Realistic expectation for muscle growth

August 31st, 2014 by

What is a realistic expectation for progress during a building phase? This is a question often asked when a client has a goal of muscle growth.


The answer is – it’s completely dependent on the individual. Muscle growth (without the assistance of drugs) is a slow process, and many factors go into determining the speed of that process. Factors such as caloric intake, genetics, training set-up, duration of weight training (are you a newbie or have you been training for several years?), etc.

The following are some generally accepted average rates of muscle gain for both males and females:

Males
Year 1 – 20-25lbs
Year 2 – 10-12lbs
Year 3 – 5-6lbs

Females
Year 1 – 10-12lbs
Year 2 – 5-6 lbs
Year 3 – 2.5-3lbs

To give you a better idea of how long this process takes, below is a progress screenshot from LBC client Karen Cox. When you take a look at the big picture here, it is apparent that she has successfully developed some lean muscle, with an 8-9 lb increase in weight over the course of 9 months. However when you break that number down over the span of those 9 months, it comes out to about one pound per month.

Take away from this – it’s tough to see muscle growth progress week by week, but when you step back and look at the bigger picture it’s much easier to see the results of your hard work over time.

*Note – the timeline of progress for this client is relevant only to her.

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