How much muscle mass can I gain?

Question:
How much muscle mass can I gain?

Answer:
Most gym rats expect to build LOTS of muscle really fast.This is a myth. You can NOT build muscle really FAST. Themajority of readers, customers and clients I work with havecompletely unrealistic expectations when it comes to buildingmuscle.

I can’t put an exact number on how much you can gain butmost people believe that they can build 20 pounds of musclein three months…

…it’s amazing how many frusturated customers I get emailingme after their first month of training complaining that theyonly gained 5 or 10 pounds. I’m thinking to myself, “That’sfantastic, what are you complaining about?!”

There is no doubt you can gain 20 pounds of WEIGHT in 3 monthsor even one month, but we are not talking about *weight* – weare talking about *DRY MUSCLE*

Pure muscle tissue. Not water weight. Not glycogen weight. Pure muscle weight!

There is not a chance in heaven that you will gain 5 or even10 pounds of dry muscle in one month or even 3 months -not even close. I hate to be the messenger of this bad newsbut unless you are using growth enhancing drugs…

… it’s IMPOSSIBLE.

Many of you might be upset or discouraged about the TRUTHof how much you can actually build but this knowledgewill help you to eat and train with a more realisticperspective. So how much muscle can your body actually manufacture?

Under the BEST possible circumstances (training, diet, supplementation, recovery) the average male body can create between *0.25 and 0.50* pounds of dry muscle tissue per week. That’s the natural amount that your body chemistry will allow.

So your looking at 1-2 pounds of dry muscle each month. Not much? Well consider what your body will look like in 12 months from now with an extra 12-24 pounds of muscle?!?!

Starting to see the importance of consistency???!!!

You see, I did not gain 41 pounds of DRY MUSCLE in six months. The 41 pounds also factored in the increased muscle which was accompanied by increased glycogen and water storage in the muscles. More muscle equals more glycogen. Most people can maintain up to 40 grams of glycogen per 100gof muscle tissue.

So if you’re gaining ten pounds of new muscle you’llconsequently increase glycogen storage by around four pounds.So if you gain ten pounds of muscle, your scale gain willactually be closer to fourteen pounds (if you didn’t gainany fat).

And rarely often will someone not gain any fat if you aregaining more than 3 pounds per month. So, when you set your goals, clarify in your mind if”20 pounds of muscle” is your *weight gain* goal or your *drymuscle* goal. And then put realistic time frames on these goals basedon the info I just shared.

If you simply focus on keeping your body fat between 10-13%fat while gaining around 5 pounds per month then it is safeto say you are gaining 1-2 pounds of dry muscle a month with1-2 pounds of glycogen and water hopefully no more thena pound of fat.

“Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Growth”
Vince DelMonte specializes in teaching skinny guys how to build muscle and gain weight quickly, without drugs, supplements and training less than before. Vince DelMonte is the author of No Nonsense Muscle Building : Skinny Guy Secrets To Insane Muscle Gain found at: www.VinceDelMonteFitness.com