How To Gain Muscle Mass For Skinny Females
Just like how overweight women want to lose weight, there are also skinny women wanting to gain and build muscle mass. It is hard for women, in general, to gain muscle mass because of low levels of testosterone in their bodies.
Men find it easy to build muscle since they have high levels of testosterone in their bodies. You may not know this, but many women have also turned to the use of anabolic steroids or legal steroids for gaining muscle mass for skinny females.
But there is a major side effect to this method. How? Well, because of its undesirable changes in your reproductive system, along with other side effects.
So, it is always important to use natural techniques for increasing your muscle mass and body weight. Both your diet and workout regime play a part in this formula to work. We will be compiling a list of important key steps that you can take for gaining muscle mass naturally.
Resistance Training
Resistance training allows you to move your limbs right against the resistance that your body gives, the dumbbells’ weight, resistance bands, earth’s gravity, or weighted bars that you utilize during a workout.
The key to building muscle mass for skinny females is through this training. You will start seeing progress once you get accustomed to this training in a week or so. Let us piggyback this thread on the next point:
Prioritize Weightlifting
Weightlifting is a reliable and healthy way for skinny women to gain proper muscle mass. According to a study from JAMDA, every single participant witnessed positive results via resistance exercise.
You have to realize that it is super rare for doctors and scientists to find a homogenous reaction or response like this regardless of age and gender. There was also a report concerning disability and rehabilitation back in 2016.
Here, in this report, this hypothesis was tested in adolescent girls suffering from anorexia nervosa. They did resistance exercise for eight weeks straight.
They started witnessing an increase in muscle strength and mass in comparison to the baseline. The strength gains ended up lasting for over 4-weeks, at least after the treatment. Another JAMDA paper in 2017 also showed similar effects in frail girls through resistance training.
Trying Circuits
Circuit workouts are also equally effective when it comes to skinny women wanting to gain muscle mass. Here, you will exercise intensely for a few seconds till a minute in this training. After that, you can move to the next checkpoint or station.
The stations usually consist of a range of strength exercises, endurance, and explosion. There was a “Geriatrics and Gerontology International” report in 2015 that showed the effects of circuits in older and middle-aged women.
Here, the participants exercised 3-times every week for over 12 weeks. Some of them did tai chi, and the rest did circuit training. The women from the group of circuit training displayed a boost in muscle mass and their overall metabolism.
These women also experienced a decrease in fat mass and blood pressure. However, the women who did tai chi only experienced a reduction in their blood pressure.
The Bench Step Workout
Skinny women should also use objects that are readily available to help them garner muscle mass. You can make use of exercise steps and staircases.
It will also aid in keeping your exercise cost down. Another Experimental Gerontology article in 2019 showed the step exercise effects in older females. There were two groups of participants in this test.
The groups consisted of “No Treatment” and “Bench Stepping.” The exercise of the Bench Stepping group displayed an increase in the power and volume of thigh muscle in comparison to the no-treatment group. They also ended up performing much better on the tests that were designed for assessing their regular functioning.
Eat More
If you want to gain muscle mass, then you have to eat more than you usually do. You can’t expect to gain muscle by just working out. You need to eat more to balance out the mechanism.
Women can also follow the same eating habits as men for putting on that extra weight. Your body needs energy from all the foods during workouts. If you don’t resort to caloric surplus, then your body will only stain in its present size and state.
Women should consume more calories compared to what they burn for adding shape and lean muscle to their bodies.
For most girls, adding over 15 calories for every pound of the body weight must be sufficient for its maintenance. However, you shouldn’t start binging on tons of unhealthy snacks and abuse this freedom. It is important to make healthy choices of meals.
It is important to maintain a balanced diet that consists of wholesome foods via an array of food groups. That includes complex carbohydrates, healthy fats, and lean proteins.
You need to start setting up a range of caloric intake to ensure that you remain within that range for maximizing available calories to make sure that your muscles are gaining while limiting the fat gain. If you fail to make healthier food choices, then you will only set yourself up to fall.
Food Choices
One great tip for building muscle mass for skinny females would be to start consuming nuts daily. They are easy to carry around and obtain about 300+ calories for every handful. In this way, you will gain weight safely and turn it into muscles through the workout.
We would also advise you to start snacking on fresh or dried fruits. Fresh fruits are good for building muscles, but it fills you up fast. But dried fruits will take time to fill you up, so you should incorporate them more into your diet. It is also a great idea to mix them since they will pack a ton of calories.
Another great source of carbohydrate would be oats, and we recommend it for females that are wanting to build muscle mass. Since cooked oats tend to make you feel fuller quickly with lesser calories, it is better to consume cold oats. You can include some raisins, silvered nuts, peanut butter, etc.
Fatty fish and lean meat should be a part of your diet. These protein sources are excellent for skinny women trying to gain weight and build muscle.
You will also be receiving healthy fats. In this way, you will be consuming more calories, and you will have an easy time gaining muscle mass. Turkey and chicken are also great for your diet.
Using Leucine
Another great way to gain muscle mass is through the consumption of supplements like leucine. The Journal of Nutrition carried out an experiment on older women to test leucine. Here, the participants consumed this supplement for six days straight by taking it twice a day.
During this period, they did the single-leg exercise, where the other leg was for control. Leucine boosted the muscle mass in both the legs in comparison to the baseline. Here, the exercised leg displayed even more muscle mass.
