How long does it take to gain 10 pounds of muscle?

[Anomalous]

Well im 160, 6'1 or 6'2. How long do you guys think it will take me to gain 10 pounds of muscle if i work out 3 days a week?

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

Depends on how much you eat. And what you're eating.

First, find out what your baseline caloric intake must be. This is done by calculating your weight, by your body fat % and knowing your height. The formula is available online and if you're lifting, you should know it so you can follow your progress.

Next, add about 500 calories to that total on lifting days. So if it's determined you must consume 2500, have 3000 on lifting days and about 250 on non lifting days. You want to throw on extra calories but don't binget yet. This isn't an exact and perfect science since muscle gain is based on activity, effort, intensity @ the gym, recovery, rest, and food eaten.

1lb = 3500 calories

So theoretically, it'd only require 500 extra per day to gain 1lb per week. But it isn't THAT simple, you must be working out, increasing each workout, and working out frequently, at least 3x/week, and doing the workout again within 5 days so that the calories are being used for THAT specific job, i.e recovery and muscle gain.

Some will disagree, and I don't have a PHD by any means in nutritional science, but after enough research and experiementation, I advocate less protein than some will tout.

----------------------------

I -used- to buy all the shakes, and bars, and chicken breasts, and eggs, but I've cut back, as some guys will tell you as well. Protein, while important, is detrimental in many respects to the American diet. And most guys who gain serious muscle on high protein diets are consuming MASSIVE quantities of food in general. They're eating the extra 3500 calories per week, which is normally carbohydrates with some protein and fats. So the fact that they are eating tons of protein is overshadowed by eating as much carbs, too.

If you need incidence of why protein is as necessary, check your local penitentiary or army. They eat what they're given. There's not a specific diet advocated, nor a specific protein amount. All I've ever heard are protein manufacturers touting high protein diets, done through athletes who are also on their pay role.

Protein and carbs and good fats (Udo's oil, or fish oils, EFA's) are the basic foundation of any nutritional program. But, you won't grow if your carb sources are low. Your system will be devoid of carbs in general to replace those burnt during a workout and seek the protein to fill in for it, so they won't go to the muscle, they'll go to replace the lost glycogen.

I could go on and on as I have about this, but there's no time line on how long muscle can be thrown on. Conservatively, it's 10 weeks, by eating an extra 500 or so per day based on lifting. But, genetics play a role, a very large role. If you're a noob, you could see some gains quickly, eating right and enough.

What's the rush for 10lbs? Even if it's 10 week, it likely won't be 100% muscle. If you're thin, and you sound thin for 6 feet, then any size will good.



A-Unit

 

[Lifeforce]

Originally posted by whyshy
Well im 160, 6'1 or 6'2. How long do you guys think it will take me to gain 10 pounds of muscle if i work out 3 days a week?

It really depends on alot of things. If you squat, deadlift and do other compound exercises while eating alot of protein and moderatly with carb then you will grow pretty quick. The more muscles you stimulate when you work out, the more growth hormone will be released and the quicker you will grow as long as you get enough nutrition.

Just let it take the time it takes. Don't worry on getting results too quick.

 

[ShyRyder]

If your just starting lifting is shouldn't take you that long. My first couple weeks like many other people youll see amazing gains. In my first month i was seeing gains like 2 pounds a week. After a while it cooled off to around 1 pound. If you EAT right and do compound movements you'll be amazed.

 

[MindOverMatter]

The first year is different for everybody, due to beginner gains. However, after a year or two working out, 1lbs of lean muscle mass / month is a good gain for a natural, but even that doesn't last forever.

The longer you workout, the harder it is to keep adding lean muscle mass. If you look at the pro bodybuilders, most of them gain 3-5 lbs in the year period inbetween Olympias.

 

[ShyRyder]

Originally posted by MindOverMatter
The longer you workout, the harder it is to keep adding lean muscle mass.

Hey man stop dicourgaging me. Yah it is different for everyone, my begininer gains where great. But persistence and hard work will take you anywhere no matter how long.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Haha, i meant in the longterm of things. First 1-5 years are fast results, after that, you have to work twice as hard to get half the results.

People who have been working out religiously for 10 years usually struggle to make 5 lbs in a year.

 

[C00L]

Re: Re:

If you need incidence of why protein is as necessary, check your local penitentiary or army. They eat what they're given. There's not a specific diet advocated, nor a specific protein amount. All I've ever heard are protein manufacturers touting high protein diets, done through athletes who are also on their pay role.

Protein and carbs and good fats (Udo's oil, or fish oils, EFA's) are the basic foundation of any nutritional program. But, you won't grow if your carb sources are low. Your system will be devoid of carbs in general to replace those burnt during a workout and seek the protein to fill in for it, so they won't go to the muscle, they'll go to replace the lost glycogen.

I could go on and on as I have about this, but there's no time line on how long muscle can be thrown on. Conservatively, it's 10 weeks, by eating an extra 500 or so per day based on lifting. But, genetics play a role, a very large role. If you're a noob, you could see some gains quickly, eating right and enough.

What's the rush for 10lbs? Even if it's 10 week, it likely won't be 100% muscle. If you're thin, and you sound thin for 6 feet, then any size will good.



A-Unit [/B]

prisoners and people in the military have access to protein supplements.

 

[MindOverMatter]

Ya you think protein is expensive in real world, do you know how many smokes a jug of iso whey costs in the joint

 

[RaWBLooD]

it will take you exactly 32.7 days, after wich, you will get food poisoning and lose 20 lbs in 2 days, then you will gain all that weight back much slower.

 

[ScrewIt]

Ill be frank it took me about 2 - 3 months to gain that in the past. Your eating has to be very consistent along with your workouts. As much small meals a day as you can. My appetite is abnormal, probably for someone with an an untroubled appetite would progbably take less than 2 months to gain that weight.

But once you fall back to your regular caloric intake, that weight you gained is easily lost.

 

[Fatality]

Originally posted by ScrewIt
Ill be frank it took me about 2 - 3 months to gain that in the past.

we're talking muscle here, not fat

For a beginner it's hard to say how long it would take to build 10 pounds of muscle. I would say anywhere from a 6 months to a year depending on genetics, diet, and training.

After a year or two 10 pounds would probably take atleast a year. Maybe two years. Alot of people will argue that they gained 40 pounds in a year. They don't realize that 35 of it is fat and water

 

[MindOverMatter]

Alot of people will argue that they gained 40 pounds in a year. They don't realize that 35 of it is fat and water

No sh!t, main reason I think skinnyguy.net is a joke.

 

[Fatality]

Originally posted by MindOverMatter
No sh!t, main reason I think skinnyguy.net is a joke.

it is a joke

it's also a joke that people buy his book when everything he says is common sense to anybody that actually works out

 

[RaWBLooD]

Originally posted by Fatality
it is a joke

it's also a joke that people buy his book when everything he says is common sense to anybody that actually works out

wanna hear a cool way to make cash of e-bay?
find something cheap you can buy in large quantities, sell it for even cheaper than you bought, but charge 10$ s&h "I sell transparent piece chess sets, for 1$ and add 10$ s&h",
my programming teacher showed me back in gr 10 hes like "I dont know why people would pay 11$ for something they can buy for 2$ in a store, but im not one to argue".

People are so caught up in saving, they do the opposite....

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

I'll admit, I've bought most training / lifting programs out there, and less than 1% vary from each other. They might change the reps, or sets, or vary the exercises, they all have theories on what works and what doesn't, the best exercises, etc.

Some go so far as to blast supplements, only to sell their own brand at the end of it all.

Quite honestly, they're all in cahoots. And for that reason, they keep guys from getting to where they want. Each program gives you a 'taste' of what works, of making slight gains, but then not being complete. So you try another, or you change what you're doing because 'you try to trick the muscle.'

It's a sad state of affairs; I'd wager I have a minor in Exercise and Physiology just from the wasted crap on exercise material, beginning with the body for life program all the way to skinnyguy.net.

The journey pays because you realize you don't need the junk of someone else. Plus, I look around the gym and few people maintain a physique that is impressive. Sure, some guys are large, but they're not cut, or they're imbalanced. Whoop-dee-doo.

Fact is weight is weight is weight, and you want to make continual progression frequently and intensely. That's it. All the magazines are in cahoots, because they're either owned by the supplement companies or so much advertising is sunk into them, no magazine would contradict or speak the truth on it.

Moreover, guru's only tweek diet/nutrition ever so much. Barry Sear's has his Zone program of 40/30/30 which is a farse. The Atkins program is just a diet that enables those who don't want to stop eating bad to keep their bad habits going. And the diets put out by bodybuilders, if they are that, are based on what supplement companies give them.

Unless I'm mistaken, supplements were never needed in such great supply to grow, nor was excessive protein. Excessive calories, yes, must be consumed to force the body to add size, but not excessive protein which is not only expensive, but damaging to the body and generally comes from sources that debilitate your healthy for the sake of your physique (see Atkins on this).

I would say "man-made" crap contribues to a bad physique, but that's more from Processed Carbs, than from Natural Carbs, plants, plant proteins, fruits, and the occasional dairy/meat products. If you compare human physiology to that of other animals, you'll see that we weren't designed for the long-term consumption of meats/dairy.

We don't have the nail or claws to kill, maim, or shred an animal we've caught; we build tools for that. Well, if you're not 'naturally' born for something, something linked to survival is it not possible that we are not meant to devour it? The human mouth is also not a shreddeding or tearing mouth. It is not like a dog or cat, with fangs. Nor is the human digestive system similar to that of an animal that can handle raw meat.

Affluent societies throughout history that consume meat & excessive protein have shown over time to lose 30% of their kidney function. Osteoporosis is significantly higher. A woman who consumes 95gm of protein/day has a high chance or breaking her wrist or other delicate bone structure over a woman who consumes under 60gm.

I bring up these points because few people know what exists about health, and even fewer know what to do as it relates to lifting. Most guys buy tubs of protein, seeing it as a miracle supplement, and think they'll have gobs of muscle at the end of a month, or few months, or maybe even a week. Not so, protein is needed. But our bodies are so efficient, that we can take protein from anything to make anything we need.

If protein is so important, why does an infant consume so much breast milk, which is less than 10% protein? And if it must have a diet rich in milk/breast milk, how does it grow? All children would be stunted. I'm not saying 60-80 or so grams isn't worthy, but to get the 150+ most programs push forth, you must have gobs of tuna, meat, chicken, and so forth, and doing so is very unhealthy for the body. But, too few know it.

Protein is purported to be the be-all-and-end-all of supplements and nutrients also as it "supposedly" minimizes glucose levels. Not so again. In the absence of carbs it has as great, or greater of an effect on sugar and insulin levels, hence why if you consume a pure protein shake, no carbs, you are hungry quit quickly afterwards. Moreover, if you eat tons of protein WITH carbs, it has a greater insulin effect.

If you dig, the information is out there, but if you look around, and ask why the mainsteam pushes the same sort of diets and nutrition with slight variation, yet few people look different or have different health patterns, you'll begin to realize everybody doing everything the same will lead you to the same results. And inevitably, that perhaps, it's all wrong.



A-Unit

 

[B-Lemond]

Wow, A unit you must really like these forums!

P.S. Give me a summary of what you just posted because there is no way I'm reading all that.

 

[A-Unit]

Re:

*Carbs are not the enemy, refined sugar is. So are saturated fats.

*Calories are what count, not nutrients. If you only the maintenance amount of calories and a few extra calories from protein, you won't gain a thing. Gains come from EXTRA calories.

*Protein is not the be all end all nutrient required as some think. There's probably more harm than good here.

*Consider a workout thusly...if you haven't pushed your max each workout, but 1 or 2 more reps or 2.5 or 5 lbs more, then you're not making gains. The sets that make and cause increases are those that FORCE the muscle to grow, to endure stress. Warmup sets are good to get blood flowing, but excessive sets that don't push a muscle are wasting energy and time.

*Supplements enhance good nutrition, but they're not like steroids. No where near the impact. If you're not getting enough cals or eating proper fooding or over boozing, then just go flush the supps down the drain, they're a waste of money.


That's a recap


A-Unit

 

[Warboss Alex]

Originally posted by whyshy
How long do you guys think it will take me to gain 10 pounds of muscle?

Where's Manuva, I think we worked this one out .. 17 months, 8 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes and 42 seconds, but ONLY if you do concentration curls in a pink tutu, tricep kickbacks while counting backwards from a thousand in albanian, and INTENSE cable crossovers yelling "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" at the mid-point of each positive rep AND if you work out when the moon's full by the light of six dwarf-flavoured navy blue candles.

Whyshy, there's no real answer, it all depends on your genes, training and diet. You might push yourself past your limits but eat the protein requirements of a bed-ridden gerbil, or eat like a horse but always use the same reps/weight every workout .. in either case you won't gain squat.

Don't look for a quick fix, or a 'how long to'. Think of the long run, learn as much as you can, learn proper form on good compound movements, get on a proper diet condusive to muscle building, put in 110% effort week in week out and you'll get there - but no-one can say how long it'll take you.

 

[semag]

Re: Re: How long does it take to gain 10 pounds of muscle?

Originally posted by Warboss Alex
Where's Manuva, I think we worked this one out .. 17 months, 8 days, 6 hours, 3 minutes and 42 seconds, but ONLY if you do concentration curls in a pink tutu, tricep kickbacks while counting backwards from a thousand in albanian, and INTENSE cable crossovers yelling "I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts" at the mid-point of each positive rep AND if you work out when the moon's full by the light of six dwarf-flavoured navy blue candles.

LMAO, pretty soon we're gonna be having contests to see who can extend this "how long does x take" to a 5 page answer of crazy shyt!