After reading this article, I understand that when you are trying to put on lean mass that your body fat percentage should be no more than 10% (or very close to that). However, near the end of the article, right under the table that gives you an estimate of what your caloric intake should be relative to lean body weight to support optimal growth (considering a normal activity level), he says that you should gain around 2-3 lbs of both fat and muscle.
This doesn’t make sense to me, because if a person gained that much per month while trying to build muscle consistently for 12 months then that person will have gained approx. 24-36 lbs. of both fat and muscle by the end of those 12 months.
This means that within a year that person will have gained mostly fat weight because according CT in this article he says that the most muscle mass that practically any man can ever gain in a year is about 10 pounds of solid muscle per year (once they’re past the beginner stage) or a little over 12 pounds of muscle at the most for beginners. I know that many other legit fitness experts also agree that that is the most amount of muscle mass an intermediate or advanced trainee can gain in a year.
Therefore, while a person who had gained 24-36 lbs. of body weight within a year may have made significant gains in muscle mass, he actually ends up having gained about 12-32 lbs. of fat by the end of those 12 months. So, why does CT say that you should put on 2-3 lbs. body weight per month when trying to build muscle?