Additionally, many factors contribute to the rate of muscle gain, including your training experience, gender, age, and the type of exercise you do. So you may wonder how much muscle you can actually gain in a month. This article discusses how much muscle you can gain in a month, including how to get started and which supplements may be worth taking.
In most cases, muscle gain is a slow, gradual process. It can take years rather than months to see significant results. That said, beginners and some intermediate lifters may see small changes after just a few months of intense training.
Gain muscle mass faster if you are a beginner
Although it’s almost impossible to pinpoint exactly how much muscle you can gain in a month, some studies can give you a good idea. A study of 30 college-aged men with previous training experience observed a 23% increase in size of the vastus lateralis (one of the leg muscles) after 6 weeks of resistance training.
Similarly, a small older study observed a 5.6% increase in muscle size after 21 weeks of resistance training in 8 non-resistance trained athletes.
This suggests that people with no prior strength training experience have a greater potential for muscle gain than athletes with training experience. Additionally, your genetic makeup may also mean that you respond better to muscle growth stimulus.
Although data is limited as to exactly how much muscle you can gain in a month, these studies suggest that short-term muscle growth is modest in natural athletes.
How to start
When looking to gain muscle fast, there are a few factors you can focus on to get the most effective results for your efforts.
High intensity resistance exercise
Arguably the most important factor is to focus on high intensity resistance exercises in the 8-12 rep range.
These exercises include compound movements like variations of the squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, or snatch. These moves work multiple muscle groups at once, improving exercise efficiency and stimulating muscle growth.
In addition to compound exercises, there are various isolation exercises to target specific muscle groups. Unlike compound exercises, isolation exercises target one muscle group at a time. This allows for maximum stimulation and growth potential.
While cardiovascular exercise is important for overall health, it does not play a major role in muscle gain.
A good diet
Another important part of gaining muscle fast is proper nutrition. For best results, it is recommended to eat 10-20% more calories than your metabolic rate, which is also known as total daily energy expenditure. . This means that you need to consume slightly more calories than you burn, as building muscle is an energy-intensive process.
In addition to a calorie surplus, it is important that you ensure an adequate protein intake of 0.7 to 1 gram per 1.6 to 2.2 grams per kg of body weight. Because protein is the main building block of muscle.
Different populations: different muscle gains
One of the biggest factors in the rate of muscle gain is the age at which you train, or how long you train.
Two other important factors to consider are age and gender, which can also have a big influence on building muscle.
Beginners
When you are just beginning to train for strength and hypertrophy (muscle building), you have great potential for muscle growth.
This is because training is a new stimulus and as your muscles are worked, growth occurs to prepare them for future training.
That said, muscle growth is still limited during the early stages of resistance training, when most of your strength gains are due to neural adaptations. This means that as you train, your brain gets better at recruiting muscle fibers to contract during a particular exercise.
Therefore, if you’re new to resistance training, you probably won’t see significant muscle gains in your first month of training, even if you gain strength.
Intermediaries
After regular training for at least a year and mastering the fundamental movements, we move on to the intermediate phase of training. This is usually where practitioners spend the most time, with some never progressing to the advanced phase.
During the Late Beginner and Intermediate Beginning phase of training, you have the greatest potential for muscle growth because you are past the neural adaptation phase. At this point, you can perform most movements with proficiency and stimulate significant muscle growth.
Advanced trainees
The advanced phase of training requires a lot of time and effort, usually at least two years for the most gifted athletes. By this point, most trainees have achieved the bulk of their muscle and strength gains. Finding new muscle mass is difficult.
Progressing as an advanced trainee often requires advanced training techniques that provide maximum muscle stimulation. Even at the best of times, advanced trainees may not see muscle gain beyond a few pounds per year.
Men
In general, men have a few advantages over women when it comes to gaining muscle. According to old and new research, men tend to have larger and more numerous muscle fibers, leading to overall bigger muscles and increased strength potential.
Additionally, men have higher levels of testosterone, the primary circulating male sex hormone that is responsible for male characteristics like muscle development, body hair, and deepening of the voice. Considering these factors, men tend to gain more muscle than women in a month.
Women
Women are at a slight disadvantage when it comes to building muscle and strength quickly due to genetic and hormonal differences. That said, women are at an advantage over men when it comes to fatigue and recovery. They are often able to exercise more and recover faster.
This is mainly due to higher levels of estrogen, one of the main female sex hormones.
So while men may gain muscle at a faster rate than women, women seem to recover more efficiently after exercise. This allows them to handle a larger training volume over time.
older adults
Loss of muscle and strength, also called sarcopenia, is one of many factors associated with the aging process in both men and women.
Fortunately, resistance training has been shown to slow or even slightly reverse this effect in older adults. Although the rate of muscle gain tends to be slower in the aging population, improvements in muscle strength and functional mobility are still seen. This underscores the importance of following a regular exercise regimen that includes resistance training as one ages.
Are food supplements useful?
During your quest for muscle gains, various supplements can improve your results. While many supplement manufacturers claim that their products can help you gain muscle quickly, only a few types of supplements have broad scientific support.
Here are the bodybuilding supplements that have the most scientific support.
protein powder
Protein powders are the isolated form of various types of protein, including milk protein like whey or casein or vegetable protein like pea or brown rice.
When looking to promote muscle gain, getting enough protein is key. Because they provide the building blocks of muscles.
Experts recommend consuming 20-40 grams of high-quality protein. That is, protein that contains all of the essential amino acids and is easily digested, within two hours of resistance exercise to maximize muscle gains.
Although protein powders aren’t necessary, they can be a great tool to help you meet your daily protein needs. Especially if you find it difficult to reach them as part of your regular diet.
Sources
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31166954/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12734759/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30971942/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6303131/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6710320/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5434832/
