I want to increase my strength and recovery as fast as possible, how many lbs should I be gaining a month for this as a late intermediate in terms of strength standards? (Not super concerned with staying lean) Is there a point to where it becomes of no use to gain more than a certain amount of lbs of weight per month? And if so what is that optimal weight gain per month for the best strength gain and recovery?
You seem to be going about this backwards. Instead of focusing on how much weight to gain to ensure you are recovered, why not focus on making sure you’re recovered and allow whatever amount of weight gain that is be whatever it needs to be?
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How long you been lifting?
How much did you gain your first year?
In all reality the best answer is “it depends.”.
Well I am recovering, my numbers are going up consistently, I’m just wondering if I can gain strength faster than I currently am by increasing my daily caloric intake and at what point does it become no longer useful for me to increase my caloric surplus.
Does this strength need to be demonstrated in a sport? Are there any constraints on the weight gain?
The strongest guys on the planet that compete in things that test your strength are putting on as much weight as they can. Lifting 1kg more makes a difference to these people.
Is that you?
Question op…
Your current height?
Your current weight?
Strength level?
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This is what everyone wonders, along with if they could get leaner or bigger quicker.
However, the biggest and strongest guys aren’t the dudes that got there the quickest: they’re the dudes that had
Keep that up. Have perspective: this is a long game. If you put 5lbs on your bench each month, that’s 60lbs in a year. In 10 years, you’d have added 600lbs to your bench press. That would, of course, be insane. Don’t chase numbers: put in maximal EFFORT, to include in and out of the gym, and you’ll get the growth you deserve.
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I’ve never understood why people wouldn’t at least answer these questions. Advice for a 145lb / 65kg 6’4" teenager who can’t do a press up will be different to a 300lb / 135kg 5’6" 35 year old man what can squat 600lb / 275kg.
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But dude, he’s “late intermediate”, did that not answer your question?
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Yes indeed… allot of times the answers to a specific question is depended on allot of factors .
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in all seriousness we know that’s vague as fuck. I love when guys say … im just a beginner ( ignore the fact they have been lifting 5 years)
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It’s such a totally meaningless phrase, I still baffles me that their use is so widespread. But then I’m also confused by the body fat percentage thing as well, so maybe I’m just easily confused.
Bf% is actually simple… if you say your 200lbs at 10% .
All it means is 10% of your bw is fat you are carrying. So if poof every gram of fat in your body magically went away you weigh 180lbs.
The whole what stage thing is a little more grey depending on who you talk with…
Some will say it’s length of time
Some will say it’s based on some abstract level of strength.
I myself prefer the notioning on basing it on the the frequency of progress model.
Basically how often one sees progress while training optimally.
A beginner can damn near see progress daily as the rules of diminished returns kick in it slows.
Where it goes from daily…weekly …bi weekly and monthly. Evently at a truly advance level your going to be punching the clock and toying with more advanced training principles for slight improvement yearly.
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To clarify: I get the idea of body fat percent in general, just not the way its used online. The whole guestimating from pictures thing just doesn’t quite work for me. I understand that it’s not really designed to be accurate, it’s just an attempt to provide some sort of “universal standard” for leanness in the same way that “beginner/intermediate/advanced” is supposed to do for strength. The issue is that no-one seems to be able to agree on what 10% bodyfat or intermediate strength levels look like and the “universal standards” lose their universality.
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Just a little bit.
OP - nothing Pwn has said is wrong. In any way shape or form. In fact he is generally right about a lot. But when you say “I do not care about staying lean” he thinks you’re a big boy and you mean it in the same regard he might. Thing is, I have only seen a hand full of people be so goal orientated / single minded as Pwn. But if you are 145lb, 21 year old guy that can’t do a press up that’s been doing a crappy half arsed programme 2 times a week for the lasts 18 months, who feels that gaining 5lb a month is great going then you are not as single minded as him. And you might need a better guild. That’s all man. If it comes over as anything else - it not.
In short - eat until you are recovered and THAT is exactly the right amount of food. For an idea on what that might look like there is some info needed.
FYI intermediate lifter is a wooly term. Best avoided.
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Oh im not a big fan on doing the guessing what’s my bf% on line via pics thing… being honest little body hair removal a tan and the correct lighting going to skew things. Besides you can’t tell me most aren’t posting picks that don’t show themselves in a better view subconsciously.
Yep… it makes the assumption that everyone strength ceiling is the same.
Damn straight
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To clarify, this didn’t even register for me. I more feel that chasing scale weight is a disastrous idea.
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Especially if thats the only metric someone is using.
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One of my favorite “bulking fail” stories comes from CT, where he talked about gaining 40lbs of bodyweight over the summer as a teenager and his pants still fit the same, so he assumed he got super jacked…only to find out that his mom had been taking the waist out of his pants as he was getting fatter and fatter.
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I can understand added weight improving leverage, or even shortening the distance a bar has to travel like some delusional wanna be fat PLers might do, BUT, I’ve always noticed that the best lifts in PLing USA weren’t in the heaviest weight classes, where the added “size” isn’t all muscle.
That said, you can’t really force feed muscle growth beyond what the human body can optimally do, no matter how much you eat.
If you can gain 1-2 lbs of actual muscle in a couple of months’ time, that’s pretty damn good, and you should be thrilled.
S
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