how much lean muscle can you gain in one year

[nicey1990]

how much lean muscle is it possible to gain in one year without the use of supplements other than protein

[Mayberry03]

They say you can gain 1-2 pounds of lean muscle every week.. I would say that progression would slow even if you kept at it very hard for 52 weeks but it would depend how much you already have, what your bf is.. I would say as a guess 40-60 pounds.
Thats clean bulking for 365 days, working out 3-5 days a week and a **** ton of cardio.
Maybe I'm off but that seems pretty accurate.

[tha shredda]

dude above ^^^ is WAY off lol. Try 2-3 lbs at most a year (newbies a few more). Nobody gains 1-2 a week lol. Go to your local grocery store to the meat section, and look at what 2 lbs of lean meat looks like, its alot, enough to alter your physique to be quite better.

[Ragenori]

dude above ^^^ is WAY off lol. Try 2-3 lbs at most a year (newbies a few more). Nobody gains 1-2 a week lol. Go to your local grocery store to the meat section, and look at what 2 lbs of lean meat looks like, its alot, enough to alter your physique to be quite better.

I'm pretty sure that 2-3lbs a year is pretty far off the mark as well. I was 160lbs a year ago and put on 20lbs of muscle. In the last four months since I've started heavy compounds, I've gained 10lbs and that was with without eating excess protein or deliberately going over my calorie maintainable. For a beginner, 30lbs in a year seems reasonable to me, especially if you consider how skinny some guys legs are and how much mass they can pack onto their leg muscles.

[caerus13]

I think you can reasonably expect 20ish pounds in the first year if you work hard and eat right. Anything over is possible though. It obviously depends on the person.

[Peacenukka1129]

max muscle gain is .25 to .50 lbs a week under good nutrition so thats 1-2 pounds a month so 13-26 a year

[BigAppetite]

Read several sources who stated 12-24 lbs of dry muscle tissue a year under the best of circumstances(diet, training, supplements, rest, genetics etc). I'd emphatize that this is under the best circumstances, though, and only possible in the first year of training, muscle growth gets slower in time. But with that tissue also comes glycogen and water weight.

The question you ask has many answers, all whom is believed to be correct

[kusok]

Skinny teenagers can gain astonishing amount of muscle. And guess what? Most of it they would gain even WITHOUT WORKING OUT, because this is what is called "growing"...

Advanced adult trainees, 5 lbs per year IF LUCKY!

The more muscular you are, the less you can gain.

[Cheap5.0]

Skinny teenagers can gain astonishing amount of muscle. And guess what? Most of it they would gain even WITHOUT WORKING OUT, because this is what is called "growing"...

Advanced adult trainees, 5 lbs per year IF LUCKY!

The more muscular you are, the less you can gain.

Best answer so far.

[tha shredda]

max muscle gain is .25 to .50 lbs a week under good nutrition so thats 1-2 pounds a month so 13-26 a year

Those must be newbie numbers, b/c advanced athletes do not gain that. Just look at top natural pros (like most people on here do that lol), thier weight barely changes from year to year.

[Brahesthetics]

Skinny teenagers can gain astonishing amount of muscle. And guess what? Most of it they would gain even WITHOUT WORKING OUT, because this is what is called "growing"...

Advanced adult trainees, 5 lbs per year IF LUCKY!

The more muscular you are, the less you can gain.

/agree

[Peacenukka1129]

Those must be newbie numbers, b/c advanced athletes do not gain that. Just look at top natural pros (like most people on here do that lol), thier weight barely changes from year to year.

sorry i thought he was just starting out...and i heard that is the general first year meter to go by

[tha shredda]

sorry i thought he was just starting out...and i heard that is the general first year meter to go by

yea thats about max right as a beginner. Thats what I didnt understand why everybody came out with newby numbers, I didnt see where he said he was just starting out. And alot of these teenagers posts dont know how hard it gets when you obtain a certain amount of size, like that guy who posted below my 1st post.

[nicey1990]

haha chill guys, im sort of a newbie, been lifting on and off without proper instruction for the past 3 years, only really got into a proper routine this year, my starting lean mass was 180 even before working out, im hoping ive gained about 10 lb's by now, im mainly focused on weight loss at the moment, i was just interested in seeing how much realistically you all thought an average man can gain. also guys if im 240 right now and my lean target weight to aim for his say 190 what do u think my bodyfat % is roughly, like 26 %? i wanna get down to 8

[mas43]

how long is a piece of string!

[Ironwake]

Just look at top natural pros (like most people on here do that lol), thier weight barely changes from year to year.

Yes, because the muscle gain of a pro reaching their genetic potential should compare to that of a growing skinny teenager



General answer is way too general.

[ko300zx]

They say you can gain 1-2 pounds of lean muscle every week.. I would say that progression would slow even if you kept at it very hard for 52 weeks but it would depend how much you already have, what your bf is.. I would say as a guess 40-60 pounds.
Thats clean bulking for 365 days, working out 3-5 days a week and a **** ton of cardio.
Maybe I'm off but that seems pretty accurate.

Nice! I can pretty much reach my maximum genetic potential by the end of the year and at the same time do a **** ton of cardio (which I hear helps build muscle while bulking) so that I don't gain any fat while doing so!

Begin training 2009. Mr Olympia 2010. This is good news, good news indeed.

[tha shredda]

Yes, because the muscle gain of a pro reaching their genetic potential should compare to that of a growing skinny teenager



General answer is way too general.

OP is 240, doesnt sound like a growing skinny teenager does it? if so I guess he's the next mr. olympia.

listen, I dont see where you got that anywhere in OP's post that anybody was to discuss "beginners" or "skinny teenagers" (esp considering this isnt the teen section). I guess it just sounds cooler to post beginner type gains to whats realistic for a year on the average man. lol.

[braden101]

Total newb in his teens/early 20's doing everything right, theoretically could put on up to 25lbs (sometimes even more) of LBM in their first year, will almost half to roughly 10 - 12 pounds in his second year and so on, the longer you train the hardee and harder it will become to make gains. Top level natural BB's will gain LBM at a snails pace.

Its a very personal thing and you will never get an exact answer, a 40 year old man will gain ALOT slower then a 19 year old guy, for obvious reason (higher test levels etc), also men will gain alot faster then woman, you also have to rememebr that muscle growth is not always linear, it can come in spurts.

[OptimumLift]

Total newb in his teens/early 20's doing everything right, theoretically could put on up to 25lbs (sometimes even more) of LBM in their first year, will almost half to roughly 10 - 12 pounds in his second year and so on, the longer you train the hardee and harder it will become to make gains. Top level natural BB's will gain LBM at a snails pace.

Its a very personal thing and you will never get an exact answer, a 40 year old man will gain ALOT slower then a 19 year old guy, for obvious reason (higher test levels etc), also men will gain alot faster then woman, you also have to rememebr that muscle growth is not always linear, it can come in spurts.

I'd say 5lbs for hardgainers and 10lbs for mesomorphs or Endomorphs

[ironwill2008]

Anywhere from 0 to 25 pounds.

[Imtheman248]

Im hoping to put on 15-20 pounds of lean mass myself in the next 6 months or so.. .Im a beginner as well

[guest89]

I heard around 10lbs of lean muscle a year is attainable. I think it probably varies from person to person, but on average...



The thing you have to remember is if you put on 10lbs on muscle and another 10-20lbs of "meat" it will look like its muscle. Big difference from lifting weights and putting on 10-20lbs and sitting on your azz and putting on 10-20lbs.



In about a year to a year and a half I went from 155 to 175. Since we can say this was newbie gains its safe to say I put on at least 10lbs of lean muscle and the other 10lbs is more of "meat." My body doesn't have anymore fat on it then when I was 155 yet I'm 20lbs heavier, and I know I didn't put on 20lbs of lean muscle.

[frank112]

What if you're not a beginner to lifting weights but this is your first bulk? I'm trying out my first bulk for a solid 8 months and am looking to gain 3-4lbs a month at most. How much of that should I realistically expect to be muscle?

[tmaltbie]

I've read that you can add 1% of your bodyweight in lean mass per month so maybe if you do everyhing perfectly you could ass 12% of your bw in lean mass per year?. 1-2 a week is ridiculous...

[Rval86]

Those must be newbie numbers, b/c advanced athletes do not gain that. Just look at top natural pros (like most people on here do that lol), thier weight barely changes from year to year.

Top natural pros and skinny teenagers are at complete opposite ends of the discussion. Its kind of like asking "how much time can you shave off your 1 mile time in 6 months, then using an olympic athlete as your example to show that your time can not improve much. The question isn't one that there is going to be a specific answer to as every person's genetics and their specific situation has a lot to do with it. Most sources will say that .25-.5lbs of lean muscle a week is the cap for MOST people.

[ironwill2008]

What if you're not a beginner to lifting weights but this is your first bulk? I'm trying out my first bulk for a solid 8 months and am looking to gain 3-4lbs a month at most. How much of that should I realistically expect to be muscle?

Past noob gains? Doing everything correctly? Strictly muscle mass, and not fat? Natty? Somewhere between 5-10 pounds a year. Five is closer to the average.

[Farley1324]

Skinny teenagers can gain astonishing amount of muscle. And guess what? Most of it they would gain even WITHOUT WORKING OUT, because this is what is called "growing"...

Advanced adult trainees, 5 lbs per year IF LUCKY!

The more muscular you are, the less you can gain.

Sounds good to me.

Though 5 pounds for a year seems a bit low...if you do things mostly right...considering the vast majority of people are not "advanced"

[brianlee78]

The bottom line for any question relating to body building is that everyone is different and unfortunately it is not an exact science. With that said there are, however, averages. Those who claim to have gained 40 lbs in a year gained fat, and a lot of it. 1-2 lbs a month of lean mass typically is the most you can expect and that might be pushing it according to a lot of professionals. Additionally that is for the beginner. The beginner with very little muscle can expect to gain more muscle in one year than someone who has been training for a while. Each year you train the less you can expect to gain. The first year you might gain 15 lbs and the 4th year you may gain 7. In Arnold Schwarzenegger's autobiography he wrote that the biggest gain he had in a single year was 25 lbs. Now, he has the genetics and he was on steroids which he admitted to in that same book. So if one of the best ever body builders could only gain 25 lbs in a year do you think you'll beat that? Maybe. I hope you do but I would say that that gives you a better idea of what to expect realistically.

[Treadway31]

dude above ^^^ is WAY off lol. Try 2-3 lbs at most a year (newbies a few more). Nobody gains 1-2 a week lol. Go to your local grocery store to the meat section, and look at what 2 lbs of lean meat looks like, its alot, enough to alter your physique to be quite better.

I just want to thank you for saying this. My step dad is a former body builder and I know how long and how hard it is to gain muscle mass. I have a former friend who was about 200 pounds (of non muscle) just over the summer and recently started working out in november and claims to have gained 8 pounds of muscle. Knowing that is RIDICULOUS , I wanted to share this with her