Anthony Ellis

wingnut32

Hello all, I was doing a bit of surfing last night and I came across this guys web page which I began to read. I dont know if its possible or not be he claims he put on 32 pounds of muscle in 12 weeks without the use of steroids....

Is this possible..I am at 7 weeks and id say ive probably put on maybe 3-4 pounds.....?

mikemac

You doing the Body for Life Challenge? That's where he first came into the public arena if you've ever seen the video.

What I can say from watching that video is he claimed to be eating 4,000-5,000 calories per day

pwd

It's possible, especially if he was underweight before he started.

Hanley

I reckon if I stop eating and stopped training, then starved myself for a few months, I'd put that much muscle back on in 12 weeks.

wingnut32

So basically this is only possible under extreme circumstances, for the average person training four times a week how much muscle should that person be looking to put on in a month??

Hanley

wingnut32 wrote:

So basically this is only possible under extreme circumstances, for the average person training four times a week how much muscle should that person be looking to put on in a month??

How long is a piece of string? I honestly don't know. If you're putting on "new" muscle (ie not muscle you starved off yourself or stopped training) then I guess 1-2lb a week is a good weight gain goal?

I dunno what the story is with accepted guidelines tho. I'm sure someone will let you know!

pwd

I think there are too many individual factors to give a specific figure for people generally. (How old, are they putting back muscle they lost, genes, height, current physique etc etc).
Don't be too hung up about weight. How much you can lift is a better indicator for progress as regards strength, and what you look like for physique.

rubadub

Hanley wrote:

I dunno what the story is with accepted guidelines tho. I'm sure someone will let you know!

Whenever I searched most sites said 1lb was about the max to expect, but I reckon more is possible.

A lot of these before & afters are lads who were big, and went small- like you had said yourself it would go on fast again. Similar to people getting off diets and putting it all back on really fast.

Christian Bale turned into batman after being a disturbingly small wreck in the machinst in a short time- dunno what the figures were, he was big before the machinist so would have been "memory muscle".

Degsy

Some people can put on a stone in three months but i think it helps if they were skinny and not eating properly to start with.More realisticly a stone of muscle a year isnt bad going.

Diamondmaker

Jaysus !! some of those figures sound pretty large!

My strength is increasing 100% plus, since I started in Feb, I cut a stone in fat pretty early by March, but have not noticed any huge weight increases since to go with the very obvious increase in strength.

Any theories on whats going on here ?

PS I dont squat so Im figuring that Im missing then on building up what is in all fairness a very sizeable muscle, in the thighs.....

rubadub

Diamondmaker wrote:

Any theories on whats going on here ?.

Probably just losing fat & gaining muscle at the same rate. I was the same weight for ages. Muscle is denser so weighs more for a given volume. I am now starting to eat well again- I usually do over the winter to help fight off colds etc, I have gone up in weight again but am slimmer than ever.

Dragan

Diamondmaker wrote:

Jaysus !! some of those figures sound pretty large!

My strength is increasing 100% plus, since I started in Feb, I cut a stone in fat pretty early by March, but have not noticed any huge weight increases since to go with the very obvious increase in strength.

Any theories on whats going on here ?

PS I dont squat so Im figuring that Im missing then on building up what is in all fairness a very sizeable muscle, in the thighs.....

What rep range you working in and roughly how lean are you?

Diamondmaker

Dragan

Im about 10st 6lbs 5 10 ish

Dont know by BF % as a measurement but Im very lean. BF is now quite low.
( Weighed 11st 8 in Jan )

I work in 3-4 sets of 8 - 12 reps on any given excercise.

cheers