How Fast Should I Gain Weight to Build Muscle?

Building muscle sounds pretty easy, right?

You eat more, you lift heavy, and you watch the scale go up as you build muscle.

It is simple, but not easy.

Many people still have less than optimal muscle-building phases that leave them dissatisfied with their results.

Why?

Because more often than not, they put on too much body fat, way beyond what was necessary, and they don’t look and feel very good. Now they have to spend months and months getting rid of it. On top of that, they’re impatient, have unrealistic expectations, and expect to be ripped next month if they do enough fasted cardio, take enough supplements, and drastically cut calories.

This additional time spent getting rid of body fat takes away valuable time that could have been spent in a calorie surplus building muscle Also, if they didn’t gain so much weight so fast, they probably could have bulked longer and gained more muscle, but with less body fat.

On the other end, you have guys that are terrified of having their abs fade, and they don’t want to lose any muscle definition. They’re in a perpetual body recomposition phase, eating around maintenance, maybe even dipping into a calorie deficit, and never really packing on a significant amount of muscle due to the fear of gaining fat.

These are the two common bulking mistakes—gaining weight too fast and not gaining enough weight.

Eating Too Much, Gaining Weight Too Fast

It’s not uncommon for people to use “bulking” as an excuse to excessively overeat and have lots of very calorie-dense, processed foods that are far from nutritious.

They’re consistently in a huge calorie surplus and pack on way more body fat than necessary to build muscle. This creates more work in the future since they now have more body fat to lose. And if your goal is to eventually be very lean and maintain a relatively lean physique year-round, you’re just getting further and further from that end goal.

In my experience as a coach working with so many clients with varying goals, I’ve found most recreational lifters prefer to keep a relatively lean physique year-round, and aren’t a fan of long and tedious bulking and cutting cycles.

For competitive bodybuilders, more extensive bulking and cutting cycles is quite common. A large calorie surplus to truly maximize muscle growth can be the way to go. It depends on the bodybuilders approach, what works them, and what they prefer.

I did a long bulk in a larger surplus my first 12-16 months of lifting. I gained 45 pounds. I don’t regret it one bit even though I gained a lot of body fat. I do believe that with the training experience and knowledge I had at the time, I built as much muscle as I could.

A huge calorie surplus and rapid weight gain does have it’s advantages. It’s been shown to build more muscle faster, but it comes at a cost.

Check out this study conducted by Brad Schoenfeld and colleagues. It was reviewed by Eric Helms in MASS (Monthly Applications In Strength Sport). This study looked at the different rates of weight gain and the affects it had on muscle growth and fat gain.

One group gained weight at a rate of 1 pound per week, and another group doubled that, gaining 2 pounds per week.

The group that gained 2 pounds per week gained about double the amount of muscle, but they also gained 5 times the amount of body fat as the group that gained 1 pound per week.

So, the 1 pound per week group had a much better ratio of fat to muscle gained. Very little body fat was put on, but a decent amount of muscle.

And keep in mind, even gaining 1 pound per week is by no means slow. It’s at the top end of the recommended rate of weight gain.

I believe many people, including myself, would like to take the approach of the 1 pound per week group and have much better ratio of fat to muscle gained.

By putting on less body fat, you’ll look better, and you won’t have to spend as much time in a calorie deficit to get rid of the body fat you gained. You can keep your cut shorter, then switch back to a surplus and keep gaining.

When you gain a lot of fat, and have a lot of fat to lose, you now have to spend more time in a calorie deficit, taking away time that could have been spent in a surplus instead. Over the course of your training career, it’s ideal to spend more time in a surplus, gradually putting on muscle. Not much muscle, if any, will be put on during a calorie deficit. You may even lose some muscle if you stay in a deficit for too long, or try to sustain too large of a deficit.

For some, like guys who are underweight, very skinny with hardly any muscle and have plenty of room to gain fat, the additional muscle gain can be worth packing on more body fat. Even if they pack on a good amount of body fat along with the muscle, they may just end up at a more normal weight and body fat percentage.

Also, some people prefer the larger calorie surplus and faster weight gain. They don’t mind packing on more body fat than necessary. Others prefer and do better when they keep it leaner. I’ve seen both approaches work and build amazing physiques.

But I do still think most people are better off keeping their bulking phases leaner. Most recreational lifters that just want to look better and feel better don’t want to put themselves through extensive bulking and cutting phases. It’s often competitive bodybuilders, who are the minority, that put themselves through these long bulking and cutting phases. They want to build every last bit of muscle that they can. When they get on stage and compete against other bodybuilders, the smallest details matter. And they want to get as lean as they possible can. Most people aren’t looking to get to 5% body fat, and are perfectly fine with being 8-10%.

No matter what approach you take, you will put on body fat in the process. That is unavoidable, but you can keep it under control by eating in a moderate surplus, still staying on top of your nutrition, and including some cardio if you’d like.

Besides, continuing to eat well can make the transition to a cutting phase after a bulk a bit smoother. Some people have drastically different mentalities and approaches to their bulking phase compared to their cutting phase. This can make it more difficult to transition from one to the other, and be consistent. During a bulk, the overeat by too much, and eat a lot of less nutritious, processed foods. Then when it comes time to cut, they under eat by too much, and become extremely rigid with their diet. They have no flexibility, an all-or-nothing approach, and have massive cheat meals here and there. Not the smartest approach. If you instead eat very similar foods year-round, but just adjust the portion sizes, the transition from a bulk to a cut or vice versa is much easier.

Find that balance between just eating enough to gradually gain weight and build muscle, but not so much that you’re creating more unnecessary work for yourself in the future by putting on a disproportionate amount of body fat. This suits most people best in the long-run.

Not Eating Enough

Not consuming enough calories can also be a problem.

Some people are so afraid of gaining body fat and seeing they’re abs fade that they eat too close to maintenance, or maybe even fall into a calorie deficit, and never see any noticeable progress.

They just aren’t eating enough.

If this sounds like you, you need to understand that building a significant amount of muscle will come with some fat gain. Maybe even a bit more than you’re comfortable with. But that’s okay. The body fat you’ll gain is only temporary, never permanent, and will be worth the muscle you build. Besides, it’s much easier and quicker to lose body fat than it is to build muscle.

If you really don’t want to let your body fat get to a level you’re a bit uncomfortable with, and you’re okay with eating very close to maintenance, staying leaner, seeing much slower progress, and taking longer to reach your goals, that’s fine too.

Some people are perfectly fine with slower progress if it means they get to be leaner, look better, and feel better year-round. Nothing wrong with that. That’s actually the point I’m at in my lifting career. I don’t really have any desire to build much more muscle. I rather stay leaner year-round because I like the way I look and feel when I’m leaner. I still go into a small surplus at times for short periods of time, but I don’t let my body fat percentage and weight go up as much as I used to.

How Fast Should I Gain Weight?

You don’t want to gain weight at such a slow rate that progress is frustratingly slow, but you also don’t want to gain weight too fast.

From my experience, many people have unrealistic expectations for how much muscle they can gain in a given time period.

Take a look at this chart by Lyle McDonald that breaks down realistic rates of muscle gain per month by experience level.

Once you see this, your expectations will be more realistic, and the recommended rates of weight gain we’ll discuss next will make a lot more sense.

For females, you can cut all of these numbers roughly in half. According to Lyle, the average female can expect to gain roughly 17-21 pounds of muscle over the course of her lifting career.

Now that you’ve seen what a realistic rate of muscle gain looks like, let’s take a look at two common guidelines for rate of weight gain.

These both serve as general guidelines. Neither of them are perfect, and they’re not set in stone rules you must follow.

They provide a good starting point and give you a good idea of what’s a reasonable amount of weight gain within a week, and month.

For the calculations in the following section, we’ll use a 185-pound intermediate lifter as an example. 

1. Percentage of body weight gained per month based on training experience

Here’s a general guideline for how much weight gain you should aim for per month based on where you’re at in your training. 

• Beginner: 1.5-2% of body weight per month.
• Intermediate: 1-1.5% of body weight per month.
• Advanced: 0.5-1% of body weight per month.

Using our 185-pound intermediate lifter, we’ll use 1% of his body weight per month:

• 185 pounds x 0.01 = 1.85 pounds per month.
• 1.85 pounds divided by 4 weeks (about 4 weeks in a month) = 0.4625 pound per week.
• You can round 0.4625 pound per week up to 0.5 pound per week, so about 2 pounds per month.

Over 4-6 months, which is the minimum amount of time I’d suggest an intermediate lifter bulk for, you’re looking at 8-12 pounds gained. Over a year, about 24 pounds gained.

You might be wondering…

“As an intermediate lifter, if I can expect to gain 0.5-1 pound of muscle per month, why not just gain 0.5-1 pound in body weight per month and gain pure muscle?”

That would be really awesome, but it doesn’t work that way.

Not every single additional calorie you consume goes to towards building muscle. Your body uses the energy (calories) you consume for countless of other things.

So, if you tried to only gain 0.5-1 pound in body weight per month to match the 0.5-1 pound of muscle gain per month, your progress would probably be much slower than you’d like. You’d be better off eating a bit more, gaining weight a bit faster like 2 pounds per month, and taking the bit of extra fat gain that comes along with it. However, 1 pound of body weight gained per month may be a good rate for a very advanced lifter nearing his or her genetic potential.

2. Gain 0.5-1 pound per week

Pretty straight forward and simple. This recommendation doesn’t use percentages or take your training experience into consideration.

This suggestion fits nearly everyone.

If you rather stay leaner or your more advanced, gain around half a pound per week, or about 2 pounds per month.

If you’re not as concerned about staying lean or you’re a beginner, gain about a pound per week, or about 4 pounds per month.

You’ll see the calculation from the previous section with our 185-pound intermediate lifter gaining 1.85 pounds per month falls with in this 0.5-1 pound per week recommendation.

How To Apply These Tips

• Use those calculations and recommendations to give you a good starting point. A rough estimate of how fast you should gain weight.
• Eat a certain amount of calories for three weeks.
• Be very consistent and patient.
• Weigh yourself daily, take note on fluctuations and trends in weight, and take progress pics every 2-3 weeks.
• You can also take body part measurements using a tape measure.
• If your rate of weight gain is pretty close, within 0.5 pound of the calculated rate of weight gain, keep eating the same amount.
• If your rate of weight gain is too slow, increase calories by about 100-200, maybe more, it depends how slowly you’re gaining weight.
• If your rate of weight gain is too fast, decrease calories by about 100-200, maybe more, it depends how quickly you’re gaining weight.

Putting on muscle isn’t easy. If you write out the steps, it seems so simple. But you have to keep yourself accountable so you can do the right things consistently, and you have to be patient.

If you’re looking to take your training and nutrition up a notch, fill out the online coaching application form below, and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can with the next steps!

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