Ep. #171: How Much Muscle Can You Build Naturally?

When I started working out, I was just over six feet tall and weighed about 155 lbs.

I was your average skinny dude.

After about 1.5 years of traditional “bodybuilder workouts,” I was … shall we say … a little less skinny.

I had gained about 20 pounds since starting in the gym (~175 pounds), which isn’t very impressive considering most of it was gained in the first 10 months — the “newbie gains” phase.

After 7 years, I weighed around 190 lbs, and was about 16% body fat.

A big change from where I had started, of course, but that means that in 5 to 6 years, I had gained just 10 to 15 pounds of muscle.

Again, not very impressive considering how much time and work I had put into my training.

Well, this is where I decided to get serious about educating myself on the science of muscle building and fat loss, and I quickly discovered that I was making a lot of mistakes.

For example, I was working exclusively in the 10 to 12 rep range and doing a lot of isolation exercises instead of compound exercises, and I thought you just had to “eat big to get big” and “eat clean to get lean.”

This was a turning point.

I dramatically changed the way that I was eating and training.

I’m currently 193 pounds and 9% body fat, which means that while things have slowed down (as they should), I’ve continued to gain a bit of muscle year after year.

How much will I ultimately be able to gain, though? How big will I be able to get without having to turn to steroids?

Well, that’s what this episode is about.

By the end, you’re going to know what determines how much muscle you can gain, approximately how much muscle you can gain, and why some people can gain more and some less.

13:41 - What determines how much muscle you can build naturally?

16:15 - How does our muscle structure relate to our muscularity? 

18:19 - What bodily factor most influences how quickly you can gain muscle? 

21:29 - How much muscle am I going to be able to gain?

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