How much muscle mass can you gain without steroids? Muscle gain

Muscle tissue makes up about 40% of body weight. This means that 20-30 kg of an adult’s weight comes from muscles. In total, humans have more than 400 muscles.

Which muscle is the largest?

The diaphragm separates the thoracic and abdominal cavities. This muscle is flat and thin, like a dome, and attaches to the ribs and spine.

One of the fastest movements is blinking the eyes. It occurs in just 40 milliseconds by contracting the orbicularis muscle. In the thickness of the cartilage of the eyelids there are special glands that protect them from sticking and promote the adhesion of dust particles. During sleep, this mechanism protects the cornea of ​​the eye from drying out the tear fluid that moistens it. Otherwise, when we woke up, we would not be able to separate our eyelids.

When a person is awake, reflex contractions of the eyelid muscles (blinking) wet the outer surface eyeball. In this case, it is mainly the upper eyelid that moves. There are 100-150 eyelashes on it, and half as many on the lower eyelid. In addition, there are no muscles in the lower eyelid that could lift it.

Which muscles are the strongest?

The chewing muscles are the most strong muscles. A person has four on each side. The face has facial muscles and chewing muscles. They differ in their structure. The facial muscles begin on bone formations, and with the opposite end they are woven into the connective tissue, the mucous membrane and the skin. Therefore, when these muscles contract, folds and pits are formed on the face. The chewing muscles are attached to the bones, like all other muscles of the trunk and limbs.

You've probably seen in the circus how an acrobat, hanging upside down under a big top, holds a special device in his teeth, the second end of which not only holds his partner, but also allows her to rotate around a vertical axis. By the way, trying to do this using outstretched arms rather than jaws is practically futile. Even those who do not participate in such tricks know that sometimes it is easier to pull a stubborn cork out of a bottle with your teeth than with your hands.

With the need to define muscle mass a person may be faced with a situation where he has decided to correct his figure and say goodbye to fat deposits. To do this, he needs to find out the percentage of fat mass and lean mass; the second includes muscles, skeleton, and organs. How to determine the percentage of muscles in the human body, and what is the norm for their content in the human body?

Proper nutrition for gaining muscle mass

Muscle weight determination

If a caliper is missing, it can be easily replaced with a caliper. Before you begin to determine muscle mass in the human body, you need to be aware of what body measurements will need to be taken to begin with and take into account all sorts of nuances of this process.

You should start the calculation by taking measurements using a centimeter, which will need to measure four circles:

• Shoulder.
• Forearm.
• Shin.
• Hip.

Measuring body volumes using a centimeter

It is very important to get the right result, and you can achieve it by using the following tips:

• It is recommended to measure the shoulder only in a calm state, so you should not strain your muscles during the measurement process. You should try to measure the shoulder in the place where most of the muscles are located.
• When taking measurements from the forearm, care must be taken to ensure that the arm is not tense and hangs freely.
• To measure the lower leg, it is necessary to take measurements from the calves, preferably in the place where they are most visible.
• When measuring your hip, you need to stand straight so that your body weight is evenly distributed on your two legs. Then you should take measurements with a centimeter, covering the thigh under the gluteal fold

Body measurements in centimeters

After the required indicators have been taken, for further calculations you will also need to find out the subcutaneous fat folds. A caliper will help you do this. Based on the data obtained, it is possible to calculate what muscle mass a person has.

In order to understand the calculations, you can use the following decoding:

• M is the muscle mass of the body, which we need to calculate.
• L is an indicator that characterizes the height of men. For this formula, it is recommended to take height in centimeters.

M - this is muscle mass of the body

• r – to calculate this indicator, you need to perform three steps. The first step is to calculate the sum of the four indicators obtained at the very beginning of determining the mass - this is the coverage of the shoulder, forearm, lower leg and thigh. The resulting amount must be divided by 25, 12. The second step is similar to the first, because it also requires finding out the sum of the indicators and dividing it by 100. In the second step, measurements of subcutaneous fat folds are taken for calculation. The essence of the third action is to obtain the difference between the first action and the second. This difference is the indicator r, which will need to be substituted into the formula given above.
• K is a constant indicator that is equal to 6.5.

This is how chest circumference is measured

Using this formula, provided that the calculations have been carried out correctly, it is possible to determine the weight of muscles in the human body. There is another formula with which it is quite easy to determine the percentage of muscle mass in the body of men and women. According to this formula, the percentage of lean body mass for men and women is calculated as the lean body mass obtained using the Matejka formula, divided by the P value. The resulting value is multiplied by 100 to obtain the percentage of muscles in the body of men and women. The number P in this formula indicates the person’s weight, which must be indicated in kilograms.

The percentage of lean body mass for men and women is different. So, for a woman, the norm is 35% of the total body weight. But the norm for men is slightly higher and is about 43%.

Of course, with regular physical activity and proper nutrition in the body of an athlete, the processes of increasing muscle mass are more activated than in a person who has nothing to do with sports. Therefore, the norm for an athlete is 50% muscle of the total body weight.

Measurement

In addition to calculating muscle mass, you can measure the progress of its growth, and this is quite simple to do. Moreover, this will not require fancy instruments and so on, because in this case the measurement will be carried out by observation. Armed with a centimeter and a camera, you can get started. In order to track the progress of muscle growth you need to:

• Measure your muscle condition every week. This will allow you to track even their slight increase. By recording the obtained indicators, the athlete will see progress every week. Measurements must be taken directly in the area of ​​those muscles to which the maximum load is directed.

Measure your muscle condition every week

• Using a camera you can also track the trend of muscle mass growth. By taking photos every week and comparing them with previous photos, the changes can be clearly seen.
• You should also pay attention to things like lifting more weight or working with equipment that weighs more than what you previously worked with in the gym. If an athlete notes that the weight of the barbell or dumbbell has increased, then this may also indicate that changes have occurred in the body, muscle mass has increased.

In most cases, people who direct all their efforts to increase their weight notice its growth when their usual clothes become tight for them. If we are talking about shirts, T-shirts, then discomfort when wearing them occurs in the shoulders. The pants also become tight in the legs.

Here's what you need to know:

- New research looking at the growth of type I and II fibers suggests that perhaps we should pay more attention to slow twitch fibers, since many use only heavy loads

- Type I fibers are maximally stimulated by smaller but longer-lasting loads. Type II fibers respond better to short exercises with heavy weights

- There are many ways to vary the intensity of our program, such as repetition periodization, or using heavy weights for exercises that work multiple joints, but lighter weights for exercises targeting a specific joint or muscle group.

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“Exercise with heavy weights and you will grow” - many of the people who visit the gym consider this one of the basics. Heavy weights allow for maximum progression of large motor units (type II fibers), and since this type of fibers is responsible for strength and has the greatest growth potential, focusing on their maximum load, we stand on the shortest and the best way to success, right? Well, let's not make quick conclusions and look into the issue.

Don't neglect your slow twitch fibers. ​

Type I fibers have not gained fame or even respect in the bodybuilding world. They are slower, weaker and often smaller than their fast-twitch counterparts, so the only thing they can be proud of is the ability to contract repeatedly without fatigue (though without much strength).

If you look at long-distance runners, such as marathon runners, their skinny legs in leggings, capable of resisting fatigue as much as they like, will seem more like a curse for a bodybuilder than something useful. Typically, the training philosophy of bodybuilders is that everything is built around stimulation of type II fibers, without any attention to slow-twitch fibers.

However, new research on the effects of training at different intensities and the growth of type I and II fibers suggests that we have been neglecting training slow-twitch fibers in vain - we are losing pounds of potential muscle mass.

It's time to rethink our training philosophy in the context of fiber type-specific hypertrophy.

Large weights and type II fibers. ​

Of course, there are many studies showing that type II fibers grow more during high-intensity strength training. The nuance here is in the words “high intensity”. This does not mean that type II fibers have an innate ability to outgrow their slow-twitch counterparts, but that when training at higher intensities (>50% of maximum), type II fibers grow faster.

Our current understanding of the hypertrophy of each of the two fiber types is more a consequence of how we studied them (high intensity) rather than what actually happens in the gym. The best summary of this is a 2004 article by Dr. Andrew Fry. He compiled data from various studies on the growth rates of different fiber types and found that at most training intensities, type II fibers rule the roost.

But if the intensity of the load were reduced below 50% of 1RM (maximum repetition), then eventually the type I fibers would outgrow the type II fibers, but the growth rate in this range is much less than the rate achieved at higher intensities, regardless of fiber type. Not much would change in our training after reading about a study like this, but there are factors that limit the power of Fry's analysis.

The main limitation is that Fry did not have an adequate number of studies on low-intensity training, and there is not enough comparative information to directly compare high- and low-intensity training, especially considering the growth of different fiber types.

Add to this the latest data on the rate of muscle fiber growth in response to training of varying intensities, and you can see that Type I fibers are capable of more than we expect from them.

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Type I fibers. ​

Although there are few studies, there are still enough of them to conclude that we have underestimated the ability of type I fibers to hypertrophy. Recently, Mitchell and colleagues conducted a study showing that training with light weights to failure (three sets of 30% of 1RM) resulted in the same hypertrophy as higher intensity training (three sets of 80% of 1RM).

Looking at individual fiber types, although the data may not be statistically significant, we see that type I fibers responded slightly more to low-intensity training (19% change vs. 14%) and type II fibers responded better to high-intensity training (15% vs. 12%).

Ultimately, this suggests that in addition to the number of plates on the bar, there are other things that matter greatly. Type I fibers are maximally stimulated by longer, lower loads, while type II fibers respond better to short sets with heavy weights.

A common complaint about most training studies is that the researchers mostly use untrained students. What happens in the undeveloped muscles of these people may not coincide with the processes in trained muscles. Fortunately, when we look at the muscles of various athletes, we see confirmation of theories about hypertrophy of different types of fibers.

Bodybuilders tend to focus on volume, muscle fatigue, and moderate repetitions, while powerlifting and Olympic weightlifting focus on load itself and/or speed of movement. It is not surprising that type I fibers are much better developed in bodybuilders than in strength-oriented athletes.

Taking all the evidence into account, it seems reasonable to conclude that training at different intensities may have a similar effect on muscle hypertrophy, but the fiber type may differ.

But like most things in scientific world, that's pretty controversial issue. Two more studies on this topic, framed slightly differently, found that regardless of fiber type, higher-intensity training had better benefits. positive influence for muscle growth

Ultimately, the idea that we are oblivious to the potential for Type I fiber growth (and the ability of lower-intensity training to stimulate hypertrophy) is based on the arguments: a) hypertrophy requires a certain minimum amount of time under tension, which varies with training intensity; b) this stress time is longer for type I fibers than for type II fibers.

Burd and his colleagues, without studying the effects on a specific fiber type, compared the acute increase in protein synthesis during four sets of exercise at three different loads: 90% RM to failure; 30% RM to failure, and general work was the same in both cases.

The response to the load (protein synthesis) varied slightly over time, but was generally similar, despite different conditions. However, muscle protein synthesis at a load of 30% RM (not to failure), at which the immediate load time is significantly less than at 30% RM to failure, was approximately half as much as under the first two conditions.

Bottom line: Although protein synthesis after a single workout does not allow conclusions to be drawn about long-term adaptations, the fact that two studies showed similar hypertrophy during high- and low-intensity exercise supports our idea.

Does size matter? ​

The rationale for using heavier weights is that there is compelling evidence that heavy weights cause significant hypertrophy, without considering fiber type at all.

This is consistent with Henneman's principle, which states that motor units are recruited in a specific order based on their size—small motor units are recruited when force is low, large motor units are recruited when greater force is required. Larger weights require more muscle mass to do the work, meaning you will need to recruit more motor units than if you were lifting a lighter weight that is normal for your muscles.

This argument does not take into account the fact that fatigue can stimulate growth and it can directly influence the growth of new motor units. When you lift light weights, the growth of motor units is initially less than if you started with heavy weights.

As fatigue sets in, slow twitch fibers grow faster and faster. The principle of size remains the same, you recruit from the smallest to the largest motor units, but you end up counting fast twitch fibers growing at lighter weights when you are tired.

This partly explains how fast twitch fibers grow during low intensity training and why maximizing time under tension and fatigue may be important to this concept.

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Potential pounds of muscle? ​

The idea that by ignoring light weight training you're sacrificing pounds of muscle may seem like an exaggeration, but a quick think about what fibers make up different muscles may change your mind.

The proportions of different fiber types may vary from person to person and are influenced by genetic factors and training, but given that many large muscle groups have significant proportions of type I fiber, the average person has approximately equal amounts of slow and fast twitch fibers, hence all However, it is worth optimizing your approach to improving the growth of slow twitch fibers.

Multiple rep ranges for maximum stimulation. ​

For those looking to maximize their hypertrophy potential, it makes sense to train across the entire rep range. You should not focus only on the range of 6-12 repetitions; the training program should also include ranges of 15-20 and 1-5 repetitions.

This will not only provide complete stimulation of the entire spectrum of muscle fibers, but will also act as preparation for optimizing performance in the primary hypertrophy range (6-12). Low repetitions enhance the neuromuscular adaptations needed to develop maximum strength. And with a high number of repetitions, we “pull back” the lactate threshold, that is, fatigue sets in later, which will allow us to increase tension in the main range of a moderate number of repetitions.

There are many options for how intensity variation can be integrated into a training program. Perhaps the best way to ensure progress is to periodize your training with repetitions. Both linear and nonlinear models are suitable. It all comes down to personal preference and individual characteristics.

Another option is to set a strategy based on the type of exercise. You may decide to focus on low to moderate reps (1-10) for multi-joint exercises such as bench press, squat, deadlift, and high reps (>15) for isolation exercises.

There are no hard and fast rules here. The training regimen depends on the person himself. It's best to experiment and find out what works best for you.

Slow and steady wins. ​

Type II fibers may outperform Type I in hypertrophy, but are you willing to risk underestimating the potential of Type I? An optimal hypertrophy training program will give your fast-twitch fibers the heavy weights they crave, but also provide the type I fibers with the long-term, moderate exercise they definitely deserve.

Author - Brad Shoenfeld
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Scientific articles and materials:

1. Mitchell, C. J. et al. Resistance exercise load does not determine training-mediated hypertrophic gains in young men. J Appl Physiol 113, 71-77 (2012).

2. Fry, A. C. The role of resistance exercise intensity on muscle fiber adaptations. Sports Med 34, 663-679 (2004).

3. Wernbom, M., Augustsson, J. & Thomeé, R. The influence of frequency, intensity, volume and mode of strength training on whole muscle cross-sectional area in humans. Sports Med 37, 225-264 (2007).

4. Hackett, D. A., Johnson, N. A. & Chow, C.-M. Training Practices and Ergogenic Aids used by Male Bodybuilders. J Strength Cond Res(2012). doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e318271272a

5. Swinton, P. A. et al. Contemporary Training Practices in Elite British Powerlifters: Survey Results From an International Competition. J Strength Cond Res 23, 380-384 (2009).

6. Ogasawara, R., Loenneke, J. P., Thiebaud, R. S. & Abe, T. Low-load bench press training to fatigue results in muscle hypertrophy similar to high-load bench press training. International Journal of Clinical Medicine 4, 114-121 (2013).

7. Leger, B. et al. Akt signaling through GSK-3beta, mTOR and Foxo1 is involved in human skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy. J Physiol (Lond) 576, 923-933 (2006).

8. Lamon, S., Wallace, M. A., Léger, B. & Russell, A. P. Regulation of STARS and its downstream targets suggest a novel pathway involved in human skeletal muscle hypertrophy and atrophy. J Physiol (Lond) 587, 1795-1803 (2009).

9. Schuenke, M. D. et al. Early-phase muscular adaptations in response to slow-speed versus traditional resistance-training regimens. Eur J Appl Physiol 112, 3585-3595 (2012).

10. Campos, G. E. R. et al. Muscular adaptations in response to three different resistance-training regimens: specificity of repetition maximum training zones. Eur J Appl Physiol 88, 50-60 (2002).

11. Holm, L. et al. Changes in muscle size and MHC composition in response to resistance exercise with heavy and light loading intensity. J Appl Physiol 105, 1454-1461 (2008).

12. Burd, N. A. et al. Low-load high volume resistance exercise stimulates muscle protein synthesis more than high-load low volume resistance exercise in young men. PLoS ONE 5, e12033 (2010).

13. Aagaard, P. et al. A mechanism for increased contractile strength of human pennate muscle in response to strength training: changes in muscle architecture. J Physiol (Lond) 534, 613-623 (2001).

14. Charette, S. L. et al. Muscle hypertrophy response to resistance training in older women. J Appl Physiol 70, 1912-1916 (1991).

15. Harber, M. P., Fry, A. C., Rubin, M. R., Smith, J. C. & Weiss, L. W. Skeletal muscle and hormonal adaptations to circuit weight training in untrained men. Scand J Med Sci Sports 14, 176-185 (2004).

16. Kosek, D. J., Kim, J.-S., Petrella, J. K., Cross, J. M. & Bamman, M. M. Efficacy of 3 days/wk resistance training on myofiber hypertrophy and myogenic mechanisms in young vs. older adults. J Appl Physiol 101, 531-544 (2006).

17. Staron, R. S. et al. Strength and skeletal muscle adaptations in heavy-resistance-trained women after detraining and retraining. J Appl Physiol 70, 631-640 (1991).

18. Henneman, E., Somjen, G. & Carpenter, D. O. Excitability and inhibition of motoneurons of different sizes. J. Neurophysiol. 28, 599-620 (1965).

19. Henneman, E., Somjen, G. & Carpenter, D. O. FUNCTIONAL SIGNIFICANCE OF CELL SIZE IN SPINAL MOTONEURONS. J. Neurophysiol. 28, 560-580 (1965).

20. Schoenfeld, B. J. Potential Mechanisms for a Role of Metabolic Stress in Hypertrophic Adaptations to Resistance Training. Sports Med(2013). doi:10.1007/s40279-013-0017-1

21. Adam, A. & De Luca, C. J. Recruitment order of motor units in human vastus lateralis muscle is maintained during fatiguing contractions. J. Neurophysiol. 90, 2919-2927 (2003).

22. Simoneau, J. A. & Bouchard, C. Genetic determinism of fiber type proportion in human skeletal muscle. FASEB J 9, 1091-1095 (1995)

23. Tirrell, T. F. et al. Human skeletal muscle biochemical diversity. J. Exp. Biol. 215, 2551-2559 (2012).

24. Johnson, M. A., Polgar, J., Weightman, D. & Appleton, D. Data on the distribution of fiber types in thirty-six human muscles. An autopsy study. J. Neurol. Sci. 18, 111-129 (1973).

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This type need to consume more protein and fiber, cereals should be minimally processed and cleaned; unpolished rice works well. Training should be both strength training and endurance training, that is, running, swimming, cycling. Such loads will help burn excess fat tissue.

How to gain weight as an ectomorph

This body type has a very difficult time gaining mass, both muscle and fat. “Lean” by nature, the ectomorph has a fast metabolism, which makes it difficult to gain weight by quickly burning calories. All food is easily digested to provide energy for the body, making it more difficult to create a calorie surplus. This body type is best suited high carbohydrate diet, slow carbohydrates that release energy for a long time should be predominant. The main thing is not to starve. Since the body quickly digests food, it will take the lack of energy from the muscles. Therefore, poor nutrition will never lead an ectomorph to big muscles. Equally important is protein in the diet; sufficient intake will prevent the breakdown of your own muscle protein. Sports supplements in the form and or are suitable for an ectomorph. Especially, taking such supplements is important before bedtime; “slow” casein protein will prevent muscle loss at night.

Ectomorph training should last no more than an hour, mainly performed for the main muscle groups, 8-10 repetitions per set with high intensity.

How to increase a girl's body weight

The principles and techniques for gaining muscle for women are not particularly different from those for men. But the speed of muscle gain in girls is much slower, because there is not enough production required quantity testosterone, which promotes muscle growth. Girls need to be careful with high-calorie foods, on average, the weaker sex 2000-3000 calories is enough. An excess of carbohydrates and fats promotes fat gain, not muscle gain. The female body naturally contains more adipose tissue in percentage, in contrast to men's. Therefore, high-calorie foods threaten the rapid deposition of fats female type(on the thighs and abdomen), this is necessary for main task women - bearing and giving birth to a child.

Thus, nutrition should be moderate:

1. complex carbohydrates and fruits in the morning;
2. proteins and fiber - in the second.

Strength training for muscle gain should also include basic exercises of 8-12 repetitions, 3-4 sets.

Common mistakes in gaining weight

• Insufficient calorie intake and nutrients;
• Infrequent meals;
• Low fluid consumption;
• Exclusion from the diet (especially undesirable for an ectomorph);
• Fasting before bed;
• Consumption of only proteins and complete exclusion of fats;
• Long-term exercise for more than 2-3 hours, which leads to a decrease in muscle volume.

Conclusion

For effective and rapid growth of muscle mass, men must not forget about main rules– consuming enough calories and nutrients, as well as intense exercise.

Remember, a large number of repetitions (running, cycling), long-term training only lead to an increase in endurance and loss of fat tissue, but have no effect on muscle growth.

Switch to six meals a day, each appointment no later than three hours later. Don't forget, muscle growth requires at least eight hours.

If you want to know how much muscle mass you can gain without steroids, and how quickly, then this article is for you.

Let's answer the question right away:

• Most men can naturally gain 20 to 25 kilograms of muscle over their lifetime, and most women can gain about 10 to 14 kilograms.
• If you measure the circumference of your wrist and shin, you can pretty accurately predict how much weight you can gain without steroids.
• After 4-5 years of proper nutrition and strength training get closer to the physiological maximum in weight gain.

This is one of the most common questions that new athletes ask. If you look for answers on the Internet, you can easily get confused. Some say there is an absolute limit (ceiling) to how much muscle you can gain. And that limit is coming sooner than most of us think.

Others say this is nonsense. If you work hard enough, there is practically no limit to gaining muscle mass and strength.

The increasing use of steroids also complicates the understanding of the issue. Because some athletes are so huge that the question of whether they took steroids does not arise. But there are a lot of people on steroids who are not so easy to spot. And this leads to unreasonable expectations.

The truth is this. Everyone has a hard limit on how pumped they can get. It's impossible to predict 100%, but there are several formulas that can fairly accurately predict your overall muscle gain potential.

How much muscle mass can you gain naturally? What does it depend on?

Why do some people manage to gain more and others less?

It is quite difficult to estimate this potential very accurately.

There are two physical characteristics, which directly affect the expression of muscles:

• Bone structure;
• Muscle structure.

Let's look at each of them.

Effect of bone structure on muscles

People with larger bones have more muscle than people with thinner skeletons. In addition, they usually have more high level testosterone, and muscle mass gains much faster when they begin strength training.

So what qualifies as a “large bone”, how do you calculate what type of bone you are?

Two simple and reliable measures of overall bone structure are wrist and ankle circumferences.

This is why, even with the same height, people with wider ankles and wrists have more pronounced muscles and better prospects for muscle growth than people with thin bones.

The influence of muscle structure on muscle expression

Each muscle consists of two main parts:

• The abdomen is the part that contracts and grows.
• Tendon - connects the abdomen and the skeleton.

What are the main differences - some people have shorter muscles and tendons than others. This is a very important point because the potential muscle growth is largely determined by the length of the abdomen.

Muscles cannot grow in length, only in width, so if you initially have more long muscles and short tendons, you will gain more overall muscle mass.

It's that simple.

For example, a photograph of a man's arm with a short muscle and a long tendon.

As you can see, he will have to work very hard to pump up his huge arms.
To measure the length of your biceps, bend your arm 90 degrees, flex your biceps, and see how many fingers you can fit between the beginning of your biceps and your forearm.
If 3 fingers fit, the length of the muscle is less than average, if 2 fingers fit, the length is average. If 1 finger fits, then you are one of the lucky few, you have long muscles.

Effect of testosterone

If you ask most gym goers what most influences the rate of muscle growth, the answer is obvious: “testosterone levels.”

And it's true.

Testosterone is the main hormonal driver.

Its effects are so strong that some studies have shown that when its level is artificially increased, weight gain occurs even without performing any exercise. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that testosterone levels will influence the amount of muscle gained.

But there's one here interesting point. All this works with a significant increase in testosterone levels.

Here's what a lot of people don't understand:

Differences in testosterone levels within the physiological norm do not particularly increase or inhibit muscle growth. In other words, if you increase testosterone levels slightly (within physiological limits), then it is unlikely that any changes in muscle growth will be noticeable. Natural fluctuations in testosterone levels have little effect on an athlete's potential.

In general, how well you can pump up without steroids can be accurately predicted based on your bone and muscle structure.

How much muscle can you gain by training without steroids?

Most formulas and equations are based on height. Because the taller a person is, the more space for muscle growth, that is, the more potential to gain it.

But that's not all. Because you may be shorter than average in height, but have a larger than average bone structure.

For calculation you can use Casey Butt formula(how much weight can you gain without steroids).

This formula is based on a very large number of ankle and wrist circumference measurements of athletes not taking steroids from 1947 to 2009.

This is considered the most accurate method of assessment, and can be used to calculate the maximum potential size of each major muscle group.

Here is the formula:

Most likely, it looks like Chinese writing. Therefore, below is a calculator with which you can do all the calculations.

Natural Muscle Potential Calculator

How to use this calculator:

1.Enter your height in centimeters.

2.Enter the circumference of the forearm. How to measure: Open your palm and use a tape measure to measure the circumference of your wrist closest to your palm.

3.Enter ankle circumference. Measured with a tape measure around the narrowest point between the ankle and calf muscle.

About expectations

If these calculations make you a little upset, that's normal. Most likely in social networks You've seen plenty of athletes who say otherwise. And it’s clear why.
In fact, it's good if you realize this now, before you become obsessed with unrealistic expectations. Which will lead to huge disappointments and failures in the future.
The good news is this: regardless of genetic potential, you can create a great physique without steroids.
It will take a little longer than you'd like, you won't get as huge as the fake naturals on Instagram, but you can really transform your body.

How to gain muscle and strength quickly

Let's break the whole process into 5 steps.

Eat slightly more calories than you burn

Lots of protein and carbohydrates

High protein diets are most effective for muscle growth. Protein supplies material for the synthesis of muscle fibers (amino acids). If they are deficient, muscle tissue growth is impossible.

About half of your calories per day should come in the form of:

• They increase the overall level of glycogen in the body, which improves performance in the gym.
• Keep insulin levels slightly elevated, which reduces the breakdown of muscle proteins and creates more anabolic (mass-building) conditions in the body.

Don't overeat

Do a lot of hard compound exercises

If nothing worked with the three previous points, then everything you do in gym basically doesn't matter. If you manage to fix it proper nutrition, it will help you make a serious breakthrough in gaining strength and muscles.

The best option is when training is based on heavy basic exercises, such as deadlifts, and military presses. Why are these exercises so effective? Because this is the best way to progressively increase the load on your muscles - you become stronger every day, which means your muscle volume increases.

Proper sports nutrition

This point is last because it is the least important. It is of no use without a properly structured diet and training. But in modern life It is difficult to organize the correct diet, so different ones allow you to maintain the necessary balance of nutrients in the body. And for a uniform and sufficient intake of protein into the body throughout the day, timely intake is very effective. Read more about sports nutrition can be read in this.