# Realistic Muscle Gains?



## jonny.halifax (May 10, 2015)

Hi All,

What's a realistic amount of muscle mass to gain per month (muscle and not total weight)?

Since December I've only added 2kg in muscle and overall 5kg in weight. I only really started tracking calories and macros in the last 3 months.

Thanks


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## Ryker (May 7, 2015)

jonny.halifax said:


> Hi All,
> 
> What's a realistic amount of muscle mass to gain per month (muscle and not total weight)?
> 
> ...


Are you natural?

How are you tracking your muscle gains?


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## jonny.halifax (May 10, 2015)

Hi. Yup completely natural. I have a health assessment every 6 months with AXA free through work and they measure far, muscle mass, water weight, visceral fat etc


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## Ryker (May 7, 2015)

jonny.halifax said:


> Hi. Yup completely natural. I have a health assessment every 6 months with AXA free through work and they measure far, muscle mass, water weight, visceral fat etc


Aim for 0.5lbs a week


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## jonny.halifax (May 10, 2015)

Ryker said:


> Aim for 0.5lbs a week


Cheers. Just to confirm is that 0.5lb muscle per week or total body weight?


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## mr small (Apr 18, 2005)

jonny.halifax said:


> Hi. Yup completely natural. I have a health assessment every 6 months with AXA free through work and they measure far, muscle mass, water weight, visceral fat etc


Age, height , weight , food intake etc all of this is relevant


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## jonny.halifax (May 10, 2015)

mr small said:


> Age, height , weight , food intake etc all of this is relevant


I'm 27,

5ft 6in

74kg

Been trying to eat at a 300 calorie surplus for the last 3 months


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## mr small (Apr 18, 2005)

jonny.halifax said:


> I'm 27,
> 
> 5ft 6in
> 
> ...


Right so your 11.6stone or just over 160lbs ...what is 300plus ? 300 on top of what exactly ? What is your protein intake ? How often do you train ? What sorta training are you doing ?


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

Rate of muscle gain will vary with genetics, training and diet so it's hard to put a good figure on. I'm not sure how your muscle mass was measured but no test is entirely accurate either.

The best thing to do is to monitor body fat (using a mirror or better yet using calipers to track changes) and eat enough calories to slowly gain weight whilst gaining little fat.


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## jonny.halifax (May 10, 2015)

mr small said:


> Right so your 11.6stone or just over 160lbs ...what is 300plus ? 300 on top of what exactly ? What is your protein intake ? How often do you train ? What sorta training are you doing ?


300caloris above maintenance so 2700 total.

I'm training 5 times a week, weight training usually in 8-10 rep range combination of compound and isolation.

Protein intake at the moment is around 170g per day


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

jonny.halifax said:


> 300caloris above maintenance so 2700 total.


It's far better to adjust calories based on progress rather than theoretical figures like this IMHO.


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## mr small (Apr 18, 2005)

jonny.halifax said:


> 300caloris above maintenance so 2700 total.
> 
> I'm training 5 times a week, weight training usually in 8-10 rep range combination of compound and isolation.
> 
> Protein intake at the moment is around 170g per day


If what your saying your actually following then something isn't right ...and is nearly bet it's your eating , are you properly working it out or just sorta guessing ? I'm not one for working out my food down to the gram I eat as much as I can as many times a day as I can and yes I struggle to add weight so I can understand also .one thing I've did and might sound ridiculous is add pizza I to my diet 2-3 times a week and buck and bit to of tuna on to it ..900 cals 21g fat 42g protein that's in one meal ...

I'm very simple eat like fook and train heavy with in reason, but push yourself don't fanny out . If your max bench is say 80kg do 4x10 at @60kg then superset with cables ,then pull ups then decline etc and on and on if you eat and train right it's impossible not to grow


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## jonny.halifax (May 10, 2015)

mr small said:


> If what your saying your actually following then something isn't right ...and is nearly bet it's your eating , are you properly working it out or just sorta guessing ? I'm not one for working out my food down to the gram I eat as much as I can as many times a day as I can and yes I struggle to add weight so I can understand also .one thing I've did and might sound ridiculous is add pizza I to my diet 2-3 times a week and buck and bit to of tuna on to it ..900 cals 21g fat 42g protein that's in one meal ...
> 
> I'm very simple eat like fook and train heavy with in reason, but push yourself don't fanny out . If your max bench is say 80kg do 4x10 at @60kg then superset with cables ,then pull ups then decline etc and on and on if you eat and train right it's impossible not to grow


I used the formulas on body building.com I always try and hit my protein for the day but hitting exact carbs and fats I find difficult

It's only the first time I've tried bulking and I'm 3 months in, before that I wasn't tracking calories at all


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## mr small (Apr 18, 2005)

jonny.halifax said:


> I used the formulas on body building.com I always try and hit my protein for the day but hitting exact carbs and fats I find difficult
> 
> It's only the first time I've tried bulking and I'm 3 months in, before that I wasn't tracking calories at all


My advice is simple eat and eat plenty your not fat your 160lbs , now you can get a detailed diet that might work or might not adjustments throughout is what I find works well ie adding pizza lol I've not out any more fat on yet I've upped my weight now would u recommend this to e everyone? No definitely not but to people like us who are naturally thin then adding a high calories food like pizza it works . What's important to remember is your trying to add weight so eat big and train hard


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## Ultrasonic (Jul 13, 2004)

jonny.halifax said:


> I used the formulas on body building.com I always try and hit my protein for the day but hitting exact carbs and fats I find difficult
> 
> It's only the first time I've tried bulking and I'm 3 months in, before that I wasn't tracking calories at all


Myfitnesspal makes tracking macros much easier, just check the data for each food the first time you pick it, as occasionally another user has entered something daft.

In terms of training you would probably be better switching away from your current 5 day per week body part split routine (I'm guessing?) to something that trains each muscle with higher frequency. Stronglifts is a good beginner programme but there are lots of other options. The following thread is worth a read:

http://www.uk-muscle.co.uk/natural-bodybuilding/222427-upper-lower-body-split-vs-body-workout-vs-training-split.html


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## jimbo95 (May 13, 2015)

To many factors in the mix to give an exact number I put on 3 stone in my first year but as mentioned above that is fat as well as muscle I have gone from 14 to 16.5 inch arms in my first year but this will slow down in the second year as I am experiencing now! Age is a big factor I am 19 so testosterone levels will be very high which certainly helps! Everybody is different


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## dtlv (Jul 24, 2009)

Not an easy question to answer as a lot of it depends on different factors and individual differences. Gaining muscle is certainly easier in the first 6 months or so than later on when the body has adapted to regular training. It's also easier to gain muscle when not trying to simultaneously cut body fat, although here both leanness and how long you've been training for both play into it - if not very lean and a new trainer you can still gain considerable muscle mass in a calorie deficit provided you train well and consume enough protein, but as you get leaner and further adapted to training from training longer then the rate of muscle gain slows down and eventually the best you can do in a cut when lean is maintain muscle rather than gain.

In general though the accepted average rate of gains in muscle mass for men are 3-5kg in the first six months of training, then dropping down to 3-4kg per year for the following next few years. Typically the rate drops again after the 3-4 year mark to no more than 1-2kg per year. For women the typical rate of muscle gain is usually around 40-60% of a man with equal training quality and experience.

None of those figures are in stone though and are rough averages, and there are plenty of examples of high responders who out perform. There are also examples of people who cannot hit those averages.


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