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synergy · 1
Multi-joint lifts such as the squat, deadlift, bench press, row and overhead press work several muscles at once and also train the nervous system's ability to drive them, so coaches generally treat them as the backbone of strength training. The key to building muscle is taking each set close to failure: in the Schoenfeld 2017 meta-analysis, lighter weights for more reps built about as much muscle as heavy weights, as long as sets were taken close to failure.
cofactor · 3
Muscle cannot be confused into growing by switching exercises. What makes it grow is progressive overload and accumulated training volume; changing exercises constantly only changes the angle of the stimulus, not the amount of adaptation. Give a program enough time, measured in months rather than weeks.
Strength training principles need no special women's version: the same progressive overload, the same compound lifts, the same relationship between training volume and results. Individual differences belong in programming and recovery, not in whether to lift heavy.
Core training follows the same rules as the rest of strength training: aim for quality you can hold steady rather than forcing more reps, and add a little time or load each week. The principle of progressive overload does not change just because the target is the trunk.
regulates · 2
Training volume is the main driver of muscle growth: the Schoenfeld 2017 dose-response meta-analysis found that, across the studies it pooled, the more weekly sets, the more muscle grew, and it did not locate a plateau. Krieger 2010 likewise found that multiple sets build more muscle than single sets. How many days a week you train mostly decides how those sets are spread out.
Whether a muscle grows depends on whether it is worked close to failure, not on the equipment: from fairly light to very heavy loads, growth is roughly the same as long as each set is taken close to failure. In a small randomized trial, kneeling push-ups adjusted to the same load as a bench press produced similar gains in strength and muscle thickness after 8 weeks, so bodyweight work at home is a real starting point.
contrast · 1
Power and strength are often treated as the same thing, but they are not: power is force times speed, and maximal strength is only its ceiling. In a randomized trial, relatively weak men who did 10 weeks of heavy squats raised their jump power about as much as men who did loaded jumps, and gained much more maximal strength; a review likewise says that without a fair amount of strength it is hard to have a lot of power.