‘What’s achievable for me?’ is one of the questions my coaching clients often ask in the early stages. With so many overblown transformations online, I totally understand why it’s become so confusing. In this article I’ll share how long time takes for women to build muscle, using a couple of client examples;

Case Study: Emma

Here is an example of Emma’s progress over a 5 year journey. Emma has pretty good genetics when it comes to building muscle, and she’s competed in 4 bodybuilding competitions; locally and internationally, in the bikini and fitness model divisions.

Each photo is one day before a competition, so note this is very low body fat but the point is to show the difference that came with each competition.

Emma and I have followed a pretty consistent pattern the whole time, with the focus always being on strength training (proper technique of course), and flexible dieting (eating what you want within macronutrient targets). She builds strength and muscle, diets for a competition, then reverse diets until we get calories as high as we can get away with. Repeat.

In the off season her calories are usually around 2200-2400 calories per day, and her training is geared towards strength improvements. During cutting phases, her calories are gradually lowered, and she lifts weights with a focus of holding on to muscle rather than building it. Her lowest calories are around 1550-1600, with some cardio being introduced 8-12 weeks before stage day.

Emma puts on muscle with each cycle, and is leaner with each competition. This kind of slow and steady approach, with a focus on sustainability is really the only way to build a strong physique long term. Lots of cardio and low calories just won’t cut it for a natural female athlete, meaning, one who does not take performance enhancing drugs (which so many modern athletes do!).

Emma also blew my mind by squatting over 100kgs while she was 39 weeks pregnant – legend!