What is the best way to build muscle?

Factual Questions
1

Before you crucify me, let it be known that I waded thru all the threads in GQ with the word “muscle” in the subject line and didn’t find what I was looking for.

I also did a Google search and found literally hundreds of sites with pay-for-info, pay-for-book or pay-for-supplements, but wasn’t able to find what I was looking for. I really DID try, so please don’t DDG me.

So, what’s the best way to build muscle?

I’ve read (somewhere) that you should use weights that fatigue your muscles in 8-12 reps, but there was no mention of sets, so I took it to mean 8-12 reps and that’s it. My husband disagrees, he says 8-12 reps, three sets.

I do cardio 4-5 times per week, and generally lift weights after that, focusing on upper body one day and lower the next (abs every day), so I think I’m doing okay with that aspect.

Another question since I’m here: What are the best exercises to build muscle on the back of my thighs?

I’m your typical curvy chick but I’ve always had ridiculously skinny legs, which looks downright stupid when they meet my hips. The front of my thighs are fine, but it’s like the muscles in the back are non-existant. Any suggestions?

FWIW, the cardio I do is on a StairMaster, and I make sure I take DEEP, BIG steps for the added back-of-thigh benefit, but I’m not sure that’s enough.

Help out a chick who’s been called “Bird-Legs” since junior high, please!

2

Muscle distributon is partly genetic. I’m glad to see you want to work a weak area. Leg curls can help. Assuming you use Nautilus equipment, you lie on your stomach, fit your heels under a bar, and lift your lower legs.

There are a couple of different theories on the best methods for strength building. Consistency is important. It takes about a year of regular workouts to start hitting plateaus. Then changing exercises and adjusting schedules become important.

Talking to trainers can be frustrating because some of them still assume that women are more interested in toning than building bulk or strength. What you want to avoid is a low weight, high rep, multi set approach that only works a muscle group twice a week.

At my strongest I did single sets of 8-12 reps at the heaviest weights I could handle four times a week. I worked the whole body in each session. That may not have been the most sophisticated approach but you should have seen my thighs.

3

A decent rule of thumb, at least when I was lifting a lot, (science may have learned differently since) is to use an amount of weight that limits you to 10-12 reps, (usually 60 - 75% of your max) and do 3 to 5 sets, using positive and negative resistance and stretching constantly during the 5 to 10 minutes between sets. Wait a day before working that muscle group again. After a workout, wait 30 minutes, then you have roughly a one hour window to reload your system with protein to get the max benefit. (this is where the protein powder comes in). As far as the back of your thighs, the hamstrings, the best method is hamstring curls (laying face down, weights on your calves, and pulling them up to your butt. Lunges work good too, plus work the butt and the front of the legs too.

Basically, the lower the weight and higher the amount of reps is best for toning. The higher the weight and lower the amount of reps is best for mass. That’s why body builders will normally drop the weight limit and double their reps to get the aerobic tonic prior to a competition.

Any chance of getting some good, sweaty workout pics from ya? :smiley:

4

aerobic TONING, not tonic… sheesh. (You can tell where the thought of Sue all sweaty and breathing hard entered my mind).

5

I heard a general rule of thumb that when exercising with weights, its only the last one or two presses/curls/whatever you can just barely do…those are the ones that actually build the muscle.

So I did ten reps, and when I could do no more, I subtracted 10% of the total mass from the bar, and continue.
Each time I can’t do any more, Just take off some more weight.

I continue pumping and subtracting until there is no more weight on the bar…I’m totally exhausted.

BUT…after 1 week…I did see noticable addition of bulk.

6

That’s the pyramid method. Not good for beginning, but once the muscle is broken down and you are actually “conditioning” it, it’s a very intense workout. I did that too in a similar manner at the end of my workouts. I would do a final set with normal weight, then continue to do full sets with lower weights until I actually hit full exhaustion, where I couldn’t even lift the bar without weights. I put on mass so fast it was incredible, but I’ve since heard conflicting info from the medical side. Some say it’s great, some say it builds too fast for the bones to catch up. <shrug> I’m stupid so I will continue to pyramid once I get into better lifting shape again (my new years resolution).

7

Another great weight exercise for the hamstrings is the stiff-legged dead lift.

There is a new “Dummies” book out (Weight Lifting for Dummies) but I thought it was a bit hard to follow and excessively wordy. There were a couple at my local library that were extremely helpful in setting up my weight workout. One was (don’t laugh) Weightlifting for Women by Arnold Schwartzenegger. The pictures are old and hilarious (nice feathered hair, Arnie!) but the instruction is sound, and specificly targets female troublespots (thighs, upperarms, etc). Another one was aimed at beginners and teens and was written by Joe Weider (forward by Lou Ferrigno, hahaha). I forget the title but you figure Weider knows what he’s talking about weight-wise. This book was immensely helpful to me because while I’d often see stuff in magazines saying “you should be doing exercises for blah-blah muscle and the blah-blahs” they wouldn’t give specific examples. This book is broken down into each specific muscle group, and gives a variety of exercises you can try for each one. It also goes over various ways to keep track of sets, reps, how many you should be doing and for how long, etc.

There is also a Muscle & Fitness magazine geared towards women which I’ve only seen once, but found it really helpful. (This most recent issue had an entire section of exercises for those big inflatable balls, which are really hard to find.)

8

You probably can read as many different theories as there are books on the subject.

I’ve read, and this is what I do, the following. For the upper body, do 8-12 reps, and for the lower body, including the trunk, 15-20, since those muscles are larger. I’ve read studies on the effects of different numbers of sets. Even one set is productive. Two is better. After that, there are gains, but two is the number I do, as the increase in gains is not commensurate with the time and effort of additional sets. An analogy to running here. 30 miles a week is great. After that, there are incremental gains aerobically, but not commensurate with the time and effort.

As far as the last one or two being the most productive, I’ve also read conflicting stuff here. Some say you should do one set to exhaustion (of the muscle being worked) no matter the number of reps. (If it takes too many reps you have to increase the weight.) On the other hand, I’ve also read that that is mularkey. That you don’t have to exercise the muscle to exhaustion. So, I don’t know about that.

What I do is 2 sets 8-12 reps or 15-20 reps. If I’m able to do more reps for two sets for one consecutive week (doing the weights every other day as recommended) then and only then I increase the weight incrementally.

Incidentally, I’m a male 69 inches tall and weigh 80 pounds. :smiley: Just kidding. I weigh 145 pounds. Hey, I never said I was muscle-bound.

There is a Nautilus (or is that Naughty lust) machine for the hamstrings that doesn’t require lying down. You sit down and push a bar connected to the weights down, with the bar resting on your ankles. Starting position is with the legs horizontal. It’s called the hamstring machine.

9

Join a gym, then you can ask their free trainer!

Of course, if you want huge-barely-fit-into-your-pants thighs & calves like mine, take up surfing.

10

[QUOTE]

There is also a Muscle & Fitness magazine geared towards women which I’ve only seen once, but found it really helpful. (This most recent issue had an entire section of exercises for those big inflatable balls, which are really hard to find.) voguevixen
**

Actually, the big inflatable balls are an item produced for men and are not all that hard to find (once inflated). I’ve tried them and find that they tend to get uncomfortable and sometimes leave blisters on my inner thigh. My wife made me stop using them after she became very light headed and nearly fainted while inflating them.

But seriously. Building muscles is a simple science, in theory, it is only complicated in practice.
Your muscles grow in response to being overburdened no matter how that happens. If you work your muscles to exhaustion the muscle tissue breaks down, the body rebuilds them and you are just a little bit stronger for your efforts.
Someone should post an explanation of how fast twitch and slow twitch fibers in the muscles determine what type of excersise to use for different results. As for me, I choose a weight that I can use for at least 20 reps, to warm the muscles and get the blood flowing. I then add 10% and do one more set until exhaustion.
I know this sounds very unusual, but it allows me to do at least 3-5 reps at nearly total exhaustion as opposed to only 1-2 if using heavier weight. I believe that it the reps that are done at exhaustion that get the best result, so this allows me to have more of the USEFUL reps.
As for a particular excercise, lie on your stomach with your legs straight. Cross your legs and use the leg on top as the resistance as you try to curl the leg on bottom. Both legs are bending at the knees. Doing so will work the hamstring muscles of the bottom leg while giving the quadriceps muscles of the top leg a little pump that not only looks good for an hour, but feels great as well. Now, swap the position of your legs and do this again, you have then worked the other leg. This is actually a type of excercise pioneered by Charles Atlas, I believe it called isometric excercise.

11

Having seen what you have at home, I’m flattered!

Unfortunately, no pics of me hot and sweaty, but if you’re interested I have a pic of myself face down on a pool float in a thong! It was taken back when I was a dancer, so I look pretty good.

12

Whatever you decide to do, KEEP DOING IT. If you exercise enough will power, working out will eventually become like wiping your ass; you’ll do it without even debating whether or not you want to.

Vary your workouts; change your routine every couple of months or so. As Ah-nold says, boredom equals failure.

13

Sue… I’ll take it!!! I’m begging here!! Name your price!!!

14

Hmm, lots of good advice, but no seeming consensus. Apparently this isn’t the easy question I thought it would be.

Arghhh!

FWIW, I’m not looking for a body builder physique, I just have areas with very little definition that I need to build some muscle, but mostly I’m going for toning.

Also, I do belong to a gym, but at home have a StairMaster, a weight bench with leg thingy (so I DO do those hamstring curls) and a set of PowerBlocks weights (HUGE props to Max Torque for that suggestion!!!).

For the first time in my life I’m serious about this so I’m very interested in the correct procedeure.

15

Hey, I’m CHEAP!

I’ll send it off on Monday, when I can get to a scanner.

16

There is no such thing as a definitive answer. Ask 10 “experts” and you’re bound to get 5 authoritative methods. Most women has lots of problems with the back of their legs–these muscles don’t get much exercise in a typical work setting.

Arnold–no slouch in the muscle department (though a chronic steroid user)–got it right: muscle building is 70 percent DIETARY. That means lots of lean protein. Plus rest, water, and good genes. Forget about the expensive body-building pills and powders at the health food store. Concentrate on lean cuts of meat, tuna, and even soy.

Stairmaster is great for your buns and quads. To build your hamstrings, however, focus on the leg curl (on your stomach), as well as on lunges. New research finds that one really good set has almost as much benefit as three, provided you really work the muscles and your goal is not to be the next Ms. Olympia. Keep at it for six months and you should see some difference.

You can also take a lesson from sprinters. Explosive sports build massive hamstrings.

17

Bulk and strength don’t correlate precisely. Very few women can build enough mass to change their resting physique. Even female bodybuilders usually look like ordinary athletic women when they wear street clothes.

If I understood your original post correctly, you did ask about building more bulk in the quadriceps. I’ve seen women back away from that sort of goal before. Whatever it is you’re really after, make the choice and go for it.

Best wishes.

…as the gremlin scampers away…

18

You get what you pay for, including posts in the SDMB. I’ve found that the “trainers” in the wellness centers know very little. They may even give bad advice. Most of them are not well trained in training.

Many reps are fine if you’re looking for endurance and stamina in the muscles. If you’re looking to build muscles, you need less reps with more weight.

Do each rep slowly. Nautilus recommended (when they had clubs)2 secs for the concentric, 2 secs pause at the end of the concentric, and 4 secs for the eccentric to recover. As a guide, this is a good idea. I only hold at the top for a second. But you have to do them slowly to negate the effect of inertia.

Also, between each set wait 30 secs to 60 secs. I see a lot of weight builders wait a lot more between sets. Courtesy at gyms require you to allow some one to do sets with you as you both do a lot of them. However, I do only 2 sets, and if some one asks me if they can work in with me, I politely tell them I have only one more set and I like to do it within the minute.

As far as fast twitch and slow twitch muscles, fast twitch being the anerobic and slow twitch being the aerobic, I don’t see where weight building would affect them differently or how they would play a part in them. You are born with a certain % of each, the % varying among individuals, and you are not going to change that. In running, if you run slow and use the slow twitch, they will tire eventually, and if you run long enough, your body will recruit the fast twitch. In this way, one can actually run races faster by long slow distance. I know. I used to run 70+ miles a week. Most at a very slow pace. Yet I did 10Ks in 38 minutes. Aaah, for the good old days.

19

Actually, she said it was her hamstrings…

Most women definitely can change their resting physiques–contouring, adding muscle in certain areas, slimming, etc–but it takes hard work and lots of time.

Running is great for developing shapely legs, as is weightlifting. To make a really noticeable difference, however, you need to devote at least a solid year or two to your goal. By the way, almost anything that improves the look of the back of your legs will also make your buns look great.

20

I’ve been weightlifting for years. Most articles in the fitness magazines are wildly inconsistent. In part, this is because people who lift weights have different goals which cannot be summarized into a single workout plan. Weightlifters also have different genes, level of skills and (since one cannot gain optimal strength and endurance at the same time) different hopes for the balance of strength and endurance they want.

Fitness trainers, from my experience, have a poor grasp of physiology and never know more than what is published in the fitness magazines. They tend to be mesomorphic in body type naturally and make suggestions based on what works for them. It may not work for you, you sound more ectomorphic.

Having looked at the available books, the best book in my opinion is Ken Sprague’s Strength Training For Athletes. It’s old, with lots of amusing 70s pictures. But it addresses all of the issues above. You could probably pick up a paperback copy for a dollar or two in a used book store if it’s not still in print.

In short, it shows how to build strength for beginners, intermediate and advanced lifters. It lists exercises useful for many specific sports and muscle groups. It gives advanced strength and endurance routines if desired. The advice makes sense – medically and practically, and it works, for me and for my training partners over the years. Also helpfullly, it includes free-weight, universal and nautilus exercises and routines.

In short, for a beginner it recommends 3 sets of 8-12, and your husband is right. It recommends 10-15 reps for some leg exercises. You should work the bigger muscle groups first. As you gain experience, you can increase to 5 sets of 8-12. When you can handle this, decrease the number of reps and increase the weight; e.g. sets of 4-6 reps at 50/70/80/90/100 percent of your maximum. Eventually, you can do super-sets using the principle of pre-exhaustion and pyramiding; at this point these techniques would not help you much.

For the hamstrings, start off with good warm-up stretching including using the left hand to touch the right toe, than alternating sides. Don’t want to hurt anything! Also touch your toes several times while crossing your legs at a level below your knees by placing one foot slightly in front of the other.

The following routine would be useful:

Leg Curls: Primarily hamstring and secondary calf/buttock. Sounds like you’re doing these, but do three sets or more.

Deadlifts: stand up to a heavy barbell with your shins against the handle with your feet shoulder width apart and toes forward and slightly outward. Bend down, grasp the handle with an overhand grip and bend your legs until your hips are below your shoulders and slightly below your knees. Keep your head upright and look straight ahead throughout this exercise which works the front thighs and erector spinae with a secondary hamstring emphasis.

Squats and Partial Squats: secondary emphasis on the hamstrings.

Leg Press: quadriceps and gluteals, secondary hamstrings

Hyperextensions: a bench where you keep your legs supported, bend you torso and head down towars the floor, and raise your torso and head against gravity.

Good Mornings: put a LIGHT barbell behind your neck and across the shoulders and bend forward so your torso is lower than an imaginary line drawn from your hips parallel to the floor.

Stiff Legged Deadlifts

Nautilius Hip and Back MAchine