To follow up on my prior article, “You have to accept you have to wait” comes an article from Jason Ferruggia that attempts to answer the question, “How Much Muscle Can You Gain Naturally?”

I like how the article looks at some guys and does the math on what they actually gained.

It’s a lot less than you think.

My point here (even if all the numbers aren’t exact) is that the guys with some of the greatest muscle building genetics in the world have gained fifty pounds of muscle in their lifetimes. Think about that for a second.

What this means is that if you’re the average skinny-fat guy who weighs 160 at 5’10” with 18% bodyfat you’re never going to be over 200 pounds. If you do hit that milestone you’ll be fat.

I don’t know if I ever really thought about the weight aspect, especially when you factor in trying to be lean. Many of the top pro bodybuilders look totally jacked, tons of meat slabs on their frame, and yet… they aren’t over 200# (often because they’re also short). So while the notion of “heavyweight” tends to mean being over 200-225 lbs. (depending who you ask), most of us just won’t get there.

The article also talks about the speed of the gains, and like anything they come on quickly at first, then really slow down.

So you don’t just have to wait, but you have to realize there’s only so much that can be done. But also don’t let the numbers be unrealistic. To slap 30# of beef on your frame is actually quite a lot of muscle. So tell you what: take a picture and your weight/measurements now. Put in the time and work to take that 30# of muscle. Take another picture and weight/measurements. We’ll talk again then. 🙂