1/2 pound per week of muscle gain, really?

n5605r

Member
Like you guys, I read a lot of articles and magazines about bodybuilding. Seems when I average all the "rules of thumb" out there, that people on a natural bulking program are "supposed" to gain 1/2 pound of muscle per week, or 2 pounds per month, or 24 pounds in a year??? I've been lifting hard and heavy for three three years and have never seen that rate of muscle increase. What are some of the muscle gains you guys have seen or had?
 
You could pack on 1-2lbs of muscle per week with enough food and sleep.... Course, if you want muscle gains like that, then expect quite a bit of fat with it.... You could add say 4-5lbs of fat per 1-2lbs of muscle on a bulking diet. When you done bulking, drop the cals to maintenance and you'll shed the fat. Try the GOMAD diet; you'll break the weight plateau for sure....
 
How do you know how much was a fat gain and how much LBM. Once you shed fat a lot of muscle will go with it. As far as 1-2 lbs of LBM per week, maybe for a couple of weeks of newbie gains, even that I highly doubt. I'd say 2 lbs a month sounds reasonable.
 
More reasonable when first starting out for no more than a few weeks
 
i put on 30 pounds of muscle in 8 months, i also put on 50 extra pouns of fat and water (80 pounds total) but was able to drop the fat and maintain about 24 pounds of the 30. so thats 24 maintainable pounds in one year (total of gaining and lossing) ending up with the same BF% (around 8% right now).
 
Ricky5145 said:
i put on 30 pounds of muscle in 8 months, i also put on 50 extra pouns of fat and water (80 pounds total) but was able to drop the fat and maintain about 24 pounds of the 30. so thats 24 maintainable pounds in one year (total of gaining and lossing) ending up with the same BF% (around 8% right now).
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Those are some mad fluctuations, impressive though. But, you are 21, probably still growing.
 
n87 said:
Those are some mad fluctuations, impressive though. But, you are 21, probably still growing.
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hardly, even though im 21 ive been doing this since i was 13, doctor said i officially stunted my growth, doesnt matter im 5 10 anyway, parents are tall though. and I thought i reached my limit at 190 lbs, i couldnt get past that mark for the past 3 years, this year i went ape **** on it, ate 8000 cals a day and put on the 80 pounds. dropped the 50 and am sick. going to do it again in 3 weeks. not so much extra weight this time.

one neg was that i got stretch makrs all down my biceps and calves, and quads. my arms grew from 16 inches to 19 (still 19s after the 50 pound loss)
calves went from 17s to 20s (still 20s) chest from 42 to 51 (50 now) legs from 21 to 28 (27 now)

i hated the marks at first, but now since i lost the weight and kept the size, they look awesome. i look like a freak (what i was going for)
 
Ricky5145 said:
hardly, even though im 21 ive been doing this since i was 13, doctor said i officially stunted my growth, doesnt matter im 5 10 anyway, parents are tall though. and I thought i reached my limit at 190 lbs, i couldnt get past that mark for the past 3 years, this year i went ape **** on it, ate 8000 cals a day and put on the 80 pounds. dropped the 50 and am sick. going to do it again in 3 weeks. not so much extra weight this time.

one neg was that i got stretch makrs all down my biceps and calves, and quads. my arms grew from 16 inches to 19 (still 19s after the 50 pound loss)
calves went from 17s to 20s (still 20s) chest from 42 to 51 (50 now) legs from 21 to 28 (27 now)

i hated the marks at first, but now since i lost the weight and kept the size, they look awesome. i look like a freak (what i was going for)
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thats a very different outlook on stretch marks lol.. nice
 
LOL at all the people who believe you can gain .5lbs a week. Yes, if you are just starting, but otherwise that is a fantasy that will never happen unless you are on AAS.

Listen, if you can gain .5lbs a week, that is 24lbs a year. Therefore, in 3 years you will have gained 75lbs of PURE muscle. Everyone would be Mr. Olympia in 5 years. Too bad it doesn't work like that at all. You can expect about 10lbs of pure muscle a year naturally.

Ronnie Coleman, after starting to train for Olympia gained an average of 8lbs of pure mass a year. Granted, he was already massive, but this 8lb average was the result of UNTOLD amounts of drugs.
 
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