What are the risks in muscle building?

In addition to the success and profit from muscle building or strength training, it offers some dangers, which will be discussed in the following: Athletes can become overtrained if they are under too much strain for too long a period of time. This happens when the recovery is not sufficient for the high training volume. The overtraining manifests itself in a performance kink in the athlete’s performance and can only be remedied by a sufficiently long training break.

It can also lead to joint and postural damage. In this point, especially training beginners are at risk. Incorrect training can quickly lead to bad posture.

This in turn leads to joint problems. It is therefore recommended that you either film yourself during training or have yourself observed to check your posture. Too much point loading can lead to muscle fiber tears.

In the worst case, even complete muscle strands can be torn off. It is therefore extremely important to know your own load limit and not to exceed it unnecessarily. Another aspect, which is more likely to be found in more experienced athletes, is a disturbed self-perception.

Athletes tend to perceive themselves differently than the rest of the environment. Particularly in the case of competition athletes, there can be some very bizarre views of their own bodies during preparation for competition. The diet associated with a bodybuilding competition also carries the risk of developing an eating disorder.

Important differences that should be considered when building up muscles between men and women

The biggest difference in terms of muscle building is certainly the gender-specific hormone situation. Women have a much lower testosterone level than men. However, this does not mean that women should take testosterone supplements to achieve an equivalent muscle build-up.

Women, for their part, have a different growth hormone, which is more pronounced in them than in men. The overall strength of both sexes also differs. According to studies, women are able to achieve about two thirds of a man’s maximum strength.

In order to achieve muscle growth, however, both sexes need to have a sufficiently strong stimulus. Here there are no advantages for either sex. Another important difference is the different diet.

Compared to men, women should eat a higher fat diet than men, and in return should tend to save on carbohydrates. The protein requirement calculated on body weight can be kept the same for both sexes. Women should also be aware that it is much more difficult for them to reduce their body fat percentage so much that the muscles become visible.

Physiologically, women have a much higher percentage of fat. This also means that women can never achieve such a high Fat Free Mass Index (FFMI) as men. However, women have a better ability to regenerate than men.

They are therefore able to complete a higher training volume than men. The build-up of muscle mass and the increase of strength are also the main focus of muscle building training for women. Surprisingly, muscle building training for women is not so different from that for men.

Some variables must be changed to achieve the training goals. Many women stay away from classic muscle building training for fear of becoming “muscle mountains”. This is the absolutely wrong approach.

Fat burning is most effective when cardio (cardiovascular) training is combined with muscle building training and a healthy diet.The female fear of building up too much muscle through strength exercises is unfounded, as the female body has only 10-20 percent of testosterone at its disposal compared to the male. Therefore, women have a biological barrier that excludes excessive muscle build-up from the outset. As with men, there are some important rules that must be observed when training for muscle building in women.

The exercises must be performed cleanly and with correct posture. A lower repetition rate (8-12) is recommended for women than for men. Women should not shy away from heavy weights.

The weight should be chosen in such a way that the 10th repetition can just about be completed under their own power. For women, this is about 40 to 60 percent of the maximum strength. This load level leads to a complex development of strength.

Higher weights lead to more voluminous muscles. Women, too, should have a sophisticated training plan, on which all important muscle groups are trained in equal measure, in order to prevent imbalances. When designing a training plan for women, it should also be taken into account that women have their muscles mainly in their legs, whereas men also have their muscles in their arms. Muscle-building training generally tends to improve muscle strength and shape. Thus the female body looks altogether firmer and more thoroughly trained.