muscle gain

[devo75]

hello im male 35. only 5'7 and small frame currently 150lbs. going to cut down to 140. pretty lean at that weight. wondering how long to put on 10lbs of solid muscle. going to try 2 seven month bulk cycles. but not big bulks because i always put on to much fat. is 10 pounds relistic muscle gain for me. never really worked my legs so that might help. their so tiny looks like im sitting on a chicken lol. been working out for years on and off

How long to put on 10lbs really depends on a lot of factors like your diet and your workout regimen and even genetics. If everything is ideal, then a half pound to a pound of muscle gain per week is probably doable.

Not working legs is definitely going to hamper muscle gains. Legs are the biggest muscle in the body, so if you really want to gain muscle, you shouldn't neglect them.

[bodyshop20]

I agree with liftgirl in everything she has put, If you have good genes you can like me put on 2lb muscle per week but it takes hard heavy lifting and a diet to fuel the workouts and recovery.
So i would aim for 1lb per week or 3lb per month so you have 9-10 weeks to get to goal

[devo75]

wow i can really put on 10lbs of lean muscle in 3 months. thought it would take a year atleast

No one can say how long it will take you to gain 10lbs of lean mass. To get the best results, you have to train your legs though. My personal favorite for adding mass is a full body workout done 3x a week. I'm a serious 5x5 advocate because it works so well. HST is good too.

Mrs.V. and I just did a contest against some seriously juiced competitors and she was totally natural for her training. Being female competing against 18 men we honestly thought she had no chance whatsoever. However, at today's weigh in she's 171lbs and wearing a size 5 women's jeans. She's smaller and much leaner but way more muscular than she was at 150lbs a few months ago. I'm talking a bicep peak that is a good 1.5" higher than 3 months ago. Not bad for a 5'2" female.

How to do this...

Monday
Squat
Bench
Row

Wed
Squad
Dead
OHP
Lat pull or chinup

Friday
Squat
Bench
Row

For each lift, find your 5 rep max. Put this at week 4. Start 15lbs lighter than this max. Each week, add 5lbs to your working weight. Wednesday is light squat day, you only lift 80% of the weight you lifted on Monday. Friday is a repeat of Monday. Do 5 sets of 5 for each workout.

The aforementioned lifts are optimal, but if you can't do them, use alternatives. If you can't squat, use the leg press. If you can't deadlift, do rack pulls.

Nutrition. Make yourself a diet that is about 45% carbs, 35% protein, and 20% fat. Use 16-20 calories/lb.

I prefer the anabolic diet for lean gains but this takes some serious dedication and lots of carb deprival so I'm not suggesting it for a beginner.

[EmGee]

Originally Posted by .V.

. Being female competing against 18 men we honestly thought she had no chance whatsoever. However, at today's weigh in she's 171lbs and wearing a size 5 women's jeans. She's smaller and much leaner but way more muscular than she was at 150lbs a few months ago. I'm talking a bicep peak that is a good 1.5" higher than 3 months ago. Not bad for a 5'2" female.

holy crap! Im 5'2" and I cannot even imagine weighing 171 pounds. Im 125 and wear a size 4/6. Although I imagine her body fat is a lot less than mine is! Im curious, what is her bf btw?

[trainerty]

Weird thing about putting on muscle is you are not actually putting on new muscle....you're either increasing the cell fluid or increasing the number of myofibrils (think that's spelled right)....better known as hypertrophy.

Just make sure to measure your body composition so you can differentiate from FM (fat mass) and FFM (fat free mass). Weight is deceiving alone.

Hypertrophy generally occurs when you push the muscles past the point of exhaustion. Lifting for tons of reps, or tons of weight for little reps and tons of sets.....it all causes hypertrophy. One reason why spin class chics get big quads (god-love'm )

Like V and Lift said nutrition....gotta eat like a big guy to be big.

Goodluck

[EmGee]

yes I know weight can be deceiving. However while I do want more muscle tone and definition, I dont want to get bigger! and yes I do know that muscle takes up less space than fat, and Im working on building less fat and more muscle!

EmGee, the same weight on a muscular person is much smaller than on a fat person. I'm 200lbs and very lean right now and this makes me rather skinny and small looking. When I was 200lbs and a fatass, I was much bigger.

There is no way you are going to get TOO big by lifting weights and building muscle. Muscle gain and fat loss is also known as "toning". If I remember correctly from your posts you are female...and this means that without exogenous testosterone, you do not have the hormones to get "too big". In fact the best any male can do is to be a little less than the bodybuilders of the 40's and 50's. When drug use was minimal.

So eat, lift, sleep, build muscle, and burn fat. Remember, every pound of muscle gain you get takes an additional 60 calories/day to keep. Gain 10lbs of muscle and you have an automatic 600 calorie deficit every day. That's over a pound of fat loss a week.

I'm oversimplifying a bit, but this is basically how it works.

[Mrs.v.]

Originally Posted by EmGee

holy crap! Im 5'2" and I cannot even imagine weighing 171 pounds. Im 125 and wear a size 4/6. Although I imagine her body fat is a lot less than mine is! Im curious, what is her bf btw?

Hey EmGee..

I just added an album to my profile to show the difference between the 150lbs and 171lbs...

And YES, I almost DIED when I saw what the scale said...BUT, as .V. said I am still SMALLER from my workouts and eating what and when he tells me to..Its AMAZING what he has done for me...