Gaining Muscle is NOT that easy.

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.

So what do people think when you show up at a swimming pool and jump in with all your clothes on? I'm pretty sure that's not even allowed at the ones I've been too....

I'm saying its not hard to gain muscle mass. consistant athleatic conditioning over 5-6 years will gain as much if not more muscle mass as serius weight training over one year. again not hard just time consuming.

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.

soysos, it depends on how much muscle mass we are talking about which would determine the level of difficulty and time..And 5-6 years of athletic training compared to 1 year of weight training is not exactly an even comparison. But you have to take numerous factors into consideration even with that..The type of athletic conditioning or training. Athletic conditioning could involve weight training or it could involve endurance training. Diet is another consideration. You stated you achieved more mass with your outlined swimming program compared to weight lifting..Was your nutrition the same under both scenarios? Also you stated you focused more on endurance which is not an optimal training protocol for significant muscle hypertrophy.

I could lift weights for years and not achieve much as far as increase in muscle size if I don't have my nutrition in check and training geared torwards that goal..Muscle protein accumulation occurs when the rate of protein synthesis increases, the rate of protein degradation decreases, or both..Also the type of weight training you do must be considered..'Muscles increase their size and strength when they are forced to contract at tensions close to their maximum'

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.

Probability of maybe 5-6 lbs. The only way you can really tell is if you were measured before and now.

My bf % stayed consistent according to a skinfold caliper so I would say it's close to 8-9lb

Things got awfully interesting in a hurry.

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

Not speaking for every woman's body, was speaking in terms of how "fast" you claimed it is to get muscular arms. So what do you call fast? A month, 6 months, 12 months?

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.

Lol, this is too funny. It's obvious you aren't schooled in physiology. You are building MUSCLE ENDURANCE, but you aren't building muscle unless muscle is OVERLOADED PROGRESSIVELY and you're in consistent calorie surplus. Please unless you have studies to show this, your anecodotes are just that, anecdotes.

any pool that caters to teams or boy scouts have seen it before and will usually allow it, if you know what your doing. when I did workouts like this I was in a team. when I became a lifeguard I picked it up again and never had an issue.

I worked at GMU Freedom Aquatic center for 5 years and am in currently in another gym with an Olympic style pool and I instruct DRYLAND with both swim teams. NEVER have I seen this in either.
First off it would throw off your mechanics if you did competitively swim. Second, there would be no consistency in rules especially if stated that "correct swim attire must be worn" on it. I call BS.

WTH!! All I have to do is swim in sweats and clean my house to gain muscle!! Heck I've been doing it all wrong!

I KNOW! Why have I been lifting weights for all these months? So much effort wasted....

WTH!! All I have to do is swim in sweats and clean my house to gain muscle!! Heck I've been doing it all wrong!

I KNOW! Why have I been lifting weights for all these months? So much effort wasted....

I feel like such a failure!

Like stated above make sure to use proper form while deadlifting the fridge to sweep under it xD

I guess my 197 grams of protein yesterday was a waste too!! CRAP!!