Gaining Muscle is NOT that easy.

A person doesn't have to lift weights to have strength.

That's true, but a 400lbs overweight guy and a 200lbs lean guy can have the same strength. If people looked at the 2, the assumption is that the lean guy emulates strength and the overweight guy is...........well overweight.

That's true, but a 400lbs overweight guy and a 200lbs lean guy can have the same strength. If people looked at the 2, the assumption is that the lean guy emulates strength and the overweight guy is...........well overweight.

If the 400lb guy gets out of bed, he's lifting, which is probably why he's so strong. Now to convince him not to go on severe calorie restriction and cardio so he loses all the muscle...

My 2 cents in this rant.

Shunshine, thanks for stating the obvious misconception. I find the frequent assumption of quick muscle gain quite frustrating as well.

It is hard work to gain muscle and well take time. I would throw out there that due to infinite physiological variables between the many individuals, some will gain quicker than others. Any "I gained 5 lbs of muscle in a month!" is highly suspect.

The newbie gain effect has been pointed out.
I would suggest those that are significantly overweight and male may have the capacity to actually gain lean mass while on a caloric deficit when training appropriately. Reductions in body fat will lower estrogen levels. This, combined with proper training and a nutrient/protein rich diet and adequate rest, stimulating an anabolic state certainly promotes the retention of lean tissue.

Pure speculation on my part, but it would seem to me with favorable hormone conditions that the body would reach into fat stores of the significantly over weight to generate the energy required to generate the new tissue promoted by the new training stimuli (heavy lifting, etc.). Obviously the body would use such adaption when there is an obvious surplus of stored energy (approaching obese or greater), and the hormone conditions were favorable. I in no way would assume this as a general rule. However, the capacity in some individuals would not surprise me. As the fat stores drop, I would also speculate that capacity would diminish until such point that a caloric surplus is required for muscle tissue generation.

Just a hypothesis on my part though.

it does not take a lot of effort to gain muscle mass. it doesnt even take heavy lifting. what it does take is time. I've gotten more results, mass wise, swimming in sweats than I ever have lifting. though I generally go more for indurance lifting than max.

Are you seriously saying that swimming is a better exercise to gain muscle mass than lifting?

Unfortunately, it's not that easy for men to put muscle on either.

Men do have it easier though.

Oh yea completely agree here ^^ def not easy for anyone to put on muscle! Takes time and HARD work

Hell I even have seen a few people say they are gaining so much muscle mass from walking, running, and even cleaning their house xD

LOL!

So in 6 months of heavy lifting, eating at a surplus, I as a woman should expect about 5-6 pounds of muscle and 1.5-2 pounds of fat?

6 lbs of muscle still seems a bit high. As stated above 12lbs in a years time is for people getting the newbie effect

I took the 2-3lbs in 12 weeks and just doubled it. Blargh. Where's my roids? This is going to take forever...

I feel your pain. It is gonna take forever, but at least I love lifting heavy so I guess it won't be too unpleasant. I'm eating at or around maintenance, but I'm ready to up my calories further to put on some muscle.

Oh and I love my muscular arms! I used to have just normal thin arms (probably the infamous "toned" look some people are going for) and I far prefer my muscular arms now. Not only are they strong, but I think they look better in clothes as well. I was buying new blouses for work a few weeks ago and the saleswoman told me I had beautiful shoulders.

it does not take a lot of effort to gain muscle mass. it doesnt even take heavy lifting. what it does take is time. I've gotten more results, mass wise, swimming in sweats than I ever have lifting. though I generally go more for indurance lifting than max.

Anecdotes aren't evidence. I'll take the word from actual science behind how muscle is built and gained.

While it's true that people can't gain 5 lb of muscle in a week, I think the #s that some people are claiming are really conservative assuming newbie gains. I gained about 10 lb in 2 months... are you guys suggesting that was 2 lb of muscle and 8 lb of fat? It certainly doesn't look like it to me.

You've strayed from the topic. I will dispute your post that getting muscular fast can't happen unless you have musculature to show. In order to do that you would have to build it up and like it's been stated by factual evidence, it's not that easy to build muscle and even harder if you're a female due to lower levels of testosterone.
You may be defining muscular as arms with low body fat. But if it were that easy and fast, then many females here who consistently weight train and diet shouldn't have issues with "bat wings".

Your body can't speak for every woman's body, neither can mine. That's why we are all unique. I'm done.

Wait! So that means that now since my clothes are too big and I swim in my sweat pants... I will gain muscle!!! Woot! "D Any person will build much more muscle LIFTING WEIGHTS than anything. I don't care if those weights are hay bales or tv's... its still weight. You will NOT build more muscle walking for a month than you would strength training (legitimately) for that month.

try this some time and see hown you feel. warm up with 500m, then do another 1000 in 100m intervals with 30 sec in between, then another 500 in sweats seat pants sweat shirt, then cool down with another 500. do this 3 times a week for a month and you will gain a pound of muscle.