You want to know how to recognize a knowledgeable fitness professional and reliable? Ask them how much muscle you can gain in a month. If they give you any answer other than “it depends”, work with someone else.
In a world that values quick fixes, it’s natural to wonder how quickly a training plan will begin to produce visible results. But hypertrophy — or growth of skeletal muscle fibers — is a complicated equation with many variables. Biological sex, genetics, nutrition, training, sleeping habitsand current fitness level everyone plays a role.
“Saying how much someone will gain is an impossible question to answer,” says Todd Buckingham, Ph.D., chief exercise physiologist at Bucking Fit Lifewellness coaching company. “I couldn’t even answer that question to myself, to be honest.”
And if someone quotes you a specific amount of pounds or inches? “They are full of it!” jokes Buckingham.
While no one can predict exactly how much muscle you can gain in a month, you can use what we know about muscle growth to optimize your training and lifestyle to work toward your body composition goals. Here’s what you need to know.
How a muscle is formed
Hypertrophy is the body’s way of adapting to new or increased stimuli, Buckingham explains. This comes in the form of mechanical stress and metabolic stress.
Mechanical stress refers to the force acting on your muscles during resistance trainingwhich causes micro-cracks in your muscle fibers.
“Your body has to repair and rebuild these micro-tears to make your muscles bigger and stronger, so that the next time you do the same activity or lift the same weight, they’re not as damaged as they were the previous time,” Buckingham explains.
Metabolic stress it happens when you strain your muscles to the point where “metabolic waste” (a byproduct of energy production) builds up in your body faster than it can be removed.
But where is the balance between mechanical stress and metabolic stress when it comes to building lean mass?
According to research from one of the leading exercise scientists, Brad Schoenfeld, Ph.D., CSCS“mechanical and metabolic stress occur in tandem, making it difficult to separate the effects of one from the other.”
What we do know is that real muscle building is happening between exercises when your body is at rest.
“When you lift, you’re actually breaking down the muscle, but it’s only after that that you build it,” says Buckingham. Moreover, the hormones that promote muscle growth are mostly released at night. “That’s why sleep is so important for increasing muscle size,” he adds.
How fast can you gain muscle?
Although muscle growth happens at night, it certainly doesn’t overnight — several factors affect how quickly you can gain muscle. And while you may be focused on muscle improvement at the start of a new fitness program, the most significant gains are actually happening in your nerves.
“In the first eight to 12 weeks from the start of a strength training programthe most influential factor in improving your strength is neural adaptations,” says Buckingham. “Your nervous system becomes more efficient at sending messages from your brain to your muscles and recruiting more of the correct muscle fibers.”
Buckingham compares it to completing a maze. The first few times you try this, you’ll hit a dead end. But over time and through repetition, you eventually learn the fastest way.
“Lifting and recruiting muscle fibers is the same thing,” he says. At first, your nervous system may recruit too many muscle fibers or completely the wrong muscle fibers, but eventually it learns the fastest, most accurate path. AND it is when hypertrophy becomes measurable.
So if you see little or no difference in muscle size after a month of training, don’t give up! Your body is changing – you just can’t see it yet.
Factors affecting muscle growth
Factors both inside and outside of your control determine how much muscle you can gain in a month (or any period of time). When setting any body composition goals, it’s important to consider the following.
1. Genetics
Here’s the unfair truth about genes and muscle mass: You can follow the same diet, weight lifting program, and sleep schedule as someone else and experience completely different results. Some research suggests that heredity accounts for 50 to 80 percent of your muscle mass.
Also, men tend to gain more muscle at a faster rate than women. “It’s primarily because of testosterone and growth hormone,” says Buckingham, since women have less of it. But this is also shown by research increase in strength in women they are usually similar to those achieved by men, meaning they are able to build muscle without gaining mass.
2. Age
As we age, anabolic hormone (growth hormone) levels decline, making it harder to gain muscle. Even the most dedicated lifters will experience it over time sarcopenialoss of muscle mass associated with later stages of life.
“Strength training will help preserve some of that muscle mass, but it’s inevitable that your muscle mass will decrease, even if you continue to lift for the rest of your life,” says Buckingham.
3. Diet and nutrition
Most people understand that high protein intake is necessary for muscle repair and recovery. Studies show that a number of 1.4 grams to 2.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day can be effective for building muscle.
Other macronutrients – carbohydrates and fat — are also important because they are an integral part of recovery and hormone production (among other physiological processes). In addition, you need adequate carbohydrates boost your training.
Buckingham also notes that you must be ua caloric surplus for muscle building. “A lot of people want to lose weight but also gain muscle, and that’s just not going to happen because, to gain muscle, you have to have extra calories.”
4. Rest and recovery
“Sleep is where you release the hormones that cause muscle growth,” says Buckingham. “So if you’re not getting enough sleep, then you’re not causing those hormones to be released.”
Aim for at least seven hours of sleep a night and include recovery time between workouts periodizing your training and scheduling rest days. “If you lift all the time and never give your muscles a break, then they don’t have time to repair, rebuild and grow,” he says.
5. Training
How you structure your exercise program greatly affects your muscle growth, and luckily, it’s something you can calibrate to your goals. In general, you want to work each muscle group several times a week (with recovery time separated), and your load should usually be heavy.
“Three to four sets of 8 to 10 reps at 75 to 85 percent of your one-rep max,” says Buckingham. “It will give you the most bang for your buck.”
BODi weight lifting programs like DIG DEEPER, LIIFT4and Of course target different muscle groups in each workout to maximize training and recovery. They also vary exercises and intensities to prioritize progress and keep things fresh.
The best exercises for fast muscle growth
For hypertrophy, Buckingham recommends focusing on complex (multi-joint) lifts which target large muscle groups. Below are some of the exercises.
1. Front squat with a barbell
- With the barbell resting on the squat rack, grasp the bar with your hands shoulder-width apart. Place your shoulders under the barbell so that your elbows are bent and facing forward, and the bar rests on the underside of your palms or with your fingers on top of your shoulders.
- Lifting the bar from the rack, step back and stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. This is the starting position
- Keep your back straight, chest up and core bracedpush your hips back, bend your knees and lower your body until your thighs are at least parallel to the floor.
- Pause, then push through your heels to return to the starting position.
2. Romanian deadlift
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a pair of heavy dumbbells or a barbell in front of your thighs, palms facing you. This is the starting position.
- Keep your back straight, shoulders back and core engaged, push your hips backlower the weight along the front of the body to the level of the lower leg, keeping only a slight bend in the knees.
- Pause, then slowly reverse the movement to return to the starting position.
3. Push-up with dumbbells
- Lie on a flat bench holding a pair of dumbbells directly above your chest with your palms facing forward. Your head, upper back and buttocks should touch the bench and your feet should be flat on the floor. This is the starting position.
- Keeping your core engaged, slowly lower the weights to the sides of your chest, keeping your elbows close to your body (your upper arms and the sides of your torso should form a 45-degree angle at the bottom of the movement).
- Pause, then push the weights back to the starting position.
4. Dumbbell bent-over rowing
- Stand with your feet hip-width apart, holding a dumbbell in each hand. Brace your core, push your hips back, bend your knees slightly, and lower your torso until it’s almost parallel to the floor. Keep your glutes engaged to protect your lower back.
- Let the dumbbells hang at arm’s length with palms facing each other. Engage your shoulder blades to keep your shoulders pulled back. This is the starting position.
- Without moving your torso and keeping your elbows together and your back straight, spread the weights to the sides of your ribs while contracting your shoulder blades. Make sure your elbow is bent at a 90-degree angle, so you row to your ribs, not your armpits.
- Pause, then lower the weights back to the starting position.
