IFBB Pro Eduardo Correa

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to pack on the muscle in a short  period of time, while others might be overjoyed when you put on 5-6 lbs of lean body mass in a year?

It’s about how much muscle can you build and the answer isn’t just so straight forward or simple.

Consider the following…

• The average man has between 30% to as much as 60% of  his lean body mass as actual muscle.
• The average women has between 25% to 50% of  her lean body mass as actual muscle.

Muscular growth is rarely a liner process and tends to come in a series of cycles.

“You cannot calculate your actual muscle gain, short of having a biopsy.” -  Jeremy Likeness, Certified Personal Trainer and Body Transformation Expert

Muscle Growth is NOT Steady or Predictable!

That means that no matter what you eat, how hard you train or what  supplements you take, muscle growth will never come at a predicable steady rate.  This makes those 10-12 pounds of muscle a year for a natural bodybuilder a myth along with any other hard numbers telling you how much actual muscle to expect or any references to the actual rate of growth.

What Influences Muscle Growth?

Here’s just a short list of the things that can influence your muscle growth:

• holidays
• injuries
• illness
• nutrition
• medications
• sleep
• complications called “life”
• training
• and more…

By the way…

Some people are genetically predisposed at packing on lean body mass and can  just look at a weight and gain muscle (you know those people right?).  Others  have to work like the dickens to just gain an ounce of muscle and their rate of  growth is slower.

What Physique Packs on the Most Muscle?

Researchers from the Netherlands, Van Etten, L.M., Verstappen, F.T., &  Westerterp, K.R. studied the effect of body build on weight-training-induced  adaptations in body composition and muscular strength. Medicine and Science in  Sports and Exercise, 26, 515-521. In the study they found that men with a  “solid” build gained more muscle than men with a “slender” build following a  12-week weight-training program .

Although fat-free mass increased in both groups, the slender guys gained only  0.7 pounds (0.3 kilograms) versus 3.5 pounds (1.6 kilograms) in the solid group.  My point is…

The nearer you get to your muscular genetic potential, the slower the gains will be. This is known by exercise professionals as the ceiling of adaptation.  The longer you’ve been training, the slower your gains will be.  Somebody like  me who’s been training for 17 years will gain less muscle mass than a new  trainer who’s just started out in the first 6 weeks.

The Ceiling of Adaptation: The nearer you get to your muscular genetic potential, the slower the gains will be.

So what does this mean to you?

What You Can Expect

That being said, based on the consensus of the available studies, the average  trainee can gain roughly 2-4% of their initial weight in the form of muscle  after 6 weeks of regular resistance exercise. These figures are based on the  results of studies using trained subjects with a body fat percentage of 10-15%.   Extremely lean or obese individuals would be hard to predict.

None of the studies I could find made reference to a female’s ability to  build muscle so my best guess is about half of the male studies but I can’t  prove that as there’s no research to fall back on.  Let’s face it…

Gaining Muscle is Not Linear

How much muscle can I gain is not a linear approach.  You won’t keep growing  at the same rate forever.  In fact, the studies that do reference muscle growth  were only on male trainees in the first 6 weeks of training.  That seems  somewhat predictable but after those 6 weeks, you need to know what to expect and it’s not going to be the same number week after week or year after year.

Over the course of a year, it’s rare for people to add more than 25 lbs of  muscle but it’s very possible for them to add more than 25 lbs of lean body  mass.  Lean body mass defined as a combination of anything that is not fat.  And  that’s why…

Increasing your lean body mass is something you can track and calculate and  should be your focal point to determine your progression.  How much muscle you  build in a given time period is not because it’s not a linear process and it  can’t realistically be determined short of a biopsy.

“A beginner on a decent training and nutrition program might be able to gain  25 pounds of muscle in their first year of training. In year two, we can cut  that number in half, giving you a gain of 10-12 pounds. In year three, the gains  will be halved again, giving you 5-6 pounds of new muscle.” - Christin Finn

If you are gaining more lean body mass that is generally a positive because  you are gaining more muscle than fat.  For most weight-gainers, .5 pounds per  week would be an even more realistic goal as they reach their genetic limit.   Frankly…

3 Things that Directly Affect Your Ability to Pack on Maximum Muscle

Staying focused on your goal by training intensely, eating consistency and engaging in proper recovery are things you can control and will result in your optimization of lean body mass.

1. Training Intensely
2. Eating Consistently
3. Proper Recovery

Remember that gaining muscle is a long-term project. If you’re dedicated and  consistent in your efforts, you will not be disappointed.

Yours to a Healthy Body and BankingCoin!

Marc David – CPT
www.nobullbodybuilding.com