Reached my goal weight, now looking to build muscle (female)

[jennybenson]

Hi everyone! I just thought I'd write on the forum because I need some help.
I'm really struggling to build muscle now that I'm at my goal weight, I've upped my protein but upping my calories is really hard for me.
I do strength training three times a week but it is just Body Pump and is high reps, low weight. Will this help me build muscle or is it just cardio for me now, I've read that doing strength training like that is good for beginners but not for those wanting to build serious muscle. Also, I do cardio a lot, too much I think, about 6-7 hours a week, should I cut down to help myself build muscle or would eating carbs before cardio help to reduce the amount of muscle mass that will be used through out cardio?
So, does anyone have any tips on a weight training regime that could help me build more muscle? I'm really scared to go to the weights part of the gym when it's busy because I'm in Glasgow, it's pretty scary!
Sorry for all the questions but I really just want to know what to do! All these different things everyone says are getting muddled in my head!
Thanks in advance

 

[Wardy257]

You cant do everything at once so you need to decide what you want. If you want to gain muscle you need to drop the cardio right down or even stop it. You need to up the intensity moving bigger weights for lower reps. Try something simple like Bill Stars 5x5s, follow it accurately, do not add extra sets/reps and see how you get on.

Nutrition wise you need to make sure you get enough calories in, what is your age and weight so I can give you an idea of calories?

 

[Jrahien]

You cant do everything at once so you need to decide what you want. If you want to gain muscle you need to drop the cardio right down or even stop it. You need to up the intensity moving bigger weights for lower reps. Try something simple like Bill Stars 5x5s, follow it accurately, do not add extra sets/reps and see how you get on.

Nutrition wise you need to make sure you get enough calories in, what is your age and weight so I can give you an idea of calories?

The idea that you can't build muscle while doing cardio is a big load of craw. Granted, it's more difficult because a lot of cardio will significantly increase your nutritional requirements, but think about it. Look at nearly any professional sport such as hockey. Those guys are doing a TON of aerobic exercise and they still build and maintain muscle mass.

So yeah, I would continue with the cardio 3-5 times per week and do weight training either alongside it or between those days. If you're finding that you still can't put on muscle with your current diet, then you may want to think about supplementing to meet your protein demands.

Lastly, as a beginner, I would go moderate weight/moderate reps just to get the technique down and begin training your muscle tone, and then switch to heavier weight. If you go low weight/high reps, then you're training more muscular endurance rather than breaking down muscle to make it grow.

 

[Wardy257]

It is not efficent to try doing everything at once that is were periodisation comes in. She will be able to maintain a fair level of cardiovascular fitness while she improves muscle bulk/strength and can quickly regain cardio fitness if required.

Trying to do everything at once will only comprimise all of her training, rest and nutrition.

 

[CrazyOldMan]

Well to put the cardio vs weight gain to bed. I run and cycle every week, do weights at the heavy end of the scale 3 times a week. For years I gained no weight at all, but that was what I was aiming for, I took my eye off the ball for a year and found I had gained over 12 pounds that is now over 14. I will admit some of that has been blubber but that has been less than 15% of gain, and I am accepting that. Being a curious middle aged man I am now training specifically to bulk up and trying to run faster at the same time, curious maybe, smart unlikely.
My cardio means I am still able to run at 7.5mph (just), despite being over 82kg. Not going to give Mo Farah anything to worry about but most people don't do that the day after heavy squats.

Anyway the rules of gaining muscle are simple and universal, you must have some calorie excess for your body to be able to gain any weight at all including muscle, this will be physiologically hard if you have had to work at losing weight but if there is no energy surplus it will not happen. Training wise it's hit it hard, hit it fast, leave it alone.

Hit it hard. Reps of 10 to 6 are optimum for muscle gain.
Hit it fast. Short workouts with good rests, 4 exercises 3 sets is good.
Leave it alone. Growth happens after recovery, so you have to give your body it's valuable rest time.

The last is why people assume cardio is doom to muscle gain. It doesn't. The most harmful thing you can do is overtraining in your gaining workouts, the classic is arms. People will do a session of chest and shoulders or back one day and arms the next, then wonder why their arms don't grow. Prime movers on press and pull work used on back, shoulders and arms will be biceps and triceps, then as they are starting to recover people hit them again, no growth ensues.

You will find gaining muscle harder with all of the cardio, because you will have to eat more to feed all of the training. Other than that it's fine.

Regarding the caged animals found in the iron sections, we can look scary, but seriously if you want muscle gain you will be in good company. One of the funniest places you can be is often the weights section of a gym.
I was pathetically skinny when I started with the iron and many were, so no-one will care that you are. I am still not massive, but the attitude is still there. It is an aggressive type of training and that scares some, once you start doing it, you will understand and then fit in.
The insecurity level in these areas can be funny too. I remember one of the guys I used to know posing up in the mirror genuinely concerned and asking if I thought his arms looked small. My response of "Yeah, I mean everyone has 19 inch arms nowadays, I gave mine up as they were becoming almost like a fashion accessory!" in a sarcastic tone you may think would have resulted in the gym getting a new me shaped window, but he just stared at me and laughed.

Go for it and if any of the guys give you grief kick them in the kilt. If you take this advise have a clear path to the exit, they may deem that a bit too agressive.

 

[Goldfish]

Hi Jenny. Congratulations on where you've gotten so far. You'll get a lot of different advice around the place, partially because there's more than one path to building muscle (although each path is made of the same cement), and partially because people are stupid, so a lot of BADvice is given and shared. Weeding out the good advice from the bad is no easy task when you don't have a pre-existing understanding of training prinicples; and if you did have that knowledge base then you wouldn't need much advice. Thus is the beginner's dilemma.

I'm going to recommend this program to you. Do you have to do it? No. Are there other programs that would be just as effective? Yes. Are there other programs that would be even better for you? Probably. Nonetheless, this program adheres to the basic principles you need to cover training-wise. http://training.fitness.com/weight-training/basic-novice-program-strength-muscle-54545.html

Nutrition-wise, I recommend adding about 200kcal/day onto what you're already eating. This should see you gaining about 2lb/month (assuming that you're currently maintaining weight), which will enable you to gain muscle.

As has been addressed throughout the discussion so far, large doses of cardio may not be ideal for building muscle, but you can build muscle and do plenty of cardio at the same time. Used wisely, cardio can even assist and speed up recovery, affording you the potential to get better results than otherwise. Cardio isn't necessary for body composition goals, and it can be a stumbling block, but it can also be an asset.