Gaining a few lbs of muscle in a very short time

junii

I have been looking into some bodybuilding books ie. daveirl pointed me to scrawny to brawny.

I have been reading reviews on amazon and I have seen this mentioned in a few places now. Im not sure whether to belive it or not. Basically, its along the lines of ppl saying that they gained 4lbs of muscle mass in a month. I understand you would have to follow the books carefully and be very motivated but is it really possible to put on this much muscle mass in such a short amount of time?

Dragan

In an untrained subject, 4+lbs of Lean Muscle in one month is a reasonable goal. Obviously, this would not be the case in a subject who had been training for hypertrophy for a long time, and any gains they could make within a 30 day period would be limited.

However, if you eat right, recovery enough and lift right, there is no reason why you should not be able to add this much lean muscle within a month.

You do actually need to be lifting, have your diet sorted and be sleeping enough before hand of course.

Also, google is your friend.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Reyman

Probably depends on your build.

4lbs of muscle is a lot if you're an ectomorph -- slim type.

junii

Ok, that sounds encouraging. I have my diet nearly sorted out now. I have been on my diet for a week now and am noticing changes. Unfortunately, I haven't an accurate picture of how much I weigh but I have definitely put on weight which is something I never thought id do. Thanks for the encouraging answers I got off people here regarding nurtrition and metabolism et cetera as this has really helped me along.

This week I am going to start tracking my diet, sleeping and weight. I also have that book on order "scrawny to brawny" and am going to look into joining a gym. Roll on my first 4lbs!

One extra thing, I have read loads of reviews of "scrawny to brawny" and some ppl say that the nutrtion section lacks detail. Nutrition is something I am quite interested in at the moment and I would be interested in hearing what books other people here have to recommend on this subject.

Thanks,
Junii.

g'em

junii, just as a quick pointer... first off it's absoltuely brilliant that you're tkaing the time to plan out what you're doing, and you're putting in more ground-work than most would. But remember that things don't always go to plan. Just becacuse a book says it works, or person x or y raves that it's teh best diet in teh world, it doesn't necessarily mean its the best course of action for you.

As you get experiecned and as you learn about how your body responds to different things you'll bea ble to tailor make your own training and nutrition plans. So for now, use the books and the diets as guidelines but if something isn't working, don't get too disheartened. Very few people will go from start to finish without a gazillion bumps along the way. What matters is that when you reach a plateau or a rocky patch, you work through it. Stop and think about where you might be able to make changes.

You'll likely put on a good bit quite quickly, but your body will adapt to that and your metabolism will jack up to cope with the increase in calories, and weight gain will likely slow down. At that point you may need to reassess where you're at.

But for now, best of luck.

junii

g'em wrote:

junii, just as a quick pointer... first off it's absoltuely brilliant that you're tkaing the time to plan out what you're doing, and you're putting in more ground-work than most would. But remember that things don't always go to plan. Just becacuse a book says it works, or person x or y raves that it's teh best diet in teh world, it doesn't necessarily mean its the best course of action for you.

As you get experiecned and as you learn about how your body responds to different things you'll bea ble to tailor make your own training and nutrition plans. So for now, use the books and the diets as guidelines but if something isn't working, don't get too disheartened. Very few people will go from start to finish without a gazillion bumps along the way. What matters is that when you reach a plateau or a rocky patch, you work through it. Stop and think about where you might be able to make changes.

You'll likely put on a good bit quite quickly, but your body will adapt to that and your metabolism will jack up to cope with the increase in calories, and weight gain will likely slow down. At that point you may need to reassess where you're at.

But for now, best of luck.

Thanks for that tip g'em. Im sure ill find it useful in the future as I understand this is a long road and I will need to stay determined and motivated to do it.
Its great to think that if I should have any problems theres plenty of ppl like you around to ask questions from.

Once again, appreciate your help,
Junii.

rubadub

I have read on a fair few sites that 1lb a week would be the total upper limit, they were discrediting all those bullsh-it sites you see where some guy too XYZ and trained a certain way and put on some stupid amount like 60lb in 6 weeks.

There was full scientific reasoning behind it (hte 1lb limit) that went right over my head. A search on google will find you something.


http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&lr=&q=%2Bmuscle+%2B%22lb+per+week%22

I would be happy with 1/4lb per week myself.