How to Gain Muscle for Girls
- 1). Use your body weight to tone and strengthen muscles. The KidsHealth website suggests doing push-ups, sit-ups, squats and pull-ups for at least three weeks before moving on to weights.
- 2). Choose a set of weights that you can easily use when you first add weights to your exercise. A pair of 3- to 5-pound weights may be sufficient to begin building muscle. As you progress, you will be able to handle more weight during strength training workouts.
- 3). Start out slow. Begin with a low number of repetitions to build muscle without injury. Start with a light weight and do one set with 12 to 15 repetitions. As you advance, use weights that get heavy toward your last repetitions. For example, if you move up to an 8-pound weight, you may find you can do 10 to 12 repetitions easily but the last two to three are a struggle.
- 4). Space out strength workouts. The Mayo Clinic explains that your muscles need recovery time to heal and rebuild, so doing strength training every day is detrimental to your body. Give yourself at least one day off between strength workouts.
- 5). Stagger muscle groups worked. Focus one workout on your upper body and another on your lower body to ensure you work all of your muscles. Tone and gain muscle in your upper body with exercises such as bicep and triceps curls, chest presses and shoulder raises. Work lower body muscles through exercises such as squats, lunges and calf raises.
- 6). Eat a healthful diet to build a healthy body and gain muscle. Eat carbohydrates like bread, cereal or potatoes for energy, and protein to repair and build muscles. The Center for Young Women's Health notes that fats are an energy source for endurance activities. KidHealth suggests eating eggs, meat and poultry for protein and getting oils such as olive or canola in the diet to provide servings of fat.
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