Hi Guys! I have taken a little break from my “Basics of Muscle Building” series but wanted to get back to it. The next topic I think deserves some discussion does not lend itself to an easy title. Basically, I want to discuss how the length of your workout career will have a great influence on how much muscle you are able to add to your frame in a given period of time. Someone who is brand new to lifting (or who has taken an extended break and lost an appreciable amount of muscle mass) is able to gain muscle mass at a much faster pace than someone who has years of training under their belt. I am going to discuss the difference in the ability to gain muscle between these two groups. Now, you often see lifters grouped in beginners, intermediates, and advanced. The rules of the game are basically the same for intermediate and advanced lifters, with the exception that due to a shorter lifting career, intermediates are able to put on muscle at a little faster pace than advanced lifters.
I classify beginners as anyone within their first year of continuous, serious lifting. Within approximately the first year of lifting, new lifters will make their most rapid and impressive gains in terms of size and strength. Strength gains come from both muscle growth and neural adaptations. Neural adaptions are your body literally learned how to perform the exercise and becoming more efficient at firing your muscle fibers. Neural adaptions are responsible for the majority of the rapid increases in strength new lifters experience. Beginners can also easily gain muscle mass even while losing body fat (something intermediate or advanced lifters cannot expect to do with any appreciable muscle gains). In short, being a beginner in the gym can be the most invigorating and exciting time, because your body has the ability to change so rapidly.
Now, once you are out of the beginner phase, the rules of the game change drastically. First, the rate at which you can build new muscle dramatically slows. In the first year of lifting it is not hard to put on a solid 20 pounds or so of muscle. After that first year though, if you can put on about 5 pounds of muscle a year for the next couple of years as an “intermediate” lifter, that is amazing progress. Advanced lifters often can only hope to add 2-3 pounds a year of new muscle. And as you get more advanced and come closer to your genetic potential, you may not be to add much muscle at all.
So once you get out of the beginner phase as a bodybuilder/lifter, it becomes increasingly important to make sure that you are following all of the principles required for muscle growth. You have to make sure that you are in a calories surplus, getting adequate protein, and getting adequate sleep. In order to progress, advanced lifters should clearly define whether they are in a bulking or cutting phase. It is possible to do both at the same time, even as an advanced lifter. However, the gains will be minimal. What I mean is that yes, as you lose body fat you can still add muscle, but the gains will be in the matter of ounces, not pounds. It is actually much more likely to lose muscle mass over the course of losing body fat, especially if you try to do it too fast and create too large of a calories deficit. By clearly working towards one goal at a time, fat loss or muscle gain, an advanced lifter can optimize progress towards his goal, and not get stuck making little to no progress.
So there it is guys! By knowing how far along in your lifting career you are, you can clearly understand the rules you have to play by to gain muscle.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below or hit me up on Facebook! Thanks guys!
I classify beginners as anyone within their first year of continuous, serious lifting. Within approximately the first year of lifting, new lifters will make their most rapid and impressive gains in terms of size and strength. Strength gains come from both muscle growth and neural adaptations. Neural adaptions are your body literally learned how to perform the exercise and becoming more efficient at firing your muscle fibers. Neural adaptions are responsible for the majority of the rapid increases in strength new lifters experience. Beginners can also easily gain muscle mass even while losing body fat (something intermediate or advanced lifters cannot expect to do with any appreciable muscle gains). In short, being a beginner in the gym can be the most invigorating and exciting time, because your body has the ability to change so rapidly.
Now, once you are out of the beginner phase, the rules of the game change drastically. First, the rate at which you can build new muscle dramatically slows. In the first year of lifting it is not hard to put on a solid 20 pounds or so of muscle. After that first year though, if you can put on about 5 pounds of muscle a year for the next couple of years as an “intermediate” lifter, that is amazing progress. Advanced lifters often can only hope to add 2-3 pounds a year of new muscle. And as you get more advanced and come closer to your genetic potential, you may not be to add much muscle at all.
So once you get out of the beginner phase as a bodybuilder/lifter, it becomes increasingly important to make sure that you are following all of the principles required for muscle growth. You have to make sure that you are in a calories surplus, getting adequate protein, and getting adequate sleep. In order to progress, advanced lifters should clearly define whether they are in a bulking or cutting phase. It is possible to do both at the same time, even as an advanced lifter. However, the gains will be minimal. What I mean is that yes, as you lose body fat you can still add muscle, but the gains will be in the matter of ounces, not pounds. It is actually much more likely to lose muscle mass over the course of losing body fat, especially if you try to do it too fast and create too large of a calories deficit. By clearly working towards one goal at a time, fat loss or muscle gain, an advanced lifter can optimize progress towards his goal, and not get stuck making little to no progress.
So there it is guys! By knowing how far along in your lifting career you are, you can clearly understand the rules you have to play by to gain muscle.
If you have any questions or comments, please leave a comment below or hit me up on Facebook! Thanks guys!