Why Building Muscle is Difficult for Some Women?
The principles of weight gain are all the same regardless of your sex or gender:
“If you want to gain weight, eat more calories than you burn regularly. Want to put on the right KIND of weight? Exercise and eat the right way too.”
Now, there’s plenty of nuance to this when comparing men and women:
- Due to our natural hormones, it’s generally more difficult for people with typical female anatomy to gain muscle than people with typical male anatomy.
- We have a lot of factors (such as hormonal birth control) that have been proven to make it even harder as well.
But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible!
It just means we have to work harder for it.
Now, one thing I want to touch on quick: if you see a woman who is absolutely jacked and at an extremely low body fat percentage, I guarantee she has been working her butt off for a very long time with the goal of building muscle.
It’s not something that happens overnight, or by mistake.
In addition, some women with larger amounts of muscle mass choose to take steroids to help assist them in gaining muscle, because we simply don’t have the hormones naturally to get to that size.
So if you’d like to build muscle, but not as much as a professional bodybuilder – don’t worry, it’s not something that happens by accident.
Should Women Build Muscle? (7 Reasons Women Should Grow Muscle)
If it can be harder for women to gain muscle (compared to men), why go through the trouble?
I’m glad you asked!
Here are the top 7 reasons why women should strength train:
#1) When you’re stronger – everyday life is easier. No need to call for help to get that 50lb bag of dog food off the top shelf, or carrying an air conditioner unit up a flight of stairs. LIFE is easier when you’re stronger.
#2) Less injury risk – when you build strong muscles, you’re also building stronger bones, ligaments, and tendons, making you less prone to injury doing things you love (like playing in a quidditch league).
#3) Helps combat age-related muscle loss, allowing us to remain independent longer as we age.
#4) Muscle is harder to maintain, which means you need to eat more just to hold on to it.
#5) Reduce pain – having a strong body makes living easier on your joints, as well as allows you to hold a better posture, and reduce back / hip pain.
#6) Appearance – this is a personal preference! Some women like to have a lot of muscle, and some don’t. While you can’t spot reduce fat, you can choose to build more muscle in specific areas, changing your body shape. Growing up, I was an extreme pear shape, but due to strength training, I now have more of an hourglass shape.
#7) Live longer – want to spend more time on Earth? Strength training and growing muscle will help you do just that.
How to Eat to Gain Muscle as a Woman
As we said above, gaining weight comes down to thermodynamics and science.
Every day, we burn a certain number of calories just existing, which is called our BMR (basal metabolic rate). We then factor in our daily activity level, and get a number that is called our “ total daily energy expenditure.”
In addition to the number of calories we’ll be adding, we also want to pay attention to the type of foods we’re eating.
We’re going to build muscle by consuming the three big macros in the correct quantities:
- Protein: rebuilds muscle after you break it down.
- Carbohydrates: provides your muscle with fuel and body with energy.
- Fat: helps your bodily functions and can also be burned as fuel in the absence of carbs.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I really appreciate your effort in writing this amazing article!! it is very helpful.
This article was wonderful! I have been getting into strength training at home. I have a set of dumbbells that are adjustable that can go up to 55lbs each, so I rotate between arm days, leg days, running days, rowing days, and body weight exercises. I have been noticing differences, I am so much stronger than I was a few months ago. I recently recovered from an eating disorder, and strength training has helped motivate me to try to get stronger rather than smaller and skinnier. I want to get big arm muscles, but it is challenging to find articles that will give women advice on how to do that.