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#1 |
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Realistic Weight Gain Goal
What time frame is a realistic goal of putting on 10-15lbs of muscle if I’m not worried about how much fat gain I have at the same time? Is it possible in 5 months? I’m not looking for a ‘get huge’ quick solution here, I know this stuff takes a lot of time, I’m just trying to figure out what a realistic expectation is.
I’m currently about 185lbs, ~9% BF. For the past 10 yrs since college, I’ve always been around 195lbs, probably more like 12-13% BF. The most I’ve ever weighed was 205lbs and probably 15% BF, and that lasted about ½ a year. For the past year, from CF and cleaner eating, I’m down to where I am now, which I feel is too skinny. Plus, I’ve lost a lot of strength. On average, I eat between 2,800-3,000 cal/day and about 185g protein and that seems to sustain my bodyweight. I just started trying to eat more to gain the weight and have only been up around 3,800 cal/day. I would like to be at around 200lbs still at 9-10% BF (after losing whatever excess fat I put on), but realize that is a lofty goal considering I’ve always been thin. 195lbs at 9-10% is probably more realistic. For the time being, I’m also going to be doing some sort of linear strength programming and laying off the metcons. I have a recurring back injury for the past 3 yrs that I’m just not smart enough about when crossfitting. During that time, I’ve felt the best when I was my strongest and did a lot of slow lifts (Sq, DL, Press), so I want to slowly get that strength back. And yes, I will be more cognizant of my injury when returning to CF. Any insight would be appreciated! |
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#2 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
Are you asking how fast you can gain 10-15lbs? Or are you asking how fast you can gain 10-15lbs of muscle?
If you are good at eating then you can gain 10-15lbs of weight in a month, maybe 2 tops. If you want to gain 10-15lbs of muscle it probably depends on how much other weight you're willing to put on, also your starting numbers. |
Last edited by Matt Haxmeier : 08-05-2011 at 10:03 AM. |
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#3 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
I'm asking how long to gain 10-15lbs of muscle, even if that means gaining 30lbs total.
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#4 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
Depends on genetics, training, sleep, and diet. FWIW, I gained 35lbs in two months on the 70s Big program and about 6000 calories a day, but I've got no idea what the muscle/fat ratio was on that weight.
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#5 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
According to Dr. Frederick Hatfield in his book "Bodybuilding: A Scientific Approach" the average individual can gain approximately 1 pound of muscle a week through diet and exercise. His stated maximum muscle gain is 5 pounds of muscle a week for the genetically gifted.
So realistically, depending on your genetic gifts, it could take you approximately 15 weeks to meet your goals if you are eating correctly. For building muscle mass the approach that has always worked for me is to follow a 5x5 set/rep scheme. I use a weight that will induce muscular failure at approximately rep three of set three. There are other approaches, of course. The classic German Volume Training routine of 10x10, Vince Gironda's preferred scheme of 8x8, a 12-10-8-6-4-2 rep scheme where the weight is increased every set, and the classic 3x10. For me, 5x5 and the reverse pyramid of 12-2 showed the best results for both increased muscle mass and increased strength. The bottom line is, in order to get bigger, you have to lift big and eat big. I saw a guy in my platoon put on somewhere in the order of 30-40 pounds over the course of a year long deployment by hitting the gym hard nearly every day, as well as eating 5-7 humongous meals every day. To give you an idea of how much this dude ate, he would go to the chow hall, load his tray full of food, eat it all, and load up one or two to-go plates full of food and take them back to his bunk and eat them a few hours later. If you're one of those hard gainers, that's potentially how much you may have to eat. Hopefully this information helps, and it doesn't sound condescending or anything. I get asked all the time how people can be big like me (~6', 240 pounds), and I tell them lift heavy objects, eat plenty of protein. Kent |
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#6 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
i think the majority of what people gain is fat and water weight on a strength program, you do gain muscle but i don't think it's even majority muscle, i think at least 3:1 fat/water:muscle maybe even more. even 1 lb of muscle a week seems like a stretch, maybe during the novice period but once that is used up i think it's slow going. that would be 52 lbs of muscle in a year which without "supplements" seems really unlikely. i've been doing a strength program for 18 weeks now, i put 150 lbs on my 1 RM squat and i've gained 25 lbs of weight. i would definitely say it's a 2:1 fat:muscle ratio (with me at least).
i've heard the average is like 6-12 lbs of legitimate muscle mass a year depending on genetics. but i'm sure this completely fluctuates depending on diet , age, and most importantly genetics. |
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#7 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
Thanks for the responses guys. I've done some more reading myself and it's funny that the common response is 1lb of muscle a week. Like Michael said though, that's probably a stretch unless you're a complete beginner. I think putting on the 3lbs of muscle my body has typically been at for the past 10 yrs or so should be easy w/ heavy lifting and ~4,000cals/day. Putting on mass has never been easy for me so I think another 5lbs of muscle on top of that by the end of the year is probably more realistic. 10lbs is acheivable if I'm really eating what I need to and consistently lifting heavy. I did some muscular body composition calculation I saw posted in another thread and my genetic potential at 10% BF is 220lbs, so based on that, I have a long way to go. Hopefully I can get 1/2 way there!
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#8 |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
There's a BC calculator that will tell me my genetic potential? Where?
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#9 | |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
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w/f/s Like I said, it was posted elsewhere...I have no idea about how accurate or reliable it is. It could be a bunch of garbage for all I know. |
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#10 | |
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Re: Realistic Weight Gain Goal
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