese or yoghurt and nuts, protein bars, shakes and bananas things like that lunch and dinner is lean meat and veg at lunch may have a little rice also 

[Rebel101]

There is a time and place for differing approaches to using carbohydrates but generally for females who are wanting to participate in sports like figure competitions the use of carbohydrates is limited.

You must get used to counting the macros in your diet, the only other alternative is to go to an experienced trainer and get them to set you a diet. In order to gain muscle size you will need an intake of at least 180 g of protein per day how does this compare to your current intake.

Personally I like to have some control over what I have to eat so I have learnt to count and understand my macro breakdown. It is up to you what approach you take.

My trainer would say firstly look to unprocessed foods for your nutrition, buy from the outside areas of the supermarket ie veges, fish, meat, eggs, amd only limited use of anything else. But I am very focused on correct nutirtion and not all want to be as serious.

[Love_lifting]

Hi rebel

thanks for your post I am going to sit down and work out my macros I will let you know.  I don't think I am having that much protein

i am like u really want to be serious about nutrition I don't want to jump on stage thinking I could have done more!! 

[Rebel101]

Hi rebel

thanks for your post I am going to sit down and work out my macros I will let you know.  I don't think I am having that much protein

i am like u really want to be serious about nutrition I don't want to jump on stage thinking I could have done more!! 

Excellent you are going about it the right way, when you have the necessary knowledge under your belt you can really start to make some gains.

Most people have little or no understanding of their macros and hence trying to manage their nutritional intake is like working with shifting sands. People tend to underestimate how many grams of carbohydrate they are eating and do not have enough protein in their diet.

I will look forward to your next post.

[teamfatboy]

There is a time and place for differing approaches to using carbohydrates but generally for females who are wanting to participate in sports like figure competitions the use of carbohydrates is limited.

You must get used to counting the macros in your diet, the only other alternative is to go to an experienced trainer and get them to set you a diet. In order to gain muscle size you will need an intake of at least 180 g of protein per day how does this compare to your current intake.

Personally I like to have some control over what I have to eat so I have learnt to count and understand my macro breakdown. It is up to you what approach you take.

My trainer would say firstly look to unprocessed foods for your nutrition, buy from the outside areas of the supermarket ie veges, fish, meat, eggs, amd only limited use of anything else. But I am very focused on correct nutirtion and not all want to be as serious.

This! Rebel101 has hit the nail on the head. Understanding how your individual body responds to differing protein/  carb / (good) fat ratios is key. 

That takes two parts:

first, work out your basal metabolic rate ( cals needed just to live), then increase calories according to how much activity you do; 

second, understand those macros. How much protein/ carbs/ fat is your best ratio to give you the calories you'll need.

It's a fine balance, conserving muscle while burning fat, but when you get that balance right, it's great!

[AZIDE]

^every time a new female member posts you can be counted on to make an appearance

[Rebel101]

Actually you are not correct on that, but yes l reply if l can be of help. Is there a problem with that?

[Dinahlady]

I definitely think you should work on increasing your calories. If you are training 5-6 x per week intensely then 1800 calories max is definitely undercutting your "calorie budget" by a lot. At 1500 calories i definitely wouldnt say you are "maximising" your ability to build muscle. The other side of the coin is if this is your intake now - its going to make it pretty hard to diet when it comes to comp time. If your taking in only 1650 calories on average, theres only several hunderd calories you can drop before your body is going to be royally f**k'd. working on increasing this slowly may mean you have "more room to move"  (downwards) and create sustained fat loss throughout your diet at a later date. 

Ime you could easily get away with slowly working up to at least 2200 calories without putting on much fat at all (depending on your individual metabolism). Macro balance is important aswell. if like you say you dont think you are getting much protein then increasing your intake from should bump up your calories with little to no issues with fat gain at all. 

increase calories doesnt mean its a "Bulk" its just more likely that your body is going to be in a state to be able to put on some muscle... You might even get leaner if you do it fairly slowly...

For me carbohydrates are important for muscle gains. I limited them to <150g and sometimes much much less for years and I pretty much got nowhere with strength and size gains But this is something you wanna work up slowly with too and is definitely a dicier subject with fat gain, which will often happen. But fat gain isnt the end of the world - maybe if you already have muscle or if you are a long term competetor going from show to show. but if you are just contemplating competing at some point there is infinite time to try and push your personal boundaries of carbohdrate intake and muscle gain and still get back on track. But if your set on competing at the end of the year... like rebel said... you proabbly have limited room to increase carbs too much. 

With training. Try and vary your rep ranges. Work on slightly lower reps 6-8 but with a couple more sets. This should allow you to lift heavier weight. Do this for your big compound movements and try and improve your numbers week to week or month to month. Learn to squat, deadlift, Row, bench and OHP well, biggest girls I know (that are natty too) have very decent big lifts! So work on strength as well as your higher rep ranges.

[Love_lifting]

Thank you all for your replies so much to learn and I def think increasing protein and maybe carbs slowly will help I'm not locked into competing end of year I will wait until April 2015 if it would work for me better 

I do squats, lunges, deadlift, bench press etc as well as others have noticed good increase in strength in some but not so much in others 

thanks so much for all your info 

[Rebel101]

Hi Love_lifting waiting to 2015 to compete would give you more time to improve your physique and get control of your nutritional requirements if you are prepared to be patient.

In general you are less likely to improve muscle size when you are on a weight loss diet in preparation for a competition. A good 7 months of solid training with good nutrition will see you alot better prepared.

[AZIDE]

Actually you are not correct on that, but yes l reply if l can be of help. Is there a problem with that?

im clearly not replying to you. was to teamfatboy. and no i dont have a problem with him, was just an observation. but now you mention it you do show a lot of the same characteristics. you two would probably hit it off

[Rebel101]

 

Actually you are not correct on that, but yes l reply if l can be of help. Is there a problem with that?

im clearly not replying to you. was to teamfatboy. and no i dont have a problem with him, was just an observation. but now you mention it you do show a lot of the same characteristics. you two would probably hit it off

My apologies somehow when I followed up on the post teamfatboys post was not on my screen so I thought you were replying to me. I have little knowledge of many members yet this is all so new and trying to get a grip on what everyone is about can be difficult.

I like to see new girls posting on the site as there are not enough girls posting regularly, and there is only one way to encourage new people to participate and that is to help them.

[AZIDE]

yeah forum was definately better when it had more members/more regular posters

[Pseudonym]

True dat.

I don't care who helps who, as long as everyone gets helped. The more the merrier.

[teamfatboy]

^every time a new member asking for help posts you can be counted on to make an appearance

Fixed - not on here as often as I used to be, and don't know diddly-squat about some of the other threads, but do know a bit about how to fix some of the basics   [Mostly 'cos I've already made all those mistakes about diet, cut-v-bulk, etc myself *dash1*]

[Pseudonym]

yeah forum was definately better when it had more members/more regular posters

 

not on here as often as I used to be

I'm working on this. Gymnation 2.0 will be rolled out in the near future. With better forum functionality and a slightly slicker design, hopefully we can attract you part-time members back fulltime.

[Love_lifting]

I def don't mind who replies as long as it's helpful which it has been!!

Thinking I might go see a nutritionist any recommendations? Want someone with bb experience don't mind what part of auckland they in 

thanks 

[Rebel101]

There's Aylmer Porter or Naera Johnson in Albany or Taryn McCall out West. If you want someone who is able to follow through with your body building aspirations it has to be one of these people.

The thing is body building nutrition is very specific to the sport, and often the only ones who fully understand the requirements and demands placed on an athlete are the trainers. Using a trainer who has years of experience in bodybuilding will place you light years ahead in your diet plans.

This of course should not stop u trying to learn and understand your nutritional needs and if you have a good trainer they will encourage you to learn and support you while you do.

[Gym rat]

There is also Jo Stewart wolfs gym Henderson would be your best choice  to help guide you to the bodybuilding stage 

[Love_lifting]

Awesome thanks have heard heaps about Jo  

[Daz69]

There's Aylmer Porter or Naera Johnson in Albany or Taryn McCall out West. If you want someone who is able to follow through with your body building aspirations it has to be one of these people.

The thing is body building nutrition is very specific to the sport, and often the only ones who fully understand the requirements and demands placed on an athlete are the trainers. Using a trainer who has years of experience in bodybuilding will place you light years ahead in your diet plans.

This of course should not stop u trying to learn and understand your nutritional needs and if you have a good trainer they will encourage you to learn and support you while you do.

Aylmer Porter is an amazing personal trainer with immense experience and personal knowledge of diet/nutrition, training methodology and contest preparation..

Aylmer took my partner from nothing to New Zealand National Figure Champion in her first season..

I would highly recommend...

[Leeroid]

^every time a new female member posts you can be counted on to make an appearance

LOL I was thinking this. I wondered whether anyone else thought so.

TFB (and more recently Gymrat) has posted in pretty much every single thread made by a female.