Figure Out How Long Does it Take to Build Muscle (2024)

While the number will be unique for you, many people can expect to gain between 0.5 to 2 pounds of muscle in a month. To do so, you will need a targeted resistance training program and correct nutrition, usually including a surplus of calories.

The amount of muscle you can gain in a month may be different from the numbers you see on the scale. Muscle gain is different for everyone and will depend on your fitness level, gender, age, hormones, calorie intake, and exercise routine.

Gaining weight involves more than just adding muscle mass. A 20– to 30-pound weight gain—including muscle, fat, water, and carbohydrate storage—might be possible for some people. But as lean muscle only? Probably not.

How Much Muscle Can You Gain in a Month?

Research investigating lean muscle gain over the course of a month is limited, but experts suggest that most healthy individuals can gain 1 to 2 pounds of lean muscle mass per month. However, this rate varies based on age, sex, physical condition, genetics, diet quality, and of course, training program. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all rule or a simple math equation.

You build muscle by stressing muscle fibers to the point that they must adapt, which they do by building or recruiting more muscle fibers. Increasing the stress through additional weight loads, repetitions and sets (volume), or frequency, for instance, provides the challenge that leads to muscle growth. You will also need to eat enough calories and, in particular, protein, to fuel muscle growth.

There are limits as well—the increases you achieve in, say, three months may not be sustained over six or 12 months. Instead, a monthly increase of about half a pound is more likely over time. In addition, muscle gains may accelerate during intense training (hypertrophy) and decrease during bouts ofdecreased training(atrophy).

Factors Affecting Muscle Growth

The best way to figure out how much muscle you might gain in a month is to consider your current weight and level of fitness, for starters. Your sex and genetics are also a factor: Men tend to put on muscle more easily than women due to their higher testosterone levels, and some people are more genetically predisposed to muscle gain than others.

As well, your age and hormonal profile will affect your ability to gain muscle. As we age, hormone levels can drop, leading to decreased muscle or a harder time gaining it. However, with a proper diet and exercise routine, you can still achieve excellent strength and muscle function.

Remember that you will likely gain more muscle during the initial one to three months of training, but gain less after that. Overall, around 8 to 15 pounds per year could be a good estimate, but again, some people may gain more (or less) than that.

You should also allow for some fluctuation in water and carbohydrate storage; You have to work hard, eat a healthy, balanced diet and be patient to build muscle; there is simply no other way.

Exercise for Muscle Growth

To gain muscle, resistance training is essential. There is a wide range of training modalities that can help build muscle. Traditional advice says that a range of 8 to 10 reps per exercise is ideal for muscle hypertrophy, but in reality, lower or higher repetition ranges will also lead to muscle gain.

The most important factor for increasing muscle mass is to continue stressing and challenging the muscles, so that they must adapt and grow. One common method to achieve this is to increase the volume of weights lifted over time.

Any type of resistance exercise can help build muscle. If you are a beginner, you can start with bodyweight exercises and practice form and technique. Additionally, compound lifts—ones that use multiple joints and muscle groups—elicit the highest response in terms of overall muscle activation. However, single-joint exercises can also create a muscle-building effect. Choosing a combination of both is a good strategy.

Nutrition for Muscle Growth

There are a few nutritional factors to consider when assessing the rate of muscle growth. Muscles consist of muscle fibers and connective tissue, and contain blood, water, and glycogen(the storage form ofcarbohydrate).

To fuel muscle growth, it is ideal to consume a higher number of calories than you burn. Consuming enough protein, in particular, is essential. Research shows that eating at least 0.3g of protein per kilogram of body weight at each meal prompts a muscle-building response when combined with resistance training.

Over the course of a day, take inapproximately 1.6g of protein per kg of body weight up to 2.2g of protein per kg of body weight to maximize muscle-building potential. You can reach this protein intake level by eating 3 meals containing 0.53g of protein per kg of body weight or 4 meals with 0.4g of protein per kg of body weight.

Various supplements may also help to boost muscle growth, including protein powder, which can help you reach your ideal protein intake. Supplementing with branch-chain-amino-acids (BCAAs) is another way to acquire the building blocks of protein and build muscle, but if you already consume enough protein, adding BCAAs may not be necessary.

Creatine intake of around 5 grams per day has been shown to help increase lean muscle tissue in those that participate in resistance training, although its mechanism in older adults is still being investigated.

That said, it is important to note that supplements are not regulated and so the individual efficacy and safety of a product is not guaranteed. Should you choose to supplement with creatine or BCAAs, speak with your health care provider to ensure the product and dosage you select is safe for your individual health concerns. Additionally, choose a product that is third-party tested by an organization such as Consumer Lab, NSF, or USP.

A Word From Verywell

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to muscle-building, and there are key factors that play important roles, such as your diet, training plan, genetics, age, sex, and hormone levels. The best way to monitor your muscle gain is to compare your results to previous months. If you gain weight and strength while resistance training and consuming an adequate diet, you are optimizing your chances of gaining muscle.