How much mass gain from strength training realistic?

_nikkiwolf_

Hi everyone,

in lots of articles about strength training I keep reading that muscles are denser than fat, and you shouldn't focus on the number on the scale. But I have trouble finding any numbers on how much weight gain would be realistic?

Background info: I've been maintaining at my goal weight since more than three years now, with running as my main exercise, and without tracking my food in the last two years except around the holidays. This year in April I've started doing exercise videos with dumbbells 3-4 times per week at home (this kind of training: https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/get-strong-upper-body-workout-for-strength-with-descending-reps ; https://www.fitnessblender.com/videos/build-a-booty-workout-strength-and-pilates-workout-for-butt-and-thighs ). The weights I'm using are not super heavy, depending on the exercise between 4-16 pounds per hand, a bit heavier now than when I started doing them five month ago. I got a compliment recently that my arms look much stronger , so I'd like to tell myself those exercises are doing something.

On the other hand, the measurements I took (hip, waist, thighs) haven't changed, while I've gained about 3 pounds. Could that amount of gain in just a few month be "muscle mass" (especially since women have a harder time building muscle, and my dumbbells are not as heavy as what people lift in a gym), or am I just deluding myself and should start cutting back on my calorie intake for a few weeks to get back to my old maintenance weight?

E.t.a: I guess I will go back to tracking food & exercise calories for a few weeks to be sure, I'm just curious on what kind of muscle mass gain people would expect from strength training.

jemhh

Hello. This is a good article for you to read: https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/general-philosophies-of-muscle-mass-gain.html/

sijomial

Your mass gain is only limited by your calorie intake - your muscle mass gain is very different!
From Lyle McDonald....

Year of Proper Training Potential Rate of Muscle Gain per Year
1 ................................20-25 pounds (2 pounds per month)
2 ................................10-12 pounds (1 pound per month)
3 ................................5-6 pounds (0.5 pound per month)
4+ ................................2-3 pounds (not worth calculating)


Again, these values are for males, females would use roughly half of those values (e.g. 10-12 pounds in the first year of proper training).

Please note that these are averages and make a few assumptions about proper training and nutrition and such. As well, age will interact with this; older individuals won’t gain as quickly and younger individuals may gain more quickly. For example, it’s not unheard of for underweight high school kids to gain muscle very rapidly. But they are usually starting out very underweight and have the natural anabolic steroid cycle called puberty working for them.


https://bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html/

_nikkiwolf_

Thanks for the replies, really interesting reading!

mom23mangos

If your measurements aren’t changing and you are noticing positive visual differences, I’d continue to ignore the scale IMO.