How Much Muscle Can You Gain In A Week?

[Poly Pal]

I remember reading that you can only gain 1 to 2 lbs. in a month of working out with weights. That's just ..25 to .5 lbs. a week. Does anyone have the answer? Any data to back it up?

 

[forest]

good question, I will try to bump this up!
Maureen

 

[bicker]

I've read that pretty consistently. Here's what I could find quickly:

The Colgan Institute of Nutritional Sciences (located in San Diego, CA) run by Dr Michael Colgan PHD, a leading sport nutritionist explains that in his extensive experience, the most muscle gain he or any of his colleagues have recorded over a year was 181/4 lbs. Dr Colgan goes on to state that “because of the limiting rate of turnover in the muscle cells it is impossible to grow more than an ounce of new muscle each day.” In non-complicated, mathematical terms, this would equate to roughly 23 pounds in a year! Keep in mind that high-level athletes are the subjects of these studies.

[Source]

In terms of gaining muscle, you'll have a tremendous year if you gain five pounds of muscle in the next 12 months and a completely new body if you gain ten pounds. Bodybuilding fans may remember a few years ago when Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates went from 244 to 257 in one year. It looked like Dorian packed a good 3 or 4 years of training into one. And he already weighed a shredded 244 pounds! So, when people set goals of gaining 15 pounds of solid muscle in a year, they are talking about exceeding what may be the most dramatic improvement we've seen an athlete make. Let's not forget that Dorian was also a full-time professional bodybuilder. A reasonable goal for a drug-free athlete might be five pounds of muscle in a year, which comes out to less than one-half pound of muscle per month.

[Source]

I couldn't find sources that discussed how men and women differ, except those that said, simply, that women gain muscle mass slower than men.

 

[lmhall2000]

Although the rate at which you add muscle may be slow it still will affect your scale more than you realize....when I do my power walks (8+) miles- undoubtedly for the first 5 - 6 days I don't lose a pound and may even be up a pound....those muscles are inflamed and reserve water- it takes my muscles about 5 days to get back to normal- I may have only added 3 ounces of muscle after these workouts or at my nautilus workouts at the Y but the process of adding muscle does add some pounds to you- once it's all had time to settle you burn more calories and your muscles stop seeking inflammatory control.. Hope this helps!
Tara

 

[Poly Pal]

Thanks for the great info Bicker and Imhall 2000!

And now, back to those weights (ugh!)