Bikini Masters competitor Megan Ewoldsen proves that it’s possible to be a busy mom and still win bodybuilding trophies, but the inspirational fitness influencer has recently taken to Instagram to share six tips that she wished she’d known sooner, as relates to getting the most from her time in the gym. Fortunately, the bodybuilder has shared those hard-earned lessons, so that you can make gains with your own physique.
Ewoldsen regularly sets fitness-based challenges for her 335,000+ IG followers, and says that going from beginner to advanced lifting is all about doing the basic training, “but with better awareness.” The beauty, who most recently won the Masters 35+ Bikini category in the 2025 NPC Worldwide Caribbean Grand Prix Bahamas and came second in the 2025 NPC Masters USA wrote, “That’s the funny thing about lifting. The longer you do it, the more you realize the fundamentals aren’t something you ‘graduate’ from. They’re something you keep getting better at.” Here’s how to get better with your own workouts.
Megan Ewoldsen’s 6 Tips to Stimulate Advanced Muscle Growth From Basic Training
1) Control the lower portion of the rep
“Most muscle growth happens during he eccentric (lowering) phase,” offered Ewoldsen. “Advanced lifters don’t drop the weight… they control it.” Indeed, a systematic review of eccentric movement where the muscle is lengthened, versus concentric movements were the muscle is shortened (as a result of raising the weight), showed that “Eccentric training performed at high intensities was shown to be more effective in promoting increases in muscle mass measured as muscle girth.”
To get the most muscle, you need to take back control, said Ewoldsen. “When I slowed down my eccentrics, I immediately felt more muscle engagement.”
2) Train closer to failure
“Beginners often stop when the set starts to burn,” explained Ewoldsen, encouraging her followers to push harder for greater gains. “Advanced lifters stop when the muscle can’t produce another quality rep.” Of course, muscle building requires that the body is in a state of hypertrophy, and this occurs when the muscle is taxed to the point that it needs to repair itself. “It took me a long time to realize the last few reps are where the growth stimulus really happens,” shared the Bikini star.
Variation is important for workouts, and will help to keep the body guessing, but you shouldn’t switch out key lifts such as squats or progress may be lost. “Advanced lifters repeat the same key lifts for months or years,” explained Ewoldsen. “So, they can progressively overload them.”
Progressive overload is an essential follow up to the second tip, because as the muscles get bigger and stronger, more force is required to keep that state of hypertrophy going. “The lifts that changed my physique the most are the ones I’ve repeated for the last few years,” she added.
4) Don’t rest mid-rep
“Beginners often lock-out joints or relax between reps,” reflected the coach. “Advanced lifters keep constant tension on the target muscle.” To understand the concept of time under tension, the bodybuilder explained that working with cables gave her a wake-up call. “Cables helped me understand this immensely, because the muscle stays under tension the entire time.”
5) Use a full range of motion
While progressive overload and time under tension are important parts of the muscle building puzzle, they only work correctly if an exercise is executed with proper form. “Advanced lifters don’t shorten the movement to make the exercise easier,” challenged Ewoldsen. “They control the bottom stretch and finish the rep with a strong top contraction.” The fit mom also offered that “sometimes even an extra inch of range of motion completely changes how an exercise feels.”
Making a lift with the aforementioned control and proper form means that you need to keep a careful check of the weight. If you are failing before you’ve got halfway through the set, it might be time to check your ego at the door. “Advanced lifters are willing to reduce the weight to improve execution,” advised Ewoldsen. “Better tempo, deeper range, and pauses often require less weight,” she explained. “Many times I’ve lowered by weight and actually felt the target muscle working more.”
So, whether you are a complete gym newbie, or just need a reminder, these tips will stand you in good stead for muscle gains. “Even the most advanced lifters are still working to master the basics,” said the fit female.
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