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I have to admit, I crush onwomen with muscles.
John Fedele / Getty Images
When I see a well-muscled woman, I know shes paid her dues.
After all, you dont getLinda Hamilton armsby accident.
Building size and shape takes deliberate, consistent effort over a long period timeespecially for most women.
(you could blame thelower levels of testosteronecompared to our male counterparts.)
Of course, building bigger muscles isn’t a fitness goal for everyone.
Your diet also has a huge influence on your body composition.
Are you ready to join the Muscular Woman Club?
Hell yeah, you are.
Here’s how to do it.
When you lift weights, you inevitably injure your muscle fibers.
Once injured, the muscle will work to repair itself by sending an SOS for more cells.
Sothern explains that once your muscles repair and adapt, they get better at staying contracted longer.
Ready for your gains?
Its time to focus on training for muscle hypertrophythe growth and increase of the size of your muscle cells.
Change is the name of the gain game.
And the more muscle fibers you recruit, the better the results, Sothern says.
When it comes to building muscle, the sweet spot is in the eight- to twelve-rep range.
Play within this range to hit as many muscle fibers as possible.
There are endless ways to sneak in more volume without feeling like you live at the gym.
How you incorporate volume can also be determined by your goals.
If your shoulders are your weakness, consider adding in an entire training session dedicated tobuilding them up.
Therefore, the muscle fibers get hit harder and they actually get injured faster, Sothern explains.
Experiment with slowing down the eccentric of every exercise during your next workout.
Aim to spend two to three seconds lowering the weight.
Then go right into the next rep without taking a pause.
But that takes practice; you have to visualize yourself doing that exercise over and over again.
“It will come a little easier every time you do it.”
You might also like: An Ultra-Effective Dumbbell Arm Workout you’re free to Do at Home
