5 Common Questions New Clients Ask About Building Muscle

1. Will Building Muscle Cause Weight Gain?

Yes (but it's the right kind of weight gain!). Muscle is denser than fat. 0.5kg Muscle is much smaller in volume than 0.5kg Fat. Building muscle is about adding tissue to the muscle fibres you already have to make them bigger and that has to increase your bodyweight.

In your first year of lifting weights consistently you could expect to gain 0.5kg of muscle per month. This becomes less and less the longer you lift. It also requires you to be lifting at least 3 times per week following a progressive overload programme and working your butt off, literally! Building muscle does not happen by accident, it happens with a lot of hard work!

This increased muscle size is helps to boost your metabolism and improve your body composition, even if the scale goes up. 

If this concerns you then you need to focus less on the number on the scale and more on how your clothes fit you, your overall health markers, how your body is changing with photos and measurements and the improvements you are making in strength. 

As a natural woman doing 5 hard sessions a week my weight has barely changed in 2 years but my body has A LOT more muscle on it.

Please don't let the scale stop you from improving your health and body composition with lifting weights, it's the best feeling to live in a strong body with visible muscle mass, especially as a woman.

2. Does Building Muscle Burn Fat?

No. To see a reduction in body fat you need to create an energy deficit. This deficit should primarily come from a decrease in the energy you consume.

Increasing the amount of activity or energy you expend can assist in creating the energy deficit. There are pitfalls to this as for some people increasing their energy output also results in increased hunger making it harder to remain in an energy deficit.

I prefer my clients to keep up the activity they are already doing and add in and extra 1000-2000 Steps per day to ensure their hunger levels remain steady.

3. How Does Building Muscle Work?

Building muscle occurs when muscle fibres increase in response to progressive overload training, adequate nutrition, and recovery. When you lift weights, muscle fibres are activated and undergo metabolic and mechanical stress, leading to adaptations that result in new muscle growth. 

Muscle cells will also be increased with adequate protein intake. To support this process, an appropriate calorie intake, particularly sufficient protein, along with restful sleep, is essential. Over time, consistent training with progressively challenging weights signals the muscle fibres to grow stronger and then they also become larger.

4. Where To Start Building Muscle?

I start my clients from where they are, not where they want to end up. For some of my clients who have never lifted weights, want to get stronger but are time poor that can be 1 session per week.

Yes progress is slow but if you are okay with that, you will still progress, if you keep challenging your body.

For those with aesthetic goals the minimum will be either 3 Full Body sessions with 5-6 exercises.

Most of my clients start by lifting weights at home and hopefully I can also convince them to go the gym too!

For those doing 4-5 Workouts per week I split the workouts into Upper & Lower. If you can recover from this amount of work, you will of course see progress quicker but only if you keep the intensity nice and high! If your effort deteriorates with more sessions, you are better to stay at 3 Full Body and be able to push yourself really hard!!!

5. Why Does It Take So Long To See Results When Building Muscle?

For women who want to see visible muscle and have an aesthetic goal to improve their body composition I recommend giving yourself 12-16 weeks of consistent training following a progressive overload training programme and focusing on eating adequate protein. While also managing your stress levels and getting 7-9 hours sleep to maximise your results.

Women have less testosterone than men so this results in a slower rate of gain. 

Women also have less muscle mass overall so the visible muscle changes take longer but you will still see improvements in strength.

Women tend to have a higher amount of Type I (slow twitch) fibres  which are more resistant to fatigue suited for endurance sports but they also have less potential for muscle growth than Type II (fast-twitch) fibres.

In summary building muscle as a woman is a slow process so you have to find ways to enjoy the process. Building Muscle cannot be bought with an Amazon Prime membership, it it earned with consistent training and effort which is why the women who you see as "goal body" have spent YEARS working hard and earning that beautiful muscle they wear.

I promise you it's worth the wait! If you have any questions about how to get started message me here x