An Expert Trainer Reveals How Much Muscle You Can Gain per Month and Year
When weight training to build muscle mass, it's important to consider both the factors directly related to training and those outside of workouts that can significantly affect results.
Variables such as training volume, intensity or frequency, and aspects such as mechanical tension, muscle damage or metabolic stress all combine to increase the size of muscle mass. But we mustn't lose sight of the fact that diet and rest play a huge role, too. Not to mention that your starting point, previous experience, genetics and age are also relevant. In other words, it's not straightforward.
Building muscle is slow process that often requires a perfectly structured plan and a large dose of perseverance to be successful. 'It is normal to have specific goals and expectations when starting a muscle mass gain phase,' explains David Marchante, but he advises, 'limit your expectations as much as possible and focus more on daily objectives and smaller goals that will lead you to your final objective.'
Marchante, a specialist in strength training, is aware that setting overly ambitious goals can be counterproductive.
'Maintaining a calorie surplus within the recommended range (250-500 kcal/day), the different studies, which usually last between 8 and 10 weeks on average, show an 8-10% increase in size for about 12 weekly sets with a frequency of 2 sessions per week per muscle group,' explains Marchante, taking as a reference an average man of 175 cm and 70 kg.
'If we increase the frequency to 3 days per muscle group per week with, for example, 5 or 6 sets per session, the approximate improvement is 0.11% per week, which in absolute terms is 1% more in 8 weeks. It's faster, yes, but still, progress is slower than we would like,' he adds.
'Therefore,' he continues, 'depending on how many days a week you train and how much you target each muscle group, you could expect an average gain of 0.08% per workout in the case of low-frequency and 0.15% per workout in the case of high-frequency'.
Expectations vs. Reality
As Marchante commented, it is important to keep one's feet on the ground because in most cases theoretical expectations 'do not perfectly match reality'.
'The diminishing returns that occur as we gain training experience will deliver somewhat different figures. Therefore, we should include some flexibility in our expectations and in the evaluation of results,' the coach concludes.
How Much Muscle You Will Gain per Month
According to the scientific estimates reflected by Marchante in a graph, an average man of 175 cm and 70 kg could obtain the following results depending on his level:
Beginner: 10-12 kg of muscle mass gain per year (1% per month)
Intermediate: 5-6 kg of muscle mass gain per year (0.7% per month)
Advanced: 2-3 kg of muscle mass gain per year (0.3% per month)
Expert: 1-2 kg of muscle mass gain per year (0.2% per month)
However, as Marchante explains, theory is one thing and practice is quite another. It is good to know the estimates that science makes in order to have a more or less reliable reference, but they may not be suitable for us individually. Ultimately, it is better not to become obsessed and instead focus on the daily work because the results will be noticeable in the medium to long term.
You Might Also Like
