BUILDING MUSCLE: 15 POUNDS PER YEAR
That’s not a misprint. By and large, this is what to expect as an adult if you’re going about it the natural way, and doing everything “right”. When an athlete is said to have put on 20 pounds of “muscle” over the course of one 4 month off-season, or a celebrity bulked up for a movie role to the tune of 25 pounds of lean mass, there may be no question that the scale doesn’t lie by the numbers, but the actual body comp may be telling a different story. http://westjacksoncdc.net
Truly natural and lean muscle gains usually don’t exceed much more than a pound per month. Don’t listen to what they say on TV.
And this brings me to another important point, triggered by a question from a client of mine I answered this week.
She wanted to know whether she should avoid training her obliques, for the fear of them growing and making her mid section too blocky (thus making her shape less distinct). She’d seen a post on Instagram that warned against training this area.
Sure, fine-tuning a physique may involve playing to the development of some muscles a bit more than others for a certain aesthetic. But for 99 percent of people looking to train, advice like this is three steps ahead of their current place. We aren’t made of play-doh. Remember the big picture. A few weekly sets of oblique work – or any work – won’t make that area transform. Making a muscle grow takes a combination of high volume training (that means, not only the amount of sets and reps you do for a specific muscle in a workout, but how often you train that muscle over the course of the week), and eating for size. It’s going to be a real uphill battle if you’re avoiding even one of these things. The point I’m trying to make is this: Don’t confuse making a muscle stronger with making a muscle bigger. Your body needs to gain and maintain strength everywhere possible, so don’t leave areas out.
Moreover, if you’re on a program that promises you’ll build 12 pounds of muscle in six weeks, or if you’re determined to add 20 pounds of mass during your summer, don’t be misled. Like I said before – you might be able to add the mass, but don’t think it’ll be all muscle.
WEIGHT LOSS: 2 POUNDS PER WEEK
Before I get into this subheading, it’s worth back-stepping to make sure we’re on the same page.
Mainstream media fitness resources with an agenda of pushing their products will make sure they blur the lines between two very different things: Weight loss and fat loss. Sure, these two things can happen at the same time, but fat loss is what’s more responsible for compositional change and acquiring a “physique”, so to speak. Dropping body fat, in general, is a much slower process compared to dropping body weight. Anything from a good bowel movement, to an intense workout, to a day’s fasting session will without a doubt see your scale weight go south. Awareness of these fluctuations is the exact reason why it can be dangerous to latch on to only these things when marking your fitness progress.
If your goal is to drop scale weight, there’s a safe way to do it, and there’s an unsafe way. Starving yourself while upping your workout frequency and duration is an unsafe way. Infomercial product testimonials will boast weight losses of 30 pounds in the first month of use. That’s not sustainable weight loss, and definitely not all fat loss (which, in my experience, is what most people seem to be concerned with when trying to drop their scale weight). By and large, adjusting the diet to contain the proper nutrients and a reasonable calorie deficit shouldn’t lead to a reduction of more than 2 pounds per week to ensure the right plan of attack is being put to practice.
Fat loss can’t be rushed. And your percentage of body fat is a much better compositional indicator compared to simply going by your scale weight. Remember – body composition is one of the 11 components of health and skill related fitness. If you’ve been training hard all year and are only five pounds lighter than you were at this time in 2020, it may be worthwhile to schedule a dexa scan to keep track of what your approximate body fat percentages are. You may have made much more true progress than you think. Personally, I’ve adopted the practice of doing just that, and try to get a scan once very six months.
OF COURSE, THERE ARE OUTLIERS
If you’ve already heard information like this, then use your head. I’m painting this picture with broad brushstrokes to serve the overwhelming majority of people to whom this info will apply. Sure, there will be the kid who slaps on over 20 pounds of muscle in a year, instead of 12 or 15. And a morbidly obese client on a weight or fat loss program will more than likely lose weight at a rate faster than 2 pounds per week when doing the right things – especially at the beginning of that journey. If your goal is to nitpick generally reliable advice, it’s probably speaking to the exact mentality that may be holding you back from really attaining the goals you’re after. Some food for thought.
