How much muscle can I gain lifting?

KarenJanine

I am not even necessarily concerned with myself, I'm just interested to know because it was getting discouraging hearing girls do not gain muscle weight when I've been working so hard

There are numerous other benefits to weight training aside from muscle gain. Don't feel discouraged!

SaintGiff

Let's start with the basic assumptions that you are not taking steroids, but you are getting enough protein. In that universe, the rule of thumb is that a young adult male can gain 5 to 10lbs of lean muscle mass in a year. For a young woman you would be looking at somewhere in the 3 to 8 pound range depending upon genetics. And that doesn't mean weight gain. That's lean muscle mass gain. You can gain / lose fat in that year which effects scale weight. It is also very important to point out that this is with a really dedicated, thought out lifting plan that you are attacking aggressively. 99% of the people out there would be lucky to hit the low end of that range.

Raclex

And don't worry too much about protein... there are plenty of super strong vegan/ vegetarian athletes out there that don't necessarily eat 1g protein per pound.

http://www.greatveganathletes.com/ and just think of Frank Medrano... and his girl ;-)

IMHO, protein is a little overrated... my grandfather, a cardiologist that passed, always use to tell me that this much protein will wreak havoc on your heart, arteries and circulatory system long term... But that's just his opinion, and mine. So you can take it or leave it :-)

erickirb

And don't worry too much about protein... there are plenty of super strong vegan/ vegetarian athletes out there that don't necessarily eat 1g protein per pound.

http://www.greatveganathletes.com/ and just think of Frank Medrano... and his girl ;-)

IMHO, protein is a little overrated... my grandfather, a cardiologist that passed, always use to tell me that this much protein will wreak havoc on your heart, arteries and circulatory system long term... But that's just his opinion, and mine. So you can take it or leave it :-)

In a surplus protein isn't as important, but in a deficit it becomes increasingly important.

DopeItUp

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

Mr_Knight

So it' definitely possible for me to have gained a few lbs of muscle over a course of 8 months even in average conditions (very consistent lifting routines and progressively lifting heavier, I could pay closer attention to my macros tho)

Possible, but unlikely.

JoRocka

I am not even necessarily concerned with myself, I'm just interested to know because it was getting discouraging hearing girls do not gain muscle weight when I've been working so hard

are you going up in lifts?

do you like what you're body is capable of doing?

do you like what you look at when you get dressed/undressed?

These are more important questions to be concerned with.

Springfield1970

The general rule of thumb is women can gain 1/4lb of muscle a week, but along with that would be another 1/4lb fat.

That means you'd be having to eat 250 calories per day over what you needed and following a progressive weight training routine.

You'd be gaining about 2lbs a month both In muscle and fat, then usually a cut would happen after.

Anyway that's what happened when I did it.

Now I'm still upping the weights, but because I'm eating at maintenance the best I can expect is miniscule body re composition at best. I think I'm just getting stronger and better at lifting, but I'm not building muscle at all.

When I cut a little, the muscle gets more defined giving the illusion that I've got more muscley.

777Gemma888

Realistically, how much weight in muscle can a 22 yr old female gain in a specified period of time - say 1 month, or 6 months? I've heard conflicting theories

Crossed this article last week. You may find the opinions/observations made by Lyle McDonald and Alan Aragon and interesting/helpful:http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/muscle-gain/whats-my-genetic-muscular-potential.html


[Image Source: link provided above]

Apologies in advance, if another poster had contributed this link already.

bc2ct

I put on 10lbs lean muscle in 6 months after I returned to intense training.