best supplements for women wanting to gain muscle

[dellpatto]

hi, I am now training weights 3 times a week to tone and gain muscle... I would like to take a shake before training that will help boost energy and assist with building muscle..

The only ones i know a little about is whey protein and creitine... Is creteine safe for women to take? when would i take these things to get maximum benifit?

[RosieCheeScott]

hi, I am now training weights 3 times a week to tone and gain muscle... I would like to take a shake before training that will help boost energy and assist with building muscle..

The only ones i know a little about is whey protein and creitine... Is creteine safe for women to take? when would i take these things to get maximum benifit?

First, there is no such thing as "toning".
"Toning" is either:
a) Losing bodyfat,
b) Gaining muscle mass, or
c) Gaining muscle mass whilst either losing or minimizing bodyfat (i.e. recomping).

From what you say you want option C - Gaining muscle mass.

Since you've still a beginner to training (I am taking this from what you mention here and the fact that your profile states that you started in June 2010), you only need to be using the BASIC STAPLES:
* Creatine
* Multivitamin
* Good Fats
* Protein
* BCAAs
You do NOT need anything else but what I have listed above, and the only things you need to supplement with are creatine and a multivitamin, since at your bodyweight, you can get all of your good fats, protein, and BCAAs requirements and need through your diet.

Yes, creatine is safe for women to use. If you're going to use creatine, stick to creatine monohydrate. Generally follow the directions on the product label - you want to have 3-5g of creatine daily, the daily dose usually split between ~60 minutes pre-training and immediately post-training for best effects.

If you want to "Gain Muscle", then you need to look FIRST at your NUTRITION though, and make sure that you are EATING ENOUGH to make gains - otherwise you're just wasting your time. You need to eat to make gains, period!

You also need to look at your training and have an appropriate training programme for gaining mass. Check out the article How To Maximze Mass Through Weights and Adaptation for comprehensive information on how you should be training and how to set up a mass building training programme.

My other recommendation to you would be to get a trainer who know what they're doing - if you haven't already (and if you have, then they should have given you information on nutrition, supplements, and training already, and if you have to ask elsewhere, then they are not the trainer for you) - and have them design you an individualized nutrition plan and training programme specific to YOU for your goals and needs.

~Rosie~
The Primordial Woman

[dellpatto]

thank you SO much for your reply and valuable info Rosie it is much apprecaited & il take it all on board...

My male friend was training me and is into body building and nutrition and knows alot, but wasn't too sure about women taking the same things he takes... so i thought id ask bb.com for a bit more advice

thank you once again for the reply!

[RosieCheeScott]

thank you SO much for your reply and valuable info Rosie it is much apprecaited & il take it all on board...

My male friend was training me and is into body building and nutrition and knows alot, but wasn't too sure about women taking the same things he takes... so i thought id ask bb.com for a bit more advice

thank you once again for the reply!

No worries

I see too many women making nutrition, supplementation, and training mistakes, and many men who train them think that for some reason because they're female, they have to do something different, and that is definitely NOT the case. The same principles apply to each for females as males; the only differences are (put simply):
* Nutrition - because women are generally smaller, they require less total overall calories to achieve any body goal (and this is also very dependent on the individual, since I know I eat more than most males trying to bulk just to maintain)
* Supplementation - the only thing that a woman should NOT use that a male can IMO are HORMONAL products (and what IS used will depend on age and training experience)
* Training - women generally lift lighter weights than men (not always the case), but they should still be doing the same exercises, sets, reps, etc. for their body goals (although, again, because every individual is different, they need to find what works best for THEM re each goal)

On that note, you're a beginner, and therefore you definitely shouldn't use everything he uses aside from the staples, and as I noted, you only really need to use creatine and a multivitamin at your bodyweight and get what you need re good fats, protein, and BCAAs from your nutrition.

~Rosie~
The Primordial Woman

[journey2swole]

First, there is no such thing as "toning".
"Toning" is either:
a) Losing bodyfat,
b) Gaining muscle mass, or
c) Gaining muscle mass whilst either losing or minimizing bodyfat (i.e. recomping).

From what you say you want option C - Gaining muscle mass.

Since you've still a beginner to training (I am taking this from what you mention here and the fact that your profile states that you started in June 2010), you only need to be using the BASIC STAPLES:
* Creatine
* Multivitamin
* Good Fats
* Protein
* BCAAs
You do NOT need anything else but what I have listed above, and the only things you need to supplement with are creatine and a multivitamin, since at your bodyweight, you can get all of your good fats, protein, and BCAAs requirements and need through your diet.

Yes, creatine is safe for women to use. If you're going to use creatine, stick to creatine monohydrate. Generally follow the directions on the product label - you want to have 3-5g of creatine daily, the daily dose usually split between ~60 minutes pre-training and immediately post-training for best effects.

If you want to "Gain Muscle", then you need to look FIRST at your NUTRITION though, and make sure that you are EATING ENOUGH to make gains - otherwise you're just wasting your time. You need to eat to make gains, period!

You also need to look at your training and have an appropriate training programme for gaining mass. Check out the article How To Maximze Mass Through Weights and Adaptation for comprehensive information on how you should be training and how to set up a mass building training programme.

My other recommendation to you would be to get a trainer who know what they're doing - if you haven't already (and if you have, then they should have given you information on nutrition, supplements, and training already, and if you have to ask elsewhere, then they are not the trainer for you) - and have them design you an individualized nutrition plan and training programme specific to YOU for your goals and needs.

~Rosie~
The Primordial Woman

^^^ That is awesome advice!! I am an advocate of all of the information shared here. Good luck in your journey to build muscle.

Above poster repped!

[dellpatto]

thanks again rosie, yeah i thought we could do everything men do with training /nutrition, just had no idea about the supplement side of things!

your site is excellent by the way, i have saved it into my favourites for future reference!

all the best
dell

[Chalupita]

I am new to this site. Your advice on this thread has been a big help for me Rosie.