ExRx.net

Hi all,

I've started working out recently (as in started about a month ago), and was wondering how fast one puts on lbs of muscle. I know muscle weight comes MUCH slower than fat weight (or even fat loss in some cases) but before starting a month ago i was at 175 and today i weighed myself and i was 183.5. Today i worked out after eating lunch, so minus about 2 lbs for digesting food weight (sound reasonable?) So that would bring my weight to about a +6.5 lb gain since starting only a month ago. I am lifting for strength and size in my workouts, lifting 4 times a week, and am keeping a loose eye on what i eat so i don't eat too many bad fats/ carbs when not needed/ etc. i am starting to look more muscular and i haven't noticed any extra weight gain around my stomach...

Would it be plausable that i gained about 5+/- lbs of muscle in a month since starting a routine? It would be great! But seems too good to be true haha

Any pieces to the puzzle i am missing or not considering?

If I weigh myself in the morning after I've been to the toilet I weigh 192lbs. If I weigh myself before bed I get as high as 200lbs.

Weight can fluctuate by ~4lbs easily based on how hydrated you are, or how topped up your glycogen stores are.

5lbs of muscle in a month is pretty unlikely, but probably not impossible if you were underweight to begin with and untrained. Generally speaking, the first year or two of training a noob can expect to put on 15lbs or so of muscle. Obviously there will be outliers on either end of the spectrum with some people putting on much less despite seeming to do everything right, and there'll always be those lucky bastards who put on more despite seeming to do everything wrong.

I would just try and not think about it. The mirror and how your clothes fit are a much better indicator than bodyweight. Chasing a bigger number on your bathroom scales has a tendency to make you fat.

A very sound piece of knowledge haha

I just wasn't sure if what i was experiencing was what i THOUGHT was going on... Thanks for the info!

Just to clarify, i understand the "depending on how much you are hydrated" part, but what do you mean by the glycogen stores? I know it has something to do with sugars in your muscles but beyond that i'm pretty much in the dark...

glycogen stores are how your body stores energy in your muscles. That's why people are advised not to overeat carbohydrate; your body can only store so much glycogen and if you overeat carbs when your glycogen levels are full you'll store it as fat instead, but that's another topic for another day.

When your body stores carbohydrate it stores it with water, making you heavier. That's why when people switch to low carb diets they initialy lose a large amount of weight; it's actually just water.

A fun experiment you can try is eat low carb all week, weighing yourself on Saturday, then on Sunday binge on pizza and ice cream. When you weigh yourself again on Monday you will be a good few pounds heavier, and your muscles will feel fuller, it's actually a really cool feeling.

Strength vs Size

Training for strength is completely different from training for size and vise versa.

Strength training (1 Repetition Max, Limited Strength) training will produce an increase in size but not to the same extent as Size (Hypetrophy Training) does.

They are two different worlds.



"5lbs of muscle in a month is pretty unlikely, but probably not impossible...." Robert

I agree with the first part of Robert's statement.

However, putting on 5 lbs of muscle in a month is for the most part is impossible.

Kenny Croxdale

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Thanks TimD.

I did add that it would only be possible if you were underweight and untrained to begin with

My workout is a 2 day split push/pull. I am lifting 3 sets of max 6 reps per exercise. Would that be for more strength or size?

And so what i'm hearing most from here is that 5lbs is more than likely not all muscle. What is an average expected MUSCLE weight gain per month/yr/whenever, doing a workout like mine? Any educated guesses are even appreciated :)

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Thanks TimD.

Strength

1) Reps of 6 or less.

2) 3 plus minutes rest periods between sets.

There is plenty of on line information that defines the protocol for strength training, as well as size training.

My suggestion is to look up the information.



Average Expected Muscle Gain

That is like asking how much a car cost.

A good ball park figure is the one Robert provided, about 15 lbs a year would be good.

Packing on 2 pound of muscle a month would be great. However, it not going to happen every month.

Kenny Croxdale

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Thanks TimD.