Hi,
-I would like to become heavier without becoming fatter. Will weightlifting alone help me do this, or do I have to take weight gaining supplements and protein shakes? I don't want to take any of those, and I don't want to have excessive amounts of meat.
I read the post about weightlifting beginners and it mentioned to up the protein intake quite a bit.
-Also, I don't want to lose any speed or agility if I become heavier, so if I gain a lot of muscle mass, will this compromise my speed?
I was told a long time ago that even if I weight train obsessively everyday for a year, for example, I might not even gain 4lbs of muscle. Is this true?
Whatever the outcome with muscle gain, I will still weight train more consistently to get stronger, but I was just wondering if I could get heavier too.

Thanks in advance,
Alicia.

Hi Alicia. Gaining weight by muscle will probably be very difficult, unless you are extremely under-nourished. Women have a different hormonal balance that makes muscle gain very challenging. Dietary changes would probably be neccesary to accomodate the growth you are looking for.

However, gaining muscle mass will not make you slower. How much weight are you looking to gain?

Alicia, a few things. What ever muscle you do gain, train your muscle for how you want to use it. If you want good speed and agility then train your muscle this way; I will guarantee you will be more agile and quicker. This is why pro athletes weight train. (see how I underlined train)

In order to build muscle you need to provide it fuel. You need the fuel to do this strenuous lifting as well. You don't have to over due it and can grow into in step by step. Without proteins to build the muscle your body will cannibalize it and the two places it will be is your muscle and your immune system. You will end up being counter productive and I'm sure that is not what you are looking for. And nobody likes being run down and sick.

What ever you decide to do, start slow. Let your body adapt to the stresses you are putting on it. Let your mind work to adjust to it, because the hardest part is not only starting but getting over the first hump. DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) you will feel and what scares a lot of people away. Trust us, this will go a way and you will relish it at times later; go figure.

Good luck.

All good stuff so far, though I would say that in someone of either sex that is not lifting regularly, a switch to a weights programme will cause an increase in muscle density, as well as bone density, regardless of hormone balance.

Fortunately, the exercises that will maximise muscle weight, are also the ones that will help maintain and improve speed and power.

Working on the presumption that you have access to a gym, and instruction/advice from someone who has a rough idea of what they are doing, I would suggest the following.

Work predominantly on the legs, derrier, and back. These are the biggest, most powerful muscles in the body, and the easiest to add 'weight' in. For the woman in you, the increased tone and form in these areas increases the ratio from waist to shoulder, making you appear slimmer, and for the athlete in you, you are training the 'posterior chain' which is the source of all power and performance as a biped.

Dont get over fixated on your upper body - loads of trainers will tell you 'light weight, high rep' with lots of 'isolation' or 'toning' exercises. Ball$. Thousands of women, wasting hundreds of thousands of hours doing nothing in this manner. Your upper body should use bodyweight as a guide - why f*ck about arm curling a pair of biscuits when you could be doing chin-ups?

So, you need: Squats, weighted lunges, deadlifts, leg press, chins, and dips.

Workout A.
Squats: 4x8-10
Weighted Lunges: 4x8-10
Chins: 4x *

Workout B.
Deadlifts: 4x8-10
Leg Press: 4x8-10
Dips: 4x *

Phase 1. 2 weeks.
Monday: A
Thurs: B

Phase 2. 2 weeks.
Mon: A
Wed: B
Fri: A
Mon: B
Wed: A
Fri: B

Phase 3. 1 week.
Mon: A
Tue: B
Thur:A
Fri: B

Phase 4. 1 week.
Wed: Weighted Lunges 4x8-10

Begin with phase 1 again.

Nutrition is important, but you dont have to go crazy with protein - its not all you need. Get plenty of good carbs, lots of veggies and keep to lean proteins like fish and chicken. Aim for 3 square meals a day, plus a couple of nutritious snacks, that should be fine

You have had some good advice so far. I will paraphrase what I agree with and add some.
Low weight, high repetition
Intensity
Use the overload principle - work the muscles to exhaustion
Specifity- train the muscles the way you use them in your MA training.
get plenty of rest- dont train the same muscle everyday; one day arms and/chest, next day back, third day legs and the cycle begins over again. Make sure you save at least one full day for rest. You don't want to overtrain.
Nutrition- everything you need, you can get from a well-balanced diet. All the supplements end up in the latrine anyway, unless you are malnourished.
Don't worry about being bulky, you don't have sufficient male hormone in your body to bulk up.
If you don't have access to a well-equipped gym, you can use plyometrics or your own body weight and gravity.
With te increased muscle mass, you will develop higher bone density, which you will appreciate later in life.

Could someone please clarify the debate for and against "low weight, high reps"? Cord seems to think it's a waste of time, Ogoun recommends it. I have been repeatedly told that it is "good for women", presumably because it builds stamina without bulk (although hormones would probably not permit bulk anyway).

For the record, I'm also a small female. Having worked out for years with small weights has definitely not made me bulky. I can do a lot of pushups, though, and my bone density tests as high. Not sure whether this is due to the weights or to generally being very active.

Highest number of reps I would ever do is 12 for weight training. The only type of exercise I would do more reps than 12 would be something like calf raises or shrugs. Anything else would just mean I'm using too little weight/intensity. Same goes for anyone else but people using weights for endurance training or rehab...

Building stamina with high rep resistance work (high rep weight training), is inefficient, and bad for the joints long term.

There are no gender specific rep ranges, our CNS responds to training stimuli in the exact same way, if it didnt, then every 'behind the scenes' look at womens track and field would show elite female athletes training on trampets with pink plastic 4lb dumbells from wallmart

To stimulate muscle growth, the most effective way is to 'shock' the muscles with a workload that it feels unable to manage. This is what we call 'training to failure'. Whilst there is some debate as to the optimum volume @ which failure should occur (some train with reps as low as 3, through to as high as 15), a good, solid, tried and tested method is to use weights that limit you to 8-10 reps with a lot of control and conscious 'mind-body connection' in each rep (really 'feeling' the technique)

That is the same for both sexes, and neither man nor woman will 'inflate' beyond where they want to be overnight, if it was that easy to put on muscle, then there would be a lot more Arnie's in the world.

For women, their hormonal balance is against them 'bulking up' even if they dedicate themselves to that goal, let alone it happening by accident, but by not being afraid to lift serious weight, female's can benefit from the strength, performance and metabolic advantages that efficient and physiologicaly effective lifting give you.

Thanks, Cord! Think I'll change some things in my workout. The little handweights I've been using (8 pounds) are not heavy enough for "failure" in 15 reps (!).

Thanks for all your feedback, everyone.

Dereck, I'm not sure what you mean by training my muscles for speed ... do you mean, just train consistently, or use weights while I'm shadow boxing, for example?

At the moment, I'm recovering from ankle injuries on either ankle and I'm so annoyed. One was major, and the other, minor. The physiotherapist said they both should heal within a few weeks, so I won't be able to do squats yet.I have been only able to do weightlifting that won't push my ankles. But, in a few weeks, I can follow the routine that you have suggested, Cord. Thanks for the detailed plan!

Cord, I have some questions about the routine: For squats, should I use the maximum weight I can lift, or less? I use the bench press machine for squats, so I can lift a lot more weight than I probably could if I just used a barbel. My friend told me that by spine will compress if I squat a lot of weight. Is this true?

So, I guess I should eat a little more meat, as a few days a week, I usually have none. If I could build 10-15lbs of muscle and bone mass, that would be great.

Once again, I appreciate everyone's thoughts and suggestions.

-Alicia.