Hi everyone! This is first time signing up for any fitness forum and I am hoping I can learn and get recommendations from you guys.
I'm 31yo asian female, 5'0, currently 98lbs. I weighed between 108-115lbs for the longest time. main goal before I started going to the gym (and eating healthier) 2 months ago, was to lose fat and the "roundness" of body/shoulders. And it seems like everyone's advice to lose the fat is to do cardio, which is what I did (jogged on the treadmill for 15mins, 4times a week), and I lost 10lbs. Today body looked like the body I had in HS. Unfortunately I feel like the weight loss came majority from chest, legs, arms and butt, although fat shrunk a little, it's still not where I want to be. I have been doing crunches and dip station. I can't afford to have the rest of body shrink anymore than it is if I keep doing cardio, in fact, I actually feel a little discouraged by weight loss, as I actually want to have shoulder muscles, and I feel like I did the opposite.
I just need some advice on what to do to achieve goal, which is to have cut shoulders, and tight stomach.
We have a small gym at condo. I've been doing shoulder press, chest press, lateral pull down and dip station.
Please let me know what I can do to improve on fitness!
New and in need of suggestions for muscle gain
Moderators: Boss Man, cassiegose
Re: New and in need of suggestions for muscle gain
Welcome Pia to the site.
First and most importantly, congratulations on your successes so far. You are watching what you eat and you are exercising. Those are two hard things to make a habit and you are doing them!!
Everyone, or female, your next door neighbor or the lady 2 countries over will lose weight differently when they start exercising and eating right. Some people see it from their chest and neck and face, others their arms, some their bellies and some their legs or butt. It in no way means you are doing something wrong or that your body is. It is just the way our individual make up is. So please, don't be discouraged you are on the right path!!
Cardio helped you get into the gym but I hope the weights and the cardio keep you there. Muscle determines how hard your metabolism works. So, we need to work on the muscle, which you have started!
So a five day system should work well for you....
weights
cardio
weights
rest day
weights
cardio
rest day
For cardio, 20 - 30 minutes is probably excellent to aim for.
You could do body weight exercises or actual weight lifting. or change it up every time you go in the gym.
You want to work the full body, legs, core and upper body as well. A balanced workout will lead to a balanced body!
When Bossman comes on, I am sure he can give you a great body weight program and to help with a weight program we would need to know what types of equipment you have available to you.
Once again, welcome to the site and I look forward to hearing more from you, questions and results and input
First and most importantly, congratulations on your successes so far. You are watching what you eat and you are exercising. Those are two hard things to make a habit and you are doing them!!
Everyone, or female, your next door neighbor or the lady 2 countries over will lose weight differently when they start exercising and eating right. Some people see it from their chest and neck and face, others their arms, some their bellies and some their legs or butt. It in no way means you are doing something wrong or that your body is. It is just the way our individual make up is. So please, don't be discouraged you are on the right path!!
Cardio helped you get into the gym but I hope the weights and the cardio keep you there. Muscle determines how hard your metabolism works. So, we need to work on the muscle, which you have started!
So a five day system should work well for you....
weights
cardio
weights
rest day
weights
cardio
rest day
For cardio, 20 - 30 minutes is probably excellent to aim for.
You could do body weight exercises or actual weight lifting. or change it up every time you go in the gym.
You want to work the full body, legs, core and upper body as well. A balanced workout will lead to a balanced body!
When Bossman comes on, I am sure he can give you a great body weight program and to help with a weight program we would need to know what types of equipment you have available to you.
Once again, welcome to the site and I look forward to hearing more from you, questions and results and input
Re: New and in need of suggestions for muscle gain
Hi Pia.
If you have access to dumbells, then this workout might work for you on the weights days.
Squats, 2 sets 10 reps
Lunges, 2 sets 10 reps
Deadlifts, 2 sets 10 reps
Bench press, 2 sets 10 reps
Bent over rows, 2 sets 10 reps
Shrugs, 2 sets 10 reps
Planks 30 seconds
On the rows, squats and deadlifts uses the smallest barbell you can to start with. On the bench press and lunges, use the second smallest dumbells you can and on shrugs, use the smallest dumbells you can.
After two weeks you should be ready to increase a bit more and with barbells, if they're the ones with fixed weight on them, not a bar you add weight to, you can still tag a little free weight on both ends and clip it on, because you may find going up to the next barbell is a significant amount, so adapting the one you've been using to create an intermediary weight will work better, so you don't step up the weight too much initially.
After 4-6 weeks, you can stick with what you're doing and go close to max lifting for reps, or you can alter the way you're doing things and try a different tack.
The main thing to also do is make sure the diet is right. You're going to be lifting and hopefully in time you'll be working towards a stonger muscle build, but with a slender appearance, I.E. 400m runner or pole vaulter type build, so it will take time and patience.
Your diet should be around 6 meals a day, utilising around 2,000- 2,100 calories a day for starters, at around 2.5-3 hour spaces. It may seem like a bit of a chore, but it will be worth it when your body has the right fuel to move forwards.
More muscle helps to burn fat and also the training allows for stengthening of the bones and connective tissues, so you'll have a better chance of being physically able when you're old, providing you do the exercises correctly over the years and don't use excessive weight levels.
Muscle on females has the potential to be healthy, good looking, physically empowering and beneficial in building confidence, so don't get hung up about rubbish like people being manly or grotesque or all the other bullturd some people say, because it's not their body, so it's not their right to tell you not to better it, to provide for your elderly years and it's not their right to denigrate you for wanting to look good either, just because their image of a female is from a 1950's magazine.
The calories I mentioned would equate to an average of 333 - 350 per meal, but don't obsess as it's all about ballpark amounts, not weighing things anally and counting every grain of rice and every bean and drop of milk, or you'll go a bit nutso.
I think you could go for around 33% on proteins, carbs and fats, or 30%, 40%, 30% protein, carbs, fats, you can make that decision yourself.
This kind of outlook for your body will be a good one I feel, rather than just looking thin with shoulder deliniations, as ending up 110-115lbs with some added muscle mass and bone and connective tissue condition, will be good for you in the long-term, be healthy and should make you feel good about yourself and more confident and happier and you won't look manly, you'll probably just accentuate whatever beauty you currently possess.
The main thing I want you to be is proud of yourself and to remember it's about how your body works from the inside, not just how it looks on the outside, so always keep in mind the biggeer picture, because when you have weeks where not much happened, you might have done more than you think, I.E what you see and can't see happened versus only what you can see happened.
If you need anything else then we as a community will be here for you, so GOOD LUCK, chin up, be strong and no worries, because you seem like a great person Pia and we are happy to help you make more of yourself, because you ARE worth it okay.
If you have access to dumbells, then this workout might work for you on the weights days.
Squats, 2 sets 10 reps
Lunges, 2 sets 10 reps
Deadlifts, 2 sets 10 reps
Bench press, 2 sets 10 reps
Bent over rows, 2 sets 10 reps
Shrugs, 2 sets 10 reps
Planks 30 seconds
On the rows, squats and deadlifts uses the smallest barbell you can to start with. On the bench press and lunges, use the second smallest dumbells you can and on shrugs, use the smallest dumbells you can.
After two weeks you should be ready to increase a bit more and with barbells, if they're the ones with fixed weight on them, not a bar you add weight to, you can still tag a little free weight on both ends and clip it on, because you may find going up to the next barbell is a significant amount, so adapting the one you've been using to create an intermediary weight will work better, so you don't step up the weight too much initially.
After 4-6 weeks, you can stick with what you're doing and go close to max lifting for reps, or you can alter the way you're doing things and try a different tack.
The main thing to also do is make sure the diet is right. You're going to be lifting and hopefully in time you'll be working towards a stonger muscle build, but with a slender appearance, I.E. 400m runner or pole vaulter type build, so it will take time and patience.
Your diet should be around 6 meals a day, utilising around 2,000- 2,100 calories a day for starters, at around 2.5-3 hour spaces. It may seem like a bit of a chore, but it will be worth it when your body has the right fuel to move forwards.
More muscle helps to burn fat and also the training allows for stengthening of the bones and connective tissues, so you'll have a better chance of being physically able when you're old, providing you do the exercises correctly over the years and don't use excessive weight levels.
Muscle on females has the potential to be healthy, good looking, physically empowering and beneficial in building confidence, so don't get hung up about rubbish like people being manly or grotesque or all the other bullturd some people say, because it's not their body, so it's not their right to tell you not to better it, to provide for your elderly years and it's not their right to denigrate you for wanting to look good either, just because their image of a female is from a 1950's magazine.
The calories I mentioned would equate to an average of 333 - 350 per meal, but don't obsess as it's all about ballpark amounts, not weighing things anally and counting every grain of rice and every bean and drop of milk, or you'll go a bit nutso.
I think you could go for around 33% on proteins, carbs and fats, or 30%, 40%, 30% protein, carbs, fats, you can make that decision yourself.
This kind of outlook for your body will be a good one I feel, rather than just looking thin with shoulder deliniations, as ending up 110-115lbs with some added muscle mass and bone and connective tissue condition, will be good for you in the long-term, be healthy and should make you feel good about yourself and more confident and happier and you won't look manly, you'll probably just accentuate whatever beauty you currently possess.
The main thing I want you to be is proud of yourself and to remember it's about how your body works from the inside, not just how it looks on the outside, so always keep in mind the biggeer picture, because when you have weeks where not much happened, you might have done more than you think, I.E what you see and can't see happened versus only what you can see happened.
If you need anything else then we as a community will be here for you, so GOOD LUCK, chin up, be strong and no worries, because you seem like a great person Pia and we are happy to help you make more of yourself, because you ARE worth it okay
.