CT, what is your opinion on the statement that around 90% of muscular gains will be made in the first 6 months of serious training, for the natural bodybuilder?
Have seen it before and recently read an interview with Joe klemczewski where he says the same thing.
Well, maybe not to that extreme. But yeah, a large part of your potential gains will be made early in your training career IF you train properly.
I’ve seen plenty of natural trainees gain around 20-25lbs of lean mass during their training career, some even more. A friend of mine went from 178 on 6’2" up to 300… granted the 300 wasn’t lean. But I can say that he gained AT LEAST 60lbs of lean mass. And he was 100% clean. He also posted some very strong lifts.
If the 90% in 6 months figure were true our guy who can gain 20lbs of lean mass would add 18lbs of muscle in the first 6 months of training and maybe 2lbs for the rest of his life? It just doesn’t add up, both as far as gaining 18lbs in 6 months (which is very high) and only being able to add 2 more lbs over the rest of his life.
And what if you train really hard the first 6 months of your lifting career and you only gain 7lbs. Does that mean that, at the most, you can hope to gain an additional 0.7lbs of muscle for the rest of your life? Why even train?
While the 90%/6months figure be true in some cases? Of course. But that will be far from the norm. I agree that your body is a lost more receptive to training when you first start out. But it doesn’t stop being responsive after that initial 6 months. Yes the progress will be a lot slower, tedious sometimes. But if you apply progressive overload and supply your body with enough nutrients you can keep adding muscle for years. Even if that is only 1lbs per year, that is still 10lbs in 10 years, that is progress.