How to make an effective mass gain program for a woman?

Because there are millions of bodybuilding programs depending on your goals (weight loss, muscle gain, etc.), you should first know the basics of bodybuilding. Below you will find all the information you need to succeed in gaining muscle in a safe and effective way and especially suitable for us women.

Basic rules before doing your bodybuilding program to gain muscle

Building muscle takes discipline and time. So you might as well start with a good foundation!

An adequate sports program

Diligence is the key to success in bodybuilding. First, plan and organize your weekly sessions. To obtain results in the medium and long term, program 3 to 4 bodybuilding sessions per week from one hour to 1h30. For example, you can dedicate two days to the upper body and two days to the bottom.

Prepare in advance the order of the exercises, the number of sets, repetitions, the break time and note your performance on your phone or a notebook. This way, you can measure your progress and determine when it's time to increase the load.

Bodybuilding is done by progressive overload , that is to say by increasing the intensity as you go, with each session to stimulate the muscle fibers. Remember that to gain muscle, you need to break down muscle fibers and build new ones, which will be bigger and bigger. Favor series between 8 and 12 repetitions.

Finally, favor polyarticular exercises over “isolation exercises”, such as squats or the bench press, which will allow you to mobilize as many muscles as possible.

Recovery contributes to muscle development

Putting intensity in your sports sessions is fundamental in a bodybuilding program, however, you cannot compromise your recovery and your rest. The muscle needs rest to rebuild itself, in this sense, it is recommended, if you are a beginner, to have a rest time of 48 to 72 hours for each of the muscles worked.

As you will have understood, recovery between two sessions is as essential as your training. It even plays a major role in mass gain.

The importance of nutrition

For mass gain, it is important to remember the importance of nutrition: the objective is not to gobble up everything that comes to hand in the hope of gaining muscle because that would only increase your body fat rate. The main thing is to ensure that your meals contain enough calories, protein, carbohydrates and fat to stimulate muscle growth.

You can determine your macronutrient needs using specially made apps to calculate the Daily Energy Requirement (BEJ) , which is what your body needs daily to make you a healthy person.

In this way, you will provide the necessary fuel for your body. It is also essential to increase your protein intake during the day. Protein is responsible for building your muscle, so it's an essential part of any muscle-building nutrition program.

Tips for Creating an Effective Women's Bodybuilding Program

To achieve your goals and not give up along the way, you must establish a real strategic plan based on your possibilities. Likewise, evaluating your progress is essential to maintaining your motivation. In this regard, we advise you to practice the following:

Keep a daily training diary

From the first day, you should keep a diary in which you will note the training performed and the load used. This allows you to measure your progress and know when to increase the intensity of each exercise because don't forget that progressive overload is the secret to effective mass gain!

A session should be neither too short nor too long

Strength training programs for muscle gain have an average duration of 45 to 90 minutes . Beyond that, the body begins to secrete a large amount of catabolic hormones, which leads to a reduction in muscle mass. Although this answer is the short answer.

However, for a more precise answer, we can specify that it depends and that an effective session can also last 30 minutes or 2 hours. It all depends on several factors such as: your goals, your rest time, your training frequency, etc.

Choose your exercises wisely

To gain muscle, avoid integrating only isolation exercises into your program or focusing only on machines. Instead, work on dumbbells, squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and shoulder presses. Be careful, however, to master the exercise well so as not to injure yourself!

This way you will have the necessary growth stimulus and you will work many muscle fibers to achieve better results.

Food supplements

In addition to a structured nutrition plan and progressive overload training, you may want to consider dietary supplements.

The consumption of these supplements is not mandatory but can be of real use to supplement your normal diet. They constitute a concentrated source of nutrients (vitamins, minerals) which are not necessarily present in the diet or in insufficient quantities.

Which is not without reminding that food supplements have nothing magic and cannot help you if you do not have a training plan , a good recovery as well as a healthy and adapted diet.

Call on a sports coach to take the right direction

Putting theory into practice is more complex than you might think, which is why it's ideal to hire a coach if you're just starting out to get started in the right direction.

A good sports coach must be able to offer you a program adapted to your objectives, help you in the execution of your exercises, accompany you and motivate you over time.

Opt for suitable sportswear

The idea is for you to feel comfortable and confident throughout your workout, in soft, comfortable and durable sportswear . Nevertheless, sports leggings should not be chosen at random. Find our article on the factors to take into account when choosing your sports bottoms & 6 tips for choosing the right sports leggings.

Other advice related to this theme will interest you:

· How to do your bodybuilding program to gain muscle?

· Find our sports program for women (Glutes/Legs) — FREE to help you structure your sessions!