Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How Much Muscle Can You Build Naturally?

Episode Date: November 15, 2017

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? Want to get my best advice on how to gain muscle and strength and lose fat faster? Sign up for my free newsletter! Click here: https://www.muscleforlife.com/signup/

If you increase your testosterone levels through natural means, just lifestyle stuff, for example, but they remain well within the range of normal, which they will, unless you're going to be getting on steroids, you are unlikely to notice much in the way of muscle building benefits. If you want to know how much muscle you can build without having to take steroids and how quickly you can build it, then this podcast is for you. And the key takeaways, the long story short, is that one, most men can naturally gain about 40 to 50 pounds of muscle in their lifetimes. And most women can naturally gain about 20 to 25 pounds. Two, research shows that you can use the circumference of your wrists and ankles to

fairly accurately predict how much muscle you can gain naturally. And three, it takes at least four to five years of proper diet and training to even approach your potential for whole body muscularity. Those are just a few of the things that we are going to be breaking down in this episode. And to start, I'd like to just start with my own personal story. So when I started working out, I was just over six feet tall. I'm like 6'1", maybe 6'2", and I weighed about 155 pounds. So I was your average skinny dude. And when I started lifting, I really had no idea what I was doing. I just did workouts that I found in bodybuilding magazines for the most part. And after about one and a half years or so of these traditional bodybuilder type workouts,

you know, body part split, a lot of isolation exercises, a lot of high rep stuff, a lot of fancy rep schemes, drop sets, supersets, giant sets, eccentric sets, and so forth. I was a little less skinny. I had gained about 20 pounds of muscle probably in my first one and a half to two years of lifting. So I weighed somewhere around 175 pounds at about year two, which isn't bad, but it's also not very impressive considering that most of the muscle I gained was probably in the first eight to 10 months or so. The newbie gains phase, the honeymoon phase, so to speak. And then let's fast forward several years to the seven year mark. So at this point I had been training regularly for seven years. And by training regularly, seven years and by training

regularly, I mean, really, I would go four to six days a week. I really wouldn't take any weeks off. I wouldn't deload ever. The only time I would take time off the gym would be due to sickness or maybe vacation or just being out of town or whatever. Otherwise I was in the gym consistently and my workouts were long too. I'd be in the gym for at least an hour, four to six days a week, but usually closer to one and a half to two hours per workout, four to six days per week. And after all of that, I weighed about 190 pounds, maybe 195 max. And I was about 16 to 17% body fat. Now that was a pretty big change from where I had started, of course, but what it meant is that in the five to six years in between my newbie gains, my first 20 pounds or so, and the 190 pound mark, I had only gained about 10 to 15 pounds of muscle in five to six

years. I mean, that's okay. It's better than five pounds of muscle, but it's not very impressive considering just how much time and work I had put into my body. And, you know, to make matters even worse, at that point, I was really stuck in a rut and I hadn't seen much of a change in my physique in at least a year and maybe longer. And at that time, I was wondering like, what was the problem? Was I eating the wrong foods? Was I doing the wrong exercises? Was I just up against subpar genetics? Is that the best my body could do is basically what I was wondering. And it was at this point when I decided to get serious about educating myself on the actual science of muscle building and fat loss. Because up until that point, I didn't know very much about diet and

training, but I had the advantage of at least knowing that I didn't know very much. And I hadn't taken it very seriously, obviously, because I hadn't taken the time to really learn how things actually work. Up until then, it was kind of a thing I did with friends and it was just an enjoyable activity. It was part of my routine. I just liked how I felt during and after workouts, but I didn't have, honestly, all that much attention on my physique or where it was going or not going. And eventually though, when I really was just stuck and just doing workouts was getting a bit boring, that's when I was like, okay, I need to actually come up with a game plan here, a goal that I can strive toward that actually excites me more than just like burning calories, more than

just exercising. I wanted to train. I wanted to have something to work toward. And so in the course of educating myself, I quickly discovered a course that I was making a lot of mistakes. For example, I wasn't really doing any heavy weightlifting. Most of my training was in the, let's say 10 to 20 rep range. And I also wasn't ensuring that I was progressively overloading my muscles. I was kind of just going in and doing the same things every week. And I wasn't tracking my training. So I couldn't ensure that I was actually getting stronger over time. I was also doing a lot of isolation exercises instead of compound exercises. I was eating too much food. I didn't need to eat as much as I was eating. I thought you had to just eat big to get big and eat clean to get lean.

My macros were kind of funky too. I was eating way more protein than I needed and not enough carbs, not enough fat. Just your traditional type of like two grams of protein per pound of body weight type of diet with some clean carbs and some clean fats, as opposed to really understanding where my numbers need to be and meal planning around that. So slowly but surely, I got my act together. And then over the course of the next few years, over the course of the next two and a half, three years, I gained about 11 pounds of muscle and got myself down to about 7% body fat, which was the first time I was ever below 10%. So at that point, I weighed about 185

pounds and I was about 7%. And that's fairly impressive considering how long I had been training for up until that point. Because as you will see later in this episode, most people with seven plus years of training under their belts should have very little muscle left to gain, if any at all. Now I had a fair amount that I could gain still because of how poor my training was previously. And these days I weigh about 195 pounds and hang out around 9% body fat. Sometimes I'm a little bit leaner. Sometimes I'm a little bit leaner. Sometimes I'm a little bit fatter. It kind of depends on my diet and exercise routine and so forth, which diet is very consistent, but activity levels can fluctuate a bit, mainly just due to schedule. So I have two kids, a lot of work to do., sometimes because of the kids, I'm not sleeping very much. And that can catch up to you, obviously, sometimes with work as well. You know, I may have planned to do cardio at night, but I'm either doing family stuff or work stuff or whatever. But anyways, that's where I'm at now, which is also a pretty market improvement from even that first real milestone I feel like I reached where I was at 185 and 7%.

So I've still gained a fair amount of lean mass since then. I'd say four or five pounds or so. Which again, as you'll see, really isn't that bad considering that I haven't been able to optimize my lifestyle for maximum muscle gain. And I also am not necessarily trying to gain as much muscle as possible anymore because I'm pretty happy with where my physique is at. And at this point, I want to continue improving my physique. I want to continue moving up in my lifts, but I also want to make sure that I am keeping myself healthy, keeping my joints healthy, because my recovery isn't where it was five years ago. Probably at least a little bit due to age, but more so due to lifestyle. So I was getting more sleep five years ago, which is really the primary factor and probably less stress four or

five years ago. Now there are just more things that I have to deal with these days. And even though I don't feel like it takes really much of a toll on me emotionally or spiritually, so to speak, there is a physical toll. Unfortunately, I wish there wasn't, but it is what it is, right? And you have to deal with things as they are not as you wish they were. So in terms of my ultimate muscle building potential, like how much muscle could I gain if I wanted to do that? And if I were to optimize my diet, training, recovery, everything toward that, how big would I be able to get without turning to steroids? Well, that's what this podcast is going to be all about. And of course, you will be able to take the information from this podcast and learn the same for you. And I wanted to record this one because this is

something I get asked about a lot, and especially from beginning lifters, and especially from guys that are worried that they're always going to be small, basically. And if you dig around online, you are probably going to wind up pretty confused pretty quickly, because some people say that no matter what you do, there's an absolute ceiling to how much muscle you can build period. And it's probably lower than you think. So just get ready for that. And then other people say that's nonsense that with enough hard work and hashtag dedication, you can get as big and strong as you want. And the rapidly rising rate of steroid use doesn't really help either because while some guys are just so freakishly huge and lean and dry that look fantastic year round and swear that they're natty, lifetime drug free and all that. And you look like shit in comparison and wonder why, how, how can that be? And if they can do it

naturally, why can't you? And so it can send you on wild goose chases, is my point. So here's the long story short. The truth is that everyone has a hard limit as to how much muscle they can gain. And it's actually impossible to predict our ultimate muscle building potential exactly, but there are several research backed formulas that we can use to get a fairly accurate estimate of what we can attain in terms of whole body muscularity. And by the end of this podcast, you are going to have it taped. You're going to know approximately how much muscle you can gain and how long it's going to take you. And also why some people can gain quite a bit more muscle than others, and why some people also gain muscle a lot faster than others.

Now, before we dive into this episode, I have to shill for something to pay the bills, right? No, I'm just kidding. I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and really believe in. So instead, I am going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, in. So instead, I am going to just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my newest supplement, which I'm very excited about, which is a 100% natural nootropic or brain booster called Ascend. Now, unlike many nootropics, Ascend doesn't target just one aspect of your mental capabilities at the expense of others. And it also doesn't rely on stimulants, which can produce immediately noticeable effects, but can also undermine critical brain functions and of course result in unwanted side effects. Instead, Ascend contains clinically effective

dosages of five different nutrients that have been scientifically proven to support and enhance your focus, memory, mental speed, creativity, mood, and overall brain health. So if you want a healthier, happier, and higher performing brain that allows you to think faster, focus deeper, and feel better, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and try Ascend today. And just to show how much I appreciate all of you podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout and you will save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back,

period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.lesionathletics.com now, place your order, and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot. Let's get to the show. All right, so let's start this discussion with talking about what determines how much muscle you can build naturally. And estimating this is far from an exact science.

There are just too many physiological variables in play, which is why even genetic testing provides little more than just a guesstimate. Now, that said, there are two physical traits that are highly correlated with overall muscularity, and they are one, your bone structure, and two, your muscle structure. So let's talk about each of those. So first, let's talk about how our bone structure relates to our muscularity. And for decades now, we've generally recognized that some people just seem to be big boned, and these people are big. And there's truth here because research shows that people with larger bones do tend to be more

muscular than people with smaller frames. And they also tend to have higher testosterone levels, and they also tend to gain muscle faster when they start lifting weights. These are generally speaking, the high responders that we see, the people who can gain a lot more muscle than the average person and a lot faster. The question though, of course, is what exactly qualifies as big bone? At what point is it a significant factor and where do you and I fall on that spectrum? And two of the best indicators of your overall bone structure are the circumferences of your wrists and your ankles. And this is why when height is equal, people that have wider wrists and wider ankles also tend to be naturally more muscular and have a higher potential for natural muscle growth than those of us with more slender bones, which is me. For example, my wrists are about seven and a half inches and my ankles are about eight and a half inches, which is quite small for my height. Again, I'm about 6'1", 6'2". Now, we can largely thank a researcher named Casey Butt for figuring this correlation out. He parsed through thousands of

data points from surveys, clinical studies, and case studies. And he found that the single best indicator of muscle building potential was in fact, the thickness of the wrists and ankles, but also use the data to create a formula that allows you to predict your muscle building potential, which we will talk more about in a minute. And I'm also going to give you a link to a calculator, so you don't have to do the math. It'll just do it for you. Okay. So now let's talk about how our muscle structure relates to our muscularity. So the first thing you need to know here is that every muscle has two main parts. It has the muscle belly, which is the part that contracts and that you want to grow. And it has the tendon, which connects the belly to your skeleton. And the main way that these

things vary in people is length. Some people's muscle bellies and tendons are shorter than others, and some people's are longer. And this is significant because a muscle's potential for growth is largely determined by the length of the muscle belly. Muscles can't grow longer. They can only grow wider. So if you start with longer muscle bellies and shorter tendons, then you are going to be able to gain more total muscle mass because you have a longer muscle to start with and it's going to grow wider. So if you have a shorter muscle and it grows wider, you're talking about less overall muscle. It's really that simple. And a good visual example of this is let's say, let's first take someone with a short muscle belly and a long tendon.

So if that person were flexing their bicep with their arm down at their side and their palm turned up like in a fist, what you would see is a lot of space between the end of the bicep and their forearm. Like they would be able to put probably three fingers in between the end of their bicep and the beginning of their forearm. That would be below average in terms of muscle belly length. And that would mean that they're going to have a hell of a time building big arms. It's going to take a lot of work and they will really never be able to have the types of arms as someone with longer than average muscle bellies and shorter tendons. Those people, when they flex their arm in the same way, would be able to fit

about one finger in between the end of their bicep and the beginning of their forearm. And if you can fit two, that's about average, which is where I'm at, by the way, I can fit about two fingers. So I have average muscle belly length. Now, another factor we should talk about is on many people's minds these days, and that is testosterone. Because if you ask the average gym goer, what bodily factor most influences how quickly you can gain muscle and how much muscle you can ultimately gain, he'll probably answer testosterone levels. And to some degree, he's right. Testosterone is the primary hormonal driver of muscle growth. Its muscle building effects are so strong that research shows that artificially increasing

your testosterone levels can put muscle on your frame without even exercising at all. And so it would seem to be a reasonable assumption that our testosterone levels will ultimately influence how much muscle we can gain. And this is where things get kind of interesting because while that assumption is definitely true, if we're talking about normal testosterone levels versus higher than normal testosterone levels, which can only be achieved through steroid use. And yes, this absolutely raises the ceiling for muscle gain. That is very clear and established. But something that most people don't know is that the fluctuations that you see of testosterone levels within the physiological normal range, so when steroids are not involved,

the differences you see, they don't really significantly help or hurt your muscle growth. In other words, if you increase your testosterone levels through natural means, just lifestyle stuff, for example, but they remain well within the range of normal, which they will, unless you're going to be getting on steroids, you are unlikely to notice much in the way of muscle building benefits. Now, if you were at the absolute bottom of physiological normal, for example, through really poor lifestyle choices, and then you work your way up to the, let's say, higher ranges of normal through making better lifestyle choices, that will make a difference. You will notice a difference. But if you're already, let's say,

somewhere in around the mean, you're already average and you bump them up to slightly above average, you're really not going to see any difference in terms of muscle building. So the key takeaway here is that while your testosterone levels do influence how quickly you can gain muscle and how much muscle you can ultimately gain, it's really not as important as most people think unless we're talking about steroids. On the whole, your bone and muscle structures are just much better predictors of how much muscle you are going to be able to gain naturally. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount

of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at muscle for life fitness, Twitter at muscle for life and Facebook at muscle for life fitness. And at this point, you are probably itching to know how much muscle are you going to be able to gain? So let's dive into that. Now, most equations for predicting your potential for muscle growth are based really solely on your

height because the taller you are, the more fleshy real estate you have to make muscle. So more height means more potential lean mass. And while that is true, it doesn't tell the whole story because what if, for example, you are below average in height, but you are way above average in bone size? What does that mean in terms of muscle building potential? And that's why if we want to get a more accurate prediction of how much muscle we can build naturally, we can come back to Casey Butts' work. So Casey's formula is based on the data that he collected on ankle and wrist measurements

of drug-free bodybuilders ranging from about 1947 to 2009. And this formula is widely considered the most accurate way to estimate your genetic potential for muscle growth. And it can also be used to estimate the maximum potential size of individual muscle groups too, which is pretty cool. I won't share the formula here because it's just going to sound like a bunch of gobbledygook, but I have a nifty calculator that you can use instead that does all the math for you. And if you want to find it, head over to muscleforlife.com and search for naturally. And an article will come up that this podcast is based on called how much muscle can you build

naturally with a calculator. Click into that, scroll down to about the middle of the article, and you will see a calculator that's called the natural muscular potential calculator. And it is based on Casey Butts' formula. So here are my numbers according to this calculator. So my maximum total body weight is about 210 pounds, and that would be at about 10% body fat. My total quote unquote bulked body weight is 218 pounds. And all that is, is basically accounting for the extra weight that you carry around when you have a lot of muscle, mostly in the way of water, glycogen, and food. It estimates my maximum lean body mass to be 191.53 pounds. My maximum chest size to be about 49 inches. My maximum biceps to be about 18 inches. My maximum forearms to be

about 14 and a half inches. Neck comes in at about 17 and a half inches. Thighs at about 25 inches and calves at about 17 inches. And based on where I'm currently at in my experience so far, I would say that these numbers are fairly accurate. The total body weight and bulked body weight and lean body mass are probably a bit higher just because my body weight has always been strangely low. People tend to think that I'm 10 to 15 pounds heavier than I am. So I'm 195 right now. Most people that are in the bodybuilding space, most people that are used to estimating not just body weight, but also body composition will guess me to be about 205, 200 would be like a low guess, but most people guess I'm 205 to 210 just looking at me.

would be like a low guess, but most people guess I'm 205 to 210 just looking at me. So taking that into account, I would probably take at least five pounds off of these numbers. And I could see being 205 at about 10% body fat. Again, considering that I'm 195, 8, 9, 10%, I kind of hover in that range, but I am really not optimizing for maximum muscle gain. And I haven't in many years, the last time I really did a proper bulk and tried to gain as much muscle as possible was several years ago. Um, so I do think that if I were to do that and I were to really grind it out over the next, probably two to three years, probably closer to three years, I probably could put on another eight to 10 pounds of muscle. And then my individual muscle groups would come up as well. So for example, my arms, last time I

measured them flexed was about 17 and a half. So I could definitely see gaining another half inch there. My chest, you know, I haven't measured it in a while. I want to say 46 to 47. So yes, I could gain a little bit more there. Forearms, I haven't measured recently. I'm not sure. Neck, I never measured. I never cared. Thighs are already at about 25, maybe even 26 inches. So it looks like my thighs are just, they actually always have been kind of a high responder and my calves last measured in at about 15 inches. And so yes, there's definitely room for improvement there, but my calves are, as you know, are the bane of my existence. All right. So that's butts formula. And again, if you want to see how you stack up, just head over to that article, use the calculator. That's the easy way to do it. And I want to talk about a few other models though, that you should know

about, which were developed by Lila McDonald, Alan Aragon and Martin Burkhan, respectively. And altogether, these guys have worked with hundreds of elite bodybuilders and athletes and are, I think, and many people think, some of the smartest guys in the evidence-based fitness space. I know Martin hasn't been active in a while, but when he was, he had a lot of very interesting things to say and quickly established himself as a go-to person for understanding the nuances of not just muscle building, but nutrition in particular. I mean, he's the guy that popularized intermittent fasting in the bodybuilding space. So let's see what they have to say. So Lyle McDonald's answer is based on his extensive researching and writing and also his extensive experience just helping many, many people dramatically improve their body

composition. And based on everything he's read and seen, here's how it plays out for most guys. And he says that women can basically just cut these numbers in half. So in your first year of proper training, you can gain 20 to 25 pounds of muscle. So somewhere around two pounds per month in your second year of proper training, you're looking at 10 to 12 pounds in your third year, you're looking at five to six pounds. And your third year, you're looking at five to six pounds. And in your fourth year, and really from there on, you're looking at two to three pounds per year to the point where it's not even worth calculating. And again, that's if you do everything right.

And Lyle also says that your starting age and your body weight also play a role. So someone that starts weightlifting at, let's say 40 years old will probably gain less muscle over the long haul than someone who starts at 20. And someone who starts underweight can probably gain muscle a bit faster at first, at least than someone who starts at a normal weight. So as you can see, Lyle says that guys can gain up to about 40 to 50 pounds of muscle in their first four to five years of proper training. And then unfortunately, muscle gain becomes pretty negligible from there on out and realize that we're talking about four to five years of proper training, not just training or exercising, which is what I was doing for a while. And furthermore, Lyle has also observed

that someone that has been lifting improperly for several years so that was me for at least four years or so I guess I did things decently for the first year year and a half and then I was probably more like five five and a half years of not lifting properly that person has the potential to make something similar to year one gains when they start training properly which is really what I saw I didn't quite to year one gains when they start training properly, which is really what I saw. I didn't quite make year one gains, but over the course of the next couple of years, I put on quite a bit of muscle while also spending a fair amount of time cutting because I had to get down from like 16 to 17% first to just like the 12% range. And then kind of just take a break from

the dieting for a bit and then go back into it for a couple months to get below 10%. And again, if you want to play with a little calculator here based on Lyle's model, just head over to the article that has a calculator for Lyle's work as well. So now let's move on to Alan Aragon's answer. And if you're not familiar with Alan, he is a published researcher and fitness consultant, I guess you could say, who's been designing diet and exercise programs for over 20 you could say, who's been designing diet and exercise programs for over 20 years. Again, one of my go-to sources for information.

He has a great monthly research review, which I highly recommend for those of you who want to really keep up with the science of building muscle, losing fat, getting healthy, and so forth. And based on what Alan has seen working with everyone from everyday gym goers to Olympic athletes, most men can gain muscle at about this rate. So beginners, he puts it at, so this is your first year, one to 1.5% of your total body weight per month. Intermediates, so we're looking at year two, maybe going into year three, that's about 0.5 to 1% of your total body weight per month. And then advanced, which is

really year four and on, is about 0.25 to 0.5% of total body weight per month. Now, keep in mind, those are maximum potentials. So that's going to require proper lean bulking, so to speak. So you have to be in a slight caloric surplus. You're going to have to make sure your macros are right. You're going to have to make sure you're getting enough sleep. You're going to have to make sure that your training is at least decently designed and that you are progressively overloading your muscles and so forth. Now for women, Alan says that these numbers should be halved because they start with a lot less muscle and a lot more body fat than guys. So let's just see how this works by way of an example. So according to Alan's model,

a 150 pound male beginner can gain about 1.5 to 2.25 pounds of muscle per month in his first year, or about 18 to 27 pounds. And so let's say that this guy does fairly well in his first year and he gains about 20 pounds. And now he has graduated to the intermediate phase as he moves into year two. And if we look at Alan's model, this guy can now expect to gain anywhere from 0.85 to 1.7 pounds of muscle per month, or 10 to 20 pounds in his second year in the gym. And I'll just interject here that I haven't come across very many guys that no one even comes to mind, honestly, in all the people I've spoken with over the years. I can't think of anyone that's gained 20 pounds in second year. I've come across some people that have put on a solid 15

pounds and that's impressive. Most people I've seen are closer to 10 to 12. And again, this is guys, um, doing everything right. And anyways, back to our example. So let's say, uh, our hypothetical male weightlifter really dials in his diet and his training. And he does indeed gain 20 pounds of muscle over that second year, putting them at 190 pounds now and upgrading them to an advanced weightlifter. And therefore, according to Alan's work, his year three potential gains are about five to 10 pounds. And from there on out, his potential gains diminish more or less to a vanishing. Okay. And last let's talk Martin Burkhan's answer. So Martin, as I mentioned, is a writer and fitness consultant

and is particularly popular for introducing intermittent fasting to the bodybuilding space and convincing people that you don't need to eat 12 meals a day to not lose muscle. And Martin developed his formula for predicting maximum muscularity after observing and coaching scores of professional bodybuilders and physique competitors and the like. And his formula is very simple. It is your heightened centimeters subtracted by 100. And that he says is your upper weight limit in kilograms in contest shape, which is stage shredded, meaning four to 5% body fat. So here's how this pans out for a few heights and poundages. So for someone who's 5'8", for example, that would put them at

about 160 pounds at 5% body fat and put them at about 170 pounds at 10% and would pin their total lean body mass at about 153 pounds. If we move up to 5'10", we're looking at 171 pounds on stage, 5% body fat, 180 pounds at 10%, And it would give them about 162 pounds of lean body mass. And someone around my height, around six feet tall, it would put them at 182 pounds, super shredded, 192 pounds at about 10% and 173 pounds of total lean body mass. And as simple as Martin's model is, I have found it to be quite accurate in my experience with not just my own body, but working with a lot of people. And if you want to play around with it, then what you do is you take your height in inches and you

multiply that by 2.54 to convert it into centimeters. And then you subtract 100 from that. And that gives you your maximum weight in kilograms at 5% body fat, which again is stage ready. And then you multiply that by 2.2 to convert it back into pounds. And that will give you your pounds at 5%. Now, chances are at some point, you're going to run off to the article. You're going to play around with the calculator. You're going to calculate your numbers. And if you do, and you are feeling then a bit deflated, trust me, I do understand. Chances are you follow quite a few bodybuilders and fitness models and influencers and whatever on social media. And many of those people's numbers and those people's

physiques put yours and mine to shame really. And that's totally fine. In fact, I think it's good that you come to this realization now before unrealistic expectations can really sink their hooks in and set you up for major disappointments and failures later, which can then lead to even worse things like steroid use, for example. Now I have good news too, though, and it is this, that no matter what your genetic potential for muscle gain is, you can absolutely build an outstanding physique. You can build a body that you are proud of. You can build what is really your best body ever. And it may take longer than you like, and you may never be as big as some of these fake natty losers on Instagram, but you really can transform your body into something truly special,

no matter what your genetics are. And if you want to learn more about that, I mean, I've written about it extensively. It's in my books for men and women. I have articles on both Most of a Life and Legion Athletics that talk about it in detail. And I also have a video on my YouTube channel called Why You Can't Gain Weight and How to Fix It. So those are all resources for you. I mean, in the end, what it comes down to is eating slightly more calories than you burn, eating a high protein and high carb diet, not cheating or reading too much, doing a lot of heavy compound weightlifting and taking the right supplements if you have the budget and inclination. So to wrap up our discussion here,

the bottom line is that everybody has a limit as to how much muscle they can build in their lifetimes. And no matter what we might do in the gym or the kitchen, there is a point that we will simply stop gaining any muscle to speak of. And thanks mostly to skeletal and muscular factors, some people can build far more muscle than others. And some people can gain muscle far faster than others. Most of us though are going to be in the middle. We're looking at a bell curve here, a normal distribution. So most of us can gain very similar amounts of muscle and gain it at a very similar rate. Now, if the data says that your muscular potential is more average than you might've hoped for, or maybe even lower than average, don't give it

much thought because the reality is if you're a guy, all you really need is like 20 to 30 pounds of muscle put in the right places on your body at about 10% body fat and bam, you have an outstanding physique by anyone's standards. You have a Hollywood body. And if you are a gal, then make that about 10 to 15 pounds of muscle in the right places and about 20% body fat. If you just bring that to the beach, you are going to turn heads and raise heart rates. And another bit of good news is that anyone can achieve those numbers. Anyone, no matter how bad their genetics are, no matter how of a low responder they are, anyone can do it with enough work. And it doesn't really have to take that much time either. We're really talking about a few years. It's not that bad. So I hope you found this helpful and happy muscle

building. Hey there, it is Mike again. I hope you enjoyed this episode and found it interesting and helpful. And if you did, and don't mind doing me a favor and want to help me make this the most popular health and fitness podcast on the internet, then please leave a quick review of it on iTunes or wherever you're listening from. This not only convinces people that they should check the show out, it also increases its search visibility and thus helps more people find their way to me and learn how to build their best bodies ever too. And of course, if you want to be notified when the next episode goes live, then just subscribe to the podcast and you won't miss out on any of the new goodies. Lastly, if you didn't like something about the show, then definitely shoot me an email

at mike at muscleforlife.com and share your thoughts on how you think it could be better. I read everything myself and I'm always looking for constructive feedback. So please do reach out. All right, that's it. Thanks again for listening to this episode and I hope to hear from you soon. And lastly, this episode is brought to you by me. Seriously though, I'm not big on promoting stuff that I don't personally use and believe in. So instead, I'm going to just quickly tell you about something of mine.

Specifically, my newest supplement, which I'm very excited just quickly tell you about something of mine, specifically my newest supplement, which I'm very excited about, which is a 100% natural nootropic or brain booster called Ascend. Now, unlike many nootropics, Ascend doesn't target just one aspect of your mental capabilities at the expense of others. And it also doesn't rely on stimulants, which can produce immediately noticeable effects, but can also undermine critical brain functions and of course result in unwanted side effects. Instead, Ascend contains clinically effective dosages of five different nutrients that have been scientifically proven to support and enhance your focus, memory, proven to support and enhance your focus, memory, mental speed, creativity, mood, and overall brain health. So if you want a healthier, happier, and higher performing brain that allows you to think

faster, focus deeper, and feel better, then you want to head over to www.legionathletics.com and try Ascend today. And just to show how much I appreciate all of you podcast peeps, use the coupon code podcast at checkout, and you will save 10% on your entire order. And lastly, you should also know that I have a very simple 100% money back guarantee that works like this. You either love my stuff or you get your money back, period. You don't have to return the products. You don't have to fill out forms. You don't have to jump through any other hoops or go through any other shenanigans. So you really can't lose here. Head over to www.lesionathletics.com now, place your order and see for yourself why my supplements have thousands of rave reviews all

over the internet. And if for whatever reason, they're just not for you, contact us and we will give you a full refund on the spot.