Question of the Day

I wish there were a fixed answer. There isn't. Too many factors are involved. It depends on how intelligent your training is. The most basic form is simply to grab some heavy weights and push them. While that may work for some people for some period of time, it doesn't last forever unless you are incredibly genetically gifted.
While every magazine promises to build inches in weeks and add pounds in days, let's face the reality ...

Very few natural athletes say, "I want to lose fat, but I don't mind if I don't gain muscle. Nah, in fact, I'm happy where I'm at." Sure, you get that sometimes, but for the most part, the universal cry is, "I want to lose fat AND gain muscle." Some people have amazing access to resources such as nutritionists, massage therapists, personal trainers, strength coaches, and the like. If the claims of building even a pound of muscle per week were true, then someone training for 20 years would have over half a ton of muscle ... no, literally - over 1,000 pounds. Obviously, THAT doesn't happen.

So what does?

First, we know your gains will diminish with time. So the first time you ever pick up a weight, it's quite possible that you could easily gain several pounds of muscle per week. I believe most beginners who aren't using steroids but are very knowledgeable with nutrition and following a great plan might put on 10 - 20 pounds over a solid 12 week period. Most of them will inflate their numbers due to errors in measuring body fat and confusion over what lean mass really is (it's everything but the fat, so things like creatine which encourage more water to enter the cell will add weight without actually adding muscle tissue).

So a beginner can plan to put on several pounds over the course of a few months.

More advanced trainers don't have it so easy. Most of the natural bodybuilders I know (by natural I mean they don't use illegal steroids, growth hormones, or other aids and I have no reason to doubt their honesty) are happy to set a goal of gaining just 4 pounds of muscle ... in a YEAR! That's right, after training for years, natural athletes have to pull every stop in the book and that gives them the ability to throw on just a few pounds of quality muscle.

One thing people also get confused about is the concept of calories to build muscle. 3500 calories are in a pound of fat, but it doesn't take 3500 calories to build a pound of muscle. It's tough to say just how many calories it does take because you can't factor in just the calories in protein ... you must also take into consideration the energy required for the body to metabolize the new tissue.

I've found that I have the best success with gaining muscle by focusing on certain areas of my body. I'll focus on my upper arms for awhile, then when those gains diminish, work on my back, then my chest, and so forth. I've had periods where I've gained several pounds in a 12-week cycle but most of the time I'm happy to be a few pounds heavier without the fat to boot after months of hard, intelligent training.

I hope that helps answer your question!

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