I've been reading lots of posts on the Atkins forum that have the general theme of "I'm stalled, been eating what I should and exercising, still not losing...". Usually the replies to these threads are "If you're exercising you've probably gained muscle while losing fat -- take your measurements." Usually these complaints and replies happen after only a week or two without any weight loss. It seems to me to be not enough time to gain any measureable amount of muscle.

I've always been under the impression that it takes about 12 weeks to start seeing a difference for a beginner, doing a gereral cardio and weight routine 3 times a week at a gym. I would think that when someone who isn't doing really intense workouts is in a 2-3 week "stall" without losing the expected 3-6 lbs, that it would be unlikely that this much fat could be replaced with an equal mass of muscle.


But I could be wrong. So my question is, exactly how fast can muscle be gained? For example, if someone is doing just general exercise, exactly how many pounds of muscle can they gain in a week?


This has been bugging me for a while now. Thanks.

Found this article:

http://www.thefactsaboutfitness.com/research/fail.htm

hth

Muscle gain varies greatly depending on the person and the level of exercise. Even two or three weeks of halfway decent cardio will produce some muscle changes and perhaps a small muscle gain - maybe a pound or two. For people who have never done resistance training (weight-lifting) and hit it whole hog, the gains can be over a pound per week. With moderate exercise programs, most people will notice performance gains within two weeks and shape changes within 4.

cheers,

Friday

Quote from the linked article above:
"For example, someone who weighs 180 pounds might expect to gain an extra four, six, maybe even nine pounds of lean muscle over a six-week period."
So here we are talking about a pound/week. And I believe this can happen, especially when someone is just starting out (as long as their workout plan and diet is good).
But from there, to continue to gain like this, it's much more 'tricky'.

Quote from article:
"Remember, you won't gain weight at this rate forever. Over the course of a year, it's rare to gain more than 25 pounds of muscle. Sure, you might gain more than 25 pounds of weight. But, unless you're using drugs, gaining this much lean muscle in one year or less is very hard to do."

No kidding!! if I gained just 5 pounds/ YEAR since I started... I should be (doing the math...) 225 pounds ripped to shreds!! Ok, I'm not.
In my experiance muscle gains come MUCH slower over time. However, gaining SIZE has not been my main goal. If I ate like a pig and did'nt care about fat at all I'm sure I'd have more muscle... but I'd also have more fat.

Also... I believe the BFL'ers can build a lot of muscle quickly (as shown by their before and after pics) But I would suggest it is because they are changing their program and makeing an effort to achieve a goal in a fixed (short) amount of time. This may put them in the same category as a person just starting out... simply because the plan is different. It's like the Hawthorn effect... a change produces results... then it tappers off.

As someone said... I don't remember who... the Hawthorn effect is not a bad thing... You just need lots of them.

the statistic for muscle growth for women (not including newbie phenomenon) that i've always been quoted says that the average woman should only expect to see a max of 5lbs of growth a year.

that makes sense to me.

only female genetic marvels that i know can gain 1lb of mass per week. natural male athletes can apparently do this with a lot of hard work, though.

This has been my experience as well, and that's only been by ditching almost ALL cardio and REALLY focussing on intense, heavy lifting with plenty of protein in my diet and strategic carb snacks.

My first year, I MIGHT have put on 8-10 pounds of muscle. I THINK I managed another 5 last year. I MIGHT have put on 3 since January this year. I THINK. And I've been REALLY working at it HARD. It's REALLY slow.

I only ever lost muscle doing cardio.

ditto this....it has taken me about 2 years to add maybe 5-10 lbs of muscle. Rarely can muscle be added in a caloric deficit you need an excess of calories, most women I know are opposed to gaining weight and therefore do not reap the benefits as much. Also, never heard of cardio adding muscle...might help harden the existing area..but cardio is catabolic not anabolic.

agreed LL.

MOST women won't eat enough to see gains. that shocks me, but it shouldn't really.

cardio... totally agreed. if i do too much i turn into a stick.

And I just get squishy

New body builders tend to develop muscle fairly quickly. However muscle growth slows after about one year. I believe it is possible to gain 5-7 lbs of muscle per year afterward with excellent diet and training. However I do believe there is a limit to the size, and by that I mean muscle mass, that each individual will allow itself to get. The trick is finding out what that size is; and most of us will take forever to find that out.

Hey Jon - you talking boy-gains, or girl-gains?

Sorry, I was meaning boy gains. With less endogenous androgens, ladies will probably gain less (I mean just lean muscle), but I don't know for sure. However, I do know that 5lbs of muscle on someone 5 foot 4 looks a helluva lot different on someone 6 foot 3.

This is great information. Thanks. So, I guess that when posters complain about not losing anything for 2-3 weeks or maybe even go up a bit, that telling them that they've probably gained muscle mass (if they're exercising in any form, that is) is not realistic.

I've always been skeptical.

Guess they should be referred to this forum instead.

Thanks for the clarification Jon

Built or anyone,

Isn't it true though that your muscle may hold on to water initially so one could be gaining some type of water weight when they start exercising? That explanation is way over simplified so if you could explain what I am talking about that would help too, that is only IF you know what I am talking about. I believe you stated something to that affect in this thread: http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthread.php?t=186007

Which was also the first time I met you .