Dennis Wolf Has Upper Hand for Mr. Olympia Title
By Joe Pietaro
Bodybuilding fans are on the crux of what may be remembered as one of the most competitive Mr. Olympia contests of all time. There are six legitimate contenders who could finish in any order and you could make an argument for either of them. Add [...]

Building muscle. Build muscle fast using weight lifting routines and muscle building tips that work. Muscle building programs and nutrition

Pain does hurt, especially when you’re lying in bed at night trying to find the one position where you’re not in agony, find the one muscle or two that you neglected to beat the tar out of during your last workout.

Have you ever wondered why some people seem to pack on the muscle in a short period of time, while others might be overjoyed when you put on 5-6 lbs of lean body mass in a year?

It's about how much muscle can you build and the answer isn't just so straight forward or simple.

Consider the following: The average man has between 30% to as much as 60% of his lean body mass as actual muscle. The average women has between 25% to 50% of her lean body mass as actual muscle.

Muscular growth is rarely a liner process and tends to come in a series of cycles.

"You cannot calculate your actual muscle gain, short of having a biopsy." – Jeremy Likeness, Certified Personal Trainer and Body Transformation Expert

That means that no matter what you eat, how hard you train or what supplements you take, muscle growth will never come at a predicable steady rate. This makes those 10-12 pounds of muscle a year for a natural bodybuilder a myth along with any other hard numbers telling you how much actual muscle to expect or any references to the actual rate of growth.

Here's just a short list of the things that can influence your muscle growth:

• holidays
• injuries
• illness
• nutrition
• training
• sleep
• medications
• complications called "life"
• and more…

By the way…

Some people are genetically predisposed at packing on lean body mass and can just look at a weight and gain muscle (you know those people right?). Others have to work like the dickens to just gain an ounce of muscle and their rate of growth is slower.

Researchers from the Netherlands, Van Etten, L.M., Verstappen, F.T., & Westerterp, K.R. studied the effect of body build on weight-training-induced adaptations in body composition and muscular strength. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, 26, 515-521. In the study they found that men with a "solid" build gained more muscle than men with a "slender" build following a 12-week weight-training program .

Although fat-free mass increased in both groups, the slender guys gained only 0.7 pounds (0.3 kilograms) versus 3.5 pounds (1.6 kilograms) in the solid group. My point is…

The nearer you get to your muscular genetic potential, the slower the gains will be. This is known by exercise professionals as the ceiling of adaptation. The longer you've been training, the slower your gains will be. Somebody like me who's been training for 17 years will gain less muscle mass than a new trainer who's just started out in the first 6 weeks.

So what does this mean to you?

That being said, based on the consensus of the available studies, the average trainee can gain roughly 2-4% of their initial weight in the form of muscle after 6 weeks of regular resistance exercise. These figures are based on the results of studies using trained subjects with a body fat percentage of 10-15%. Extremely lean or obese individuals would be hard to predict.

None of the studies I could find made reference to a female's ability to build muscle so my best guess is about half of the male studies but I can't prove that as there's no research to fall back on. Let's face it…

How much muscle can I gain is not a linear approach. You won't keep growing at the same rate forever. In fact, the studies that do reference muscle growth were only on male trainees in the first 6 weeks of training. That seems somewhat predictable but after those 6 weeks, you need to know what to expect and it's not going to be the same number week after week or year after year.

Over the course of a year, it's rare for people to add more than 25 lbs of muscle but it's very possible for them to add more than 25 lbs of lean body mass. Lean body mass defined as a combination of anything that is not fat. And that's why…

Increasing your lean body mass is something you can track and calculate and should be your focal point to determine your progression. How much muscle you build in a given time period is not because it's not a linear process and it can't realistically be determined short of a biopsy.

"A beginner on a decent training and nutrition program might be able to gain 25 pounds of muscle in their first year of training. In year two, we can cut that number in half, giving you a gain of 10-12 pounds. In year three, the gains will be halved again, giving you 5-6 pounds of new muscle." – Christin
Finn

If you are gaining more lean body mass that is generally a positive because you are gaining more muscle than fat. For most weight-gainers, .5 pounds per week would be an even more realistic goal as they reach their genetic limit. Frankly…

Staying focused on your goal by training intensely, eating consistency and engaging in proper recovery are things you can control and will result in your optimization of lean body mass.

Remember that gaining muscle is a long-term project. If you're dedicated and consistent in your efforts, you will not be disappointed.

Marc David – Read my other articles
Featured author for gymtechnik.com
Creator of "The NoBull Bodybuilding Program" on http://www.NoBullBodybuilding.com      

• I was reading my travel diary last night, and I came across an interesting statement that I had forgotten: People shape your world.

The journal entry talks about how I met someone who had just broken up with her boyfriend, and a friend of hers told me it had been a waste of time. Yet I disagreed, writing ‘Everyone you meet changes your perception about something, and so even when they have left, you still ‘have’ a part of them because their thoughts alter your view of the world. For example, if someone teaches you the star constellations, every time you see the stars, you will see them differently. If someone’s favorite color is yellow, you may find more beauty in yellow things. So it’s never a waste. With knowledge comes beauty as well as wisdom.’

Finding the right people

There are some that will alter your perception of world in a negative way. This is a parents nightmare. Your kid starts hanging out with ‘bad influences’ and before you know it school grades have gone down, but nights out are on the rise. At work, there are those that’ll bitch to you about colleagues, or moan about pay. These people won’t help you further your career so watch out. In life there are friends that’ll inspire you, and there are some that’ll deepen the rut in which you’re stuck. Finding the right people to shape your world is crucial to a positive change in perception.

What do the right people wear?

It’s impossible to tell from first glance who the ‘right people’ are. So give everyone a chance. Assume rapport from the moment you meet them and ask questions. Get to know them and establish the truths behind the customary half-truths that we all give during first encounters. I heard once not to trust men wearing ties, but at school everyone had to wear a tie, at work everyone wears a tie, at formal gatherings all men wear ties…So I decided not to trust the man who told me this rule. Only once you feel that you have gotten to know someone; their beliefs, lifestyle, habits, characteristics etc. can you decide whether or not to follow their shaping. Although, just by this encounter they will have already changed your perception of the world in strange ways.

Who shapes the world: Them or me?

It’s your perception that is being changed and it’s your brain doing the changing. The people you meet simply send inputs. These inputs (e.g. information about star constellations) are simply bits of data that are organized and interpreted by you. They are seen through your lens.  Each bit of data or input affects the outcome of every other bit of data received or about to be received. Say for instance you learn that Christopher Columbus was a great man. He traveled the world and conquered great lands. When you read about other travelers Columbus comes to mind, and you begin to develop a great interest in traveling, the old colonial days and history. Then you learn a different truth: Christopher Columbus was a bad man. He promoted slavery, racism and killed thousands of natives as he stole their land. All previous interests are now in jeopardy; when you meet other travelers you wonder about their intentions; when you watch colonial history programs there is a side of you that questions the evil, the darkness.

It’s you who decides how to interpret the ‘truth’. Which is why Judges in Courts of Law dedicate their lives to finding out all different sides of the story to gain a balanced argument.

Look out for the invisible man

However it is often the people you don’t meet that shape your world the most. How many times on the dance floor have you laughed at someone trying to do the moonwalk? You can thank (the now deceased – may he rest in peace) Michael Jackson for those times. Are you living above the poverty line? It could be the case that you have Gordon Brown to thank, for he has brought over 600,000 children and a million pensioners out of poverty. Do you understand the concept of gravity? It was Sir Isaac Newton that brought this comprehension into your life. The people that work behind the scenes (including your parents) are the ones that really shape your world. They’re the ones that work to make it a better place, to help you climb the steps of life.

More paint means more colors

Entertain your mind with as many opinions (and thus people) as possible. The more you have, the more shape your world will take. The more shape, the more beauty. Read enough, listen intensively, watch carefully, live large. These are the words that’ll enable your world to take shape.

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Here are some interesting facts that might encourage overweight people to think of slimming down for health reasons:

1. If you put on 6 – 10 kg of weight, be warned that you increase the risk of contracting type 2 diabetes by twice as much.

2. At least 80 percent of people who suffer from diabetes are overweight or obese (BMI > 30).

3. Obesity is linked to r certain types of cancer, for example: endometrial (cancer of the lining of the uterus), colon, gall bladder, prostate, kidney and postmenopausal breast cancer.

4. Women who put on more than 20 pounds from age 18 to middle age,  double their risk of postmenopausal breast cancer when compared to women whose weight remain stable.

5. Sleep apnea (a type of breathing disorder while sleeping) is more common in obese persons.

6. For every 1kg increase in weight, the risk of developing arthritis increases.

7. Symptoms/Severity of arthritis can be improve/relieved with weight loss.

Additional Reading:

Burn the Fats Feed the Muscles

Fat Loss Secrets