Most physique composition researchers and specialists agree on the next:

  1. Most guys can achieve 15-to-25 kilos of muscle of their first 12 months of correct power coaching (and girls ought to minimize these numbers in half).
  2. Most individuals can achieve about half as a lot muscle in 12 months two than in 12 months one.
  3. Most individuals can achieve about half as a lot muscle in 12 months three than in 12 months two.

Opinions diverge on what occurs subsequent, although. 

Some authorities declare that muscle progress turns into vanishingly small after four-to-five years of correct power coaching and finally involves a standstill. Others disagree and say that though muscle progress slows down significantly with every successive 12 months of coaching, it by no means stalls altogether (“there’s all the time one other pound to be gained”).

The reality is someplace within the center. 

It’s past dispute that the speed of muscle achieve decreases as coaching expertise will increase till it’s a fraction of what it was in 12 months one, however there’s no scientific proof that the nadir is all the time zero kilos per 12 months. 

That stated, we do know that the majority pure bodybuilders and athletes attain a degree the place progress is so gradual it’s nearly inconceivable to see or measure and thus would possibly as nicely be zero.

This phenomenon might be brought on by a genetic or physiological ceiling on muscle progress, nevertheless it may be principally a operate of the sensible limits of coaching quantity and depth. That’s, whereas a extremely educated man or gal would possibly technically be capable to achieve extra muscle or power, the coaching rigors required to realize it could be an excessive amount of for his or her physique to deal with. Particularly as they become old.

So, I like to think about our absolute potential for muscle achieve as an asymptote—a degree we’re regularly transferring towards however by no means fairly attain, like flawless verbal fluency or an ideal golf swing. 

And that signifies that whereas most of us can’t achieve a substantial quantity of muscle after our first few years of correct power coaching, we will nonetheless proceed to make some progress for the approaching years and presumably even many years.