A:  Building muscle is a combination of many things;  the right exercise, food intake, and your body’s physiology.  The right exercise is resistance training.  It can be from body resistance (effective, but there are better ways), weights and machines (expensive and bulky) or Bodylastics resistance bands.  The bands, elastic fitness tubes, actually, are a complete home gym system in a bag and systems start with the 88 lb Basic Tension set for $39.95 all the way to the monster 388 lb set for $129.95.  One set is all you need for a total body workout without going to  the gym.  Bodylastics has an excellent free muscle building workout show called Chiseled.  Click here to see a partial list of the exercises you can do with Bodylastics.  There’s a link to free workout shows on that page, too.

The right food intake is rich in nutrients and lots of protein to build the muscle.  Your body’s physiology is your genetic makeup and metabolism. 

I need something like:
Tues: arms legs and abs
Thurs: back chest etc.
with specific exercises so I’m not overworking some muscles..ignoring others. I feel right now like my own program just needs to be checked to make sure its not creating imbalances.
Additionally, my time is extremely limited so if there are exercises that work several muscle groups at the same time, even better!
I’m 23-f-5’6”-140lb.
Goal: get lean & strong, create a solid foundation so my cardio is supported injury-free
(shoulder impingement/shin splints come and go)
Thanks so much :):)