I have been working on increasing my strength and keeping a pretty good caloric surplus. From what I understand, the maximum amount of muscle the human body is capable of putting on in a week (without enhancement) is about 0.1 lbs. So, if we assume that the max ammount of muscle you can put on in a month is 0.5 lbs, then, say, you gain an equal amount of fat and water for a grand total of 1.5 lbs a month, then it seems to me that if you exceed a gain of 1.5 lbs a month you are just adding extra fat and not adding anything worthwhile to your strength gains.
What does anybody think about this?
I know CT has put on huge amounts of mass in short periods of time and with the increase has had great strength gains, so I am wondering how all of this works out. I mean, there is definitely a physiological limit to how much muscle a human can put on in a month and so there must be some law of diminishing returns with regard to caloric surplus for the purpose of building muscle mass. John meadows talked about not exceeding a body fat percentage of 12% in his article a week or two ago. So does that mean you go balls to the wall calorically until you hit your 12% then do a slow cut or do a slow, controlled gain till you hit 12%. The second way makes more sense to me.
First your numbers are wrong. The limit often given is 0.5lbs per week for a male. But that is really based on anecdotal data, not hard science. And it is an average per week based on what happens in a whole year.
It’s based on the assumption that the limit a natural non-beginner could add in a year is 25lbs of pure muscle tissue (not water, glycogen or fat). And from experience I would tend to agree with that. I personally have not seen someone (a natural non-beginner) gain over 25lbs of muscle in one year.
So they basically averaged that to 0.5lbs per week at the most. But that is not correct. Muscle growth normally comes in spurts, it isn’t linear. So you can gain a lot more muscle in 6 weeks than the theoretical 3lbs… you could even add 10lbs of muscle (or even more!) in that time frame. But that also means that gains will get slower and your yearly average will be below 0.5lbs per week.
There is also the water retention thing to consider. For example I’m a true sponge! I can gain or lose 10lbs of water in a few days… and the thing is that when I retain water it is mostly inside the muscle, which makes me look more muscular and also makes me stronger due to improved leverage and intramuscular friction. It’s not hard for me to add 15lbs in 2-3 weeks without looking much fatter, but a lot of it is water retention… which makes me stronger but also hurts my health.
Now is there an optimal rate of gain? Meadows talks about not exceeding 12% and I normally would agree with that. However the fact is that very few people are at 12% or less… they may claim to be at 10% or so, but they are probably closer to 15% or even more. People GROSSLY understimate their true body fat level and even calipers aren’t that effective in the wrong hands. To give you an example, I’m training an IFBB pro in the 2012 (Patrick Bernard) right now he is 9% body fat (I measured him myself) and he has deep abs, legs separation, tons of veins, etc.
I would say that when the average gym rat thinks he is 10% he really is 15%.
So the 12% rule works if you are starting from a very lean physique, not if you are higher in body fat already.
So it really becomes a matter of what your priority is (size, strength, looks) and how you feel about the way you look.
Thanks for the response CT!
I am at probably the 10% - 15% body percentage you mention. I can see my abs and have good vascularity but definitely not lean. I was down to about 6% in November and decided that living like that sucks. My goal basically is to get stronger and I dont mind having a little weight but I am not interested in getting so fat that I look fat. I mean, I want to be strong and look strong, not be strong and look like a couch potato.
So, if you gain muscle in cycles, how would you advise gaining mass? 6 weeks of sort of “bulking” then 6 weeks of a slow cut as alluded to in your article today? Then repeat?
Hey CT, killerDIRK here.
From 31Oct2010 until 31May2012 (20months) I went from 173# to 210# of muscle using Louie Simmons Westside template.
He said that using his template and program that most of his lifters would gain 30# in the first two years…
I thought properly, breathed properly, slept properly, ate and trained properly without missing my training sessions
I proved the impossible (EliteFTS.com - Prove the Impossible (Best Motivational Strength Video) - YouTube) at least for a lifelong endurance athlete.
Thanks for all your help with all of those of us out here in cyberspace and in Real training facilities who always are appreciative of your help.
[quote]irfhdah wrote:
Thanks for the response CT!
I am at probably the 10% - 15% body percentage you mention. I can see my abs and have good vascularity but definitely not lean. I was down to about 6% in November and decided that living like that sucks. My goal basically is to get stronger and I dont mind having a little weight but I am not interested in getting so fat that I look fat. I mean, I want to be strong and look strong, not be strong and look like a couch potato.
So, if you gain muscle in cycles, how would you advise gaining mass? 6 weeks of sort of “bulking” then 6 weeks of a slow cut as alluded to in your article today? Then repeat?[/quote]
I don’t believe in bulking and cutting. Just train hard and eat good quality food in sufficient quantity to have energy for your workouts. Don’t overeat, it doesn’t do anything for you. Judge your food intake via performance. If you are lacking energy and do not gain strength overall, then eat more good quality food… if you find that you are becoming a bit too soft just decrease food intake a bit. It’s really not complicated.
Ha! Thanks CT. You are right, I am over thinking it. Don’t know when/how I became such a prom queen about my eating…