What is a good amount of muscle to gain/week naturally?

[cdiggity]

Topic.

As I bulk, how should I measure my weight gain on the scale? Is it safe to gain about a 1lb a week if I want to try and be as lean as possible or should I try for a lower number than that?

 

[tbonexl]

It's difficult to gain 5 lbs of muscle on cycle...

 

[cdiggity]

Ok, so what would be a good number to try and obtain naturally?

 

[Edens]

You are seriously asking how many pounds of muscle that you are going to gain natty? I would guarantee you that even a few pounds of legit muscle are good in a YEAR. That is if you are unwilling to get fat and bulk first. There is no way that you should be talking a week or even per month.

 

[Milton]

One pound of muscle in a week sounds good and this is assuming you've had a very good week at the gym!
Also take this into account...
1- What part of your body are you working out?! (Legs vs upper body) Obviously larger muscle groups will proportionally gain more mass.

2- The increase of lean muscle mass also depends on the size of the individual.

3- There is also a question of muscle memory. So when you have been a certain size in the past it feels to be a lot quicker to get back there when you start training again after being away from training for a while.

 

[cdiggity]

You are seriously asking how many pounds of muscle that you are going to gain natty? I would guarantee you that even a few pounds of legit muscle are good in a YEAR. That is if you are unwilling to get fat and bulk first. There is no way that you should be talking a week or even per month.

Well I was more wondering how much I should progress over the course of the year and how to best check it. I know that after you gain your noobie gains it gets harder, but I think I still have a good year before I start hitting that level.

 

[swilk]

A pound a week would not be sustainable over even a moderately long period of time. If you were to gain a solid 10lbs of muscle in a year that is pretty much immeasurable from one week to the next.

 

[bonexyster]

The average person with a good diet can gain 8-10 natural pounds a years with a (perfect) regimen. Being you don't do it for a living look for maybe 6 in a year. That's not considering nasty fat bulk with tons of calories you could gain alittle more but you loose muscle when you cut unless your on cycle. So it hard to say person to person or regimen to regimen how anyone's results will be. I'm a believer in just constantly staying on maintenance calories and trying to lean bulk, the fat isn't worth it.

 

[cdiggity]

Man you guys are making it sound like it is going to be impossible for me to know if I am gaining muscle or not. I guess this is why people cycle. I was hoping to get more gains before going over to the dark side.

I mean, I am 5'9" and I read online about people getting 16-17" biceps naturally, while maintaining low BF%. You guys are making it seem like it would take me several more years to put on enough mass to actually obtain that goal (about 2.5 more inches for me). Is it that these people are really building for that long to get that way, or are people cycling and calling it natural?

 

[bonexyster]

Everyone claims to be all natural man. Lol the people that have a very good physique and are natural have usually been lifting for years and are very dedicated or professionals. To ha e extreme results very fast you are going to have to cycle. Hope that answers your question.

 

[cdiggity]

Everyone claims to be all natural man. Lol the people that have a very good physique and are natural have usually been lifting for years and are very dedicated or professionals. To ha e extreme results very fast you are going to have to cycle. Hope that answers your question.

Yea it does. I was hoping to be able to achieve what I want naturally, but I don't think that will be possible. Sounds like I should focus on trimming down to get very lean, then I can cycle to bulk up to the size that I want.

Thanks guys!