# You can only gain 0.5lbs max muscle per week



## slimcut (Jul 27, 2009)

Is this true?

I mean pure muscle...naturally...no steroids etc...from just diet and weights

I've gained 5lbs some weeks, and avergaged 1-3lb gains per week when I first started

BUT from what I read a lot of these other mass gains are:

water

fat

glycogen

creatine

You cannot expect to gain more than 0.5lb actual muslce per week

Which would mean I shoudl really eat a diet were I can expect to only increase in weight by 1lb every couple of weeks? (once my glycogen etc are all full)

THerefore bulikgn slowly at this rate rather than 2-3lbs per week then going on a cut woudl be a better idea?


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## robisco11 (Dec 8, 2007)

Id say 1-2lbs would be a good aim...


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## Gymjunkie (May 27, 2009)

Yes, anything more is fat and water..


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## BigDom86 (Jul 27, 2008)

if you can gain 0.5lbs a week. then id be happy with gaining 25lbs of muscle in a year!


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## 1bpk (Jun 22, 2009)

BigDom86 said:


> if you can gain 0.5lbs a week. then id be happy with gaining 25lbs of muscle in a year!


Lol

yeah right, same :lol:


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## weeman (Sep 6, 2007)

robisco11 said:


> Id say 1-2lbs would be a good aim...


If your a genetic freak maybe yeah lol



BigDom86 said:


> if you can gain 0.5lbs a week. then id be happy with gaining 25lbs of muscle in a year!


exactly,25lbs of lean tissue in one year would mean there is no question that you are amongst the elitist genetics wise,for all the rest of us thats fantasy stuff.


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## pea head (May 28, 2008)

Most top guys put on an average of around 12lb max per year...i think roughly around that anyway...unless you are big Ron.......51lb in 3 years.FFS


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

Id guess that most people including myself would naturally gain about 1lbs of musle per month nevermind in a week and thats being generous.


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## Paganpete (Jul 23, 2009)

andysutils said:


> Id guess that most people including myself would naturally gain about 1lbs of musle per month nevermind in a week and thats being generous.


Yep - if that :whistling:


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## BigDom86 (Jul 27, 2008)

it depends how far you are in training. if your just starting out then maybe 1lb a month is possible


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## defdaz (Nov 11, 2007)

It gets harder the bigger you get (er!). As you get bigger the amount of effort and resources it takes just to maintain increases, leaving your body with less time and resources for muscle growth. Eventually, even with perfect diet, training and rest there would be a theoretical point where you would no longer be able to gain muscle (enter gear, stage left!).

Beginners then, with normal amounts of muscle, will gain quickly compared to seasoned advanced bodybuilders like weeman (reps welcomed mate lol). Two or three stone in the first year of training is not uncommon for beginners.

Bodybuilding is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistency over a period of years is what is required to build a massive physique, not insane training and a huge cycle of gear.


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## Rosedale6 (Jul 22, 2009)

When i started training i was putting on 1lbs of muscle per month or just a little over. Now im only putting on about half of that a month its a slow process for the body to change, but worth it if your really want it.


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## asl (Jan 25, 2009)

There was an awesome article which I got off this site but can't find it now. It contained diet and training advice and the author used the analagy of building a house where training are the builders is eating is the bricks. In that he quoted the 0.5lb a week.

This is a really interseting thread as I was using that as the basis for my diet. I have not been able to increase my muscle by the 0.5lb but managed clode to half of that and the rest was fat.

Thanks for the advice on this guys, I can now amend my diet and target something more achievable.

PS if anyone knows of the article I am refering to could you post a link as I would really like to read it again!!


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

I was gaining id say around 1lb per month of muscle aswell, but only in the first 6-12 months, after then it all changed, it was like the difference between being on your first cycle and never doing one.

I made my best gains within the first year, i think everyone ive ever known has who has trained right and followed a pretty decent diet, but its like a first time round with anything, its always the best in the beginning, after that it gets a far bit harder, the body adjusts and all your doing really is working closer and closer towards your plateu, the bodies just one big stimulant.

Sleeping pills, work great for me the first week then i become immune to them, drinking beer, drink everyday at one point and after the first week of that i was necking 10-15 cans of strongbow and waking up without feeling id even had a drink at xmas.

The bodies a pain in the as$ :cursing: and it becomes stimulant to almost anything, even gear.



asl said:


> There was an awesome article which I got off this site but can't find it now. It contained diet and training advice and the author used the analagy of building a house where training are the builders is eating is the bricks. In that he quoted the 0.5lb a week


Dam where have i read that before? yes it is a great article, i know which one you mean.

I think its one bodybuilding.com somewhere.


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## BigDom86 (Jul 27, 2008)

i know which article your talking about, good article it is. but 0.5lb muscle a week, no way. weight yes, but not muscle.


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## kaos_nw (Jul 9, 2008)

im aiming for 0.5lb a week mass gain to limit excess fat, but some weeks i dont even make that! but im happy with my changes and strength gains so i will keep at it

PS. think this is the article you lot are on about http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/the_truth_about_bulking


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## asl (Jan 25, 2009)

That's the one kaos, thanks!! :thumbup1:


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## Dantreadz85 (Jun 4, 2009)

does 12 lb of muscle over a body look a lot then ?? cause i seen people that have been training for say a year an theres a dramatic change in their frame , so altho not sounding a lot of weight does it look a lot of mass?? if that makes sense


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## BillC (Jun 11, 2009)

Dantreadz85 said:


> does 12 lb of muscle over a body look a lot then ?? cause i seen people that have been training for say a year an theres a dramatic change in their frame , so altho not sounding a lot of weight does it look a lot of mass?? if that makes sense


think of it another way then, get 6 bags of sugar and look exactly what 12lbs looks like. Quite a lot really. I do believe you put on a damned site more than that in your 1st year, depending on where you are starting from.


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## T.F. (Aug 28, 2008)

Remember that when someone puts on 12lb of muscle, they probably put on a whole lot more weight than that, there's just 12lb of muscle underneath all the rest. If most people cut to just muscle, apart from the lads in great condition, then most wouldn't look like much at all.


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## slimcut (Jul 27, 2009)

No wonder I got so fat when I bulked up first time...

When I began dietign I started creatine and was putting on 5lbs per week 1st week, then 2 to 3lbs every week until I got from 118-145lbs...then I slowly was only gaining like 1-2lb every week til I got to 160lbs

Man I mustve gained ás much fat etc as muscle?

i was just bigger and smoother overall...not cut at all


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## KRS (Nov 27, 2008)

Dantreadz85 said:


> does 12 lb of muscle over a body look a lot then ?? cause i seen people that have been training for say a year an theres a dramatic change in their frame , so altho not sounding a lot of weight does it look a lot of mass?? if that makes sense


12lbs/5.45kg of muscle works out at around 5.1 litres in volume given that the density of mammalian skeletal muscle is 1.06kg/ltr

With a bit more mathematical jiggery pokery you can workout how many teaspoons of muscle are built per day if 12lbs are gained in a year.

This works out at 2.3 teaspoons of muscle per day :lol:

Now tell me bodybuilding isn't the toughest game out there!!


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## slimcut (Jul 27, 2009)

So would you say after the 1st couple of weeks (possible glycogen/water gains)

One should look to increase weight on scales only by maximum of 1lbs?


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## slimcut (Jul 27, 2009)

KRS said:


>


''The "six inches in front of your face''

Nah...you can keep that out off my face please haha lmao


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## kaos_nw (Jul 9, 2008)

well im lean bulking atm and aiming to gain max 2lb a month, so if im gaining more than 1lb every 2 weeks ill cut back on the kcals/up cardio, or if im not gaining near 1lb every 2 weeks and my strength isnt going up ill add 200-250 kcal aday until i gain at my target rate!

this way im never going to need to go on a massive cut to get really lean!


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## T.F. (Aug 28, 2008)

slimcut said:


> So would you say after the 1st couple of weeks (possible glycogen/water gains)
> 
> One should look to increase weight on scales only by maximum of 1lbs?


Be careful, i heard it can cause male pattern baldness, and if that happened you'd have to spend lots of your life whinging about it on a bodybuilding forum!


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## Irish Beast (Jun 16, 2009)

robisco11 said:


> Id say 1-2lbs would be a good aim...


That would be nothing short of phenomenal.


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## KRS (Nov 27, 2008)

slimcut said:


> So would you say after the 1st couple of weeks (possible glycogen/water gains)
> 
> One should look to increase weight on scales only by maximum of 1lbs?


There are lots of factors to take into consideration such as, increasing bone density, glycogen, fat and water storage. I mean the mass I have gained on my ego has led me to invest in some heavy duty bathroom scales :whistling:

It's up to you whether you think its a worthwhile endeavour. I'd rather fight for two teaspoons of muscle gain per day than remain in physical mediocrity.


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## dalboy (Sep 16, 2009)

I started training 8 weeks ago - After week 4 I put on nearly 7lbs. I stayed strict to my new diet (eating pretty much 3 times what I used to) and done my training 3 times a week.

After week 8 I have put on between 2 and 3lbs.

I was worried that I slowed down in putting on muscle / weight but reading this post it seems about right...

I also wondered how people go through a massive transform in, say, a year.

I've only been 2 months training but I am now even more intrigued to see what I'll look like (and any strength gains) keeping to my diet and training after a year!


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## big_jim_87 (Jul 9, 2009)

defdaz said:


> *I get harder the bigger you get* (er!). As you get bigger the amount of effort and resources it takes just to maintain increases, leaving your body with less time and resources for muscle growth. Eventually, even with perfect diet, training and rest there would be a theoretical point where you would no longer be able to gain muscle (enter gear, stage left!).
> 
> Beginners then, with normal amounts of muscle, will gain quickly compared to seasoned advanced bodybuilders like weeman (reps welcomed mate lol). Two or three stone in the first year of training is not uncommon for beginners.
> 
> Bodybuilding is a marathon, not a sprint. Consistency over a period of years is what is required to build a massive physique, not insane training and a huge cycle of gear.


lol me too i get a real hardon over you getting bigger!


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

Dantreadz85 said:


> does 12 lb of muscle over a body look a lot then ?? cause i seen people that have been training for say a year an theres a dramatic change in their frame , so altho not sounding a lot of weight does it look a lot of mass?? if that makes sense


it can do, it depends on what bodytype you are, take me for example, i put some pics up not long ago the difference between me starting and a year later and the difference was massive big time, but im a skinny ecto so muscle will showup as a big difference on a skinny frame type and I only gained about 20lbs or so, obviously some of that would have been fat.

Now if you take a bigger naturally bodytype with a fair bit of BF%, you will probably not notice a lot as much as you would an ecto but that doesnt mean to say they havent built a fair bit of lean tissue all the same.


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## Aftershock (Jan 28, 2004)

^^^^^^^ 12 lbs may not actually look a lot (in you clothes) especially if you lose bodyfat along the way as welll.

However strip off and the difference should be dramatic.

However if you go from being a 17 stone lardar$e to an 18 stone lardar$e I doubt anyone will even notice lol


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## jw007 (Apr 12, 2007)

I struggle to maitain my size, even with sh1t loads AAS and peptides, let alone gain anything...

I was 7.5st when started (105lb)

prob nearly 20 years training, thats 1040 weeks

so if i could gain 0.5lb per week

1040 x 0.5 =520lb

105 + 520lb = 625lb = 44.6 st Ripped

Not sure I quite weigh tha PMSL


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## weeman (Sep 6, 2007)

Dantreadz85 said:


> does 12 lb of muscle over a body look a lot then ?? cause i seen people that have been training for say a year an theres a dramatic change in their frame , so altho not sounding a lot of weight does it look a lot of mass?? if that makes sense


12lbs of lean tissue is a hell of a lot,sit 12lbs of lean red meat on the table in front of you and thats what your looking at in terms of gains.

Heres two pics of me,the second pic i am 16 lean lbs heavier than my first pic,i'm sure you'll agree the difference is dramatic


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## Andy Dee (Jun 1, 2008)

weeman said:


> 12lbs of lean tissue is a hell of a lot,sit 12lbs of lean red meat on the table in front of you and thats what your looking at in terms of gains.
> 
> Heres two pics of me,the second pic i am 16 lean lbs heavier than my first pic,i'm sure you'll agree the difference is dramatic












You gotta shoot em in the head. :lol:


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## Der (Sep 13, 2009)

So many good posts here tbh... I would be the happies man on earth if I would be gaining 0.5 lb of muscle (no, not water or smt else, but pure lean muscle) a week :bounce:


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## BigDom86 (Jul 27, 2008)

andysutils said:


> You gotta shoot em in the head. :lol:


 :thumb: :lol: :lol:


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