Personal Trainer in South Dublin – www. Martin Luschin .com – Fitness Trainer

How to get leaner, fitter and stronger and gain 26% Muscle in one year.

How long does it take to gain muscle? About 3 weeks according to UK scientists. The researcher determined that visible muscle growth occurs after just 20 days of heavy weight or resistance training.
They based their research on doing 4 sets of 7 reps of leg extensions 3 days a week, this lead to an increased quadriceps muscle size of about 0.2% a day.

0.2% a day, that would be 1% after 5 training days – lets be a bit conservative and assume you train 5 times in two weeks – (having another rest day ), meaning you could gain 1% muscle in two weeks. Slow and steady as nature does most changes. 

52 weeks per year divided by 2 (number of weeks need to increase muscle mass by 1%) = 26 -> meaning you should be able to gain about 26% of muscle mass a year.
The next questions for me is then what is the muscle percentage of our body (averages are 42% male – 36% female according to Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscle )
My own body weight is 80kg => 80kg * 42% = 33.6kg muscle mass.
Now we are able to calculate the potential muscle growth per year.
33.6kg * 26% = 8.736kg potential muscle growth per year.

This means my new body weight could or would be 88.736kg after one year of weight, resistance training (5-6x in two weeks), I’m also very likely to have burned lots of body fat and be generally stronger and leaner.

Here the formulas so you can calculate it for yourself (assuming your muscle mass is 42% (male) 36% (female), which it is most likely not the case for most sports people, anyway … it will give you a good indication):

1. Current Muscle Mass in kg = Body Weight * 42%(mail)/36%(female)
2. Potential Muscle Growth in kg per year = Body Weight * 42%)male)/36%(female) * 26%
3. New body weight including gained muscle
    Men:
    = Body Weight + Body Weight * 42% * 26%
    = Body Weight (1 + 1 *42% * 26%) = Body Weight (1 + 1 * 0.42 * 0.26)
    = Body Weight (1 + 0.1092)
    Women:
    = Body Weight (1 + 1 * 0.36 * 0.26)
    = Body Weight (1 + 0.0936)

Men:  New Body Weight after one year training = Body Weight * 1.1092

Women: New Body Weight after one year training = Body Weight * 1.0936

This is  assuming you didn’t lose any body fat, which most people will have done over a year if they did 5 resistance training session every 2 weeks, now you might now be able to understand why you tone up, get leaner and fitter but don’t necessarily lose a lot of weight - you gained muscle mass and lost body fat and look fab.

Even though this growth isn’t noticeable from day to day, the effect can be dramatic if you work all you major muscle groups 3 days per week, 52 weeks a year – that’s 156 workout days a year. How often do you work out in a year to stay fit, strong and lean?

(Source “Men’s Health Total Fitness Guide 2009 – Get Bigger, Stronger, Better today”).