MUSCLE GAIN

THE SCIENCE You can’t increase muscle mass without any building blocks, which means you need to consume more calories than you may be used to. ‘Women starting out resistance training may be able to build muscle without a significant calorie surplus, but it’s important to be at least in calorie balance and not undereating,’ says Stewart. ‘Then, if you’re regularly strength training, adding in 200 to 500 calories a day is roughly what you’ll need to build muscle.’ She notes that the rate of, say, glute growth, will vary from person to person, but for optimum recovery and performance, your focus should be on where those calories are coming from. Adequate protein (1.2g to

1.7g per kilo of body weight) divided evenly throughout the day will help your muscles repair and grow; carbs will fuel your workouts; nutritious fats will maintain good testosterone levels (essential for building muscle – even for women).

What’s not possible is to increase your muscle mass with a half-baked gym routine. Hypertrophy (muscle growth) occurs through repeated stress of a muscle, which means pushing yourself to your limits until those limits increase. But that doesn’t always mean lifting heavy. ‘Load doesn’t significantly affect hypertrophy so long as you’re working close to the point of failure,’ says PT and nutrition consultant Wilson Pinho, which is good news for your living room sessions. ‘However, I would suggest keeping your rep ranges between 8 and 12, using weights that are at least 60% of your one-rep max.’ Slow and heavy(ish) wins the race.

THE WINNER No gains without exercise, we’re afraid.