Can you gain 10 lbs of muscle in one month? The answer is both YES and NO. You can gain 10 lbs of weight in a month, and that weight doesn’t necessarily need to be fat, but it wont be lean muscle mass either. The explanation lies in the two types of hypertrophy.
Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy
The first one is called sarcoplasmic hypertrophy and it represents an increase in the non-contractile muscle cell fluid, called sarcoplasm. This fluid accounts for 25-30% of the muscle’s size.
The sarcoplasm consists of nutrients, glycogen, capillaries, and mitochondria proliferation.
This type of hypertrophy is mainly a result of high rep, high frequency “bodybuilding-type” training. Although this looks like gained muscle, it doesn’t do any functional work – there almost no strength increase.
Myofibrillar Hypertrophy
The second one is called myofibrillar hypertrophy and it represents enlargement of the muscle fiber as it gains more myofibrils, which contracts and does all the functional work – creates tension in the muscle.
With this type of hypertrophy, myofibrillar density increases, resulting in a significantly greater capacity to produce muscular strength.
This type of hypertrophy is best accomplished by training with relatively heavy weights for low reps. It represents around 65-75 % of the body’s muscle mass.
Of course, in practice you can never achieve pure myofibrillar or sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, but rather a combination of both.
If you haven’t trained with high volume until now, you can increase your muscle mass for 10 to 20 lbs (depending on your genetic potential) in a month or two by using sarcoplasmic hypertrophy training.
You will train all body parts twice a week doing 10-12 sets a body-part, using low weights, low intensity and 10-12 reps per set. Choose one of the splits listed bellow:
Monday – Chest/Back
Bench press – 8 sets of 10-12 reps
Pull downs – 8 sets of 10-12 reps
Dumbbell fly – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Dumbbell row– 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Wednesday – Legs
Squats – 6 sets of 10-12 reps
Leg extensions – 3 sets of 10-12 reps
Lying leg curl – 4 sets of 10-12 reps
Abs – 5 sets of 10-15 reps
Friday – Arms/shoulders
Barbell curl – 8 sets of 10-12 reps
Close Grip Bench press – 8 sets of 10-12 reps
Lateral raises – 5 sets of 10-12 reps
Bent Over Lateral Raises – 5 sets of 10-12 reps
2. Upper/Lower split
Monday – Upper body
Dumbbell bench press 4 sets of 12 reps
Dumbbell row 4 sets of 12 reps
Dumbbell shoulder press 4 sets of 12 reps
Pull downs 4 sets of 12 reps
Barbell curl – 4 sets of 12 reps
Tuesday – Lower body
Leg curl – 4 sets of 12
Leg extension 3 sets of 12
Squats – 5 sets of 12 reps
Standing calf raises – 3 sets of 15
Thursday – Upper body
Incline bench press – 4 sets of 12 reps
Reverse grip pulldown – 4 sets of 12 reps
Lateral raises – 4 sets of 12 reps
Chest supported row or machine row 4 sets of 12 reps
Triceps pushdown – 3 sets of 12-15
Friday – Lower body
Romanian deadlifts – 4 sets of 10 reps
Leg press 3 sets of 12
Lunges 3 sets of 10 reps
What to eat for fastest muscle gains
Protein
Protein is the building block of muscles and you’ll need to eat anywhere from 1.8g to 2.2g of protein per kilogram of weight. Choose sources like chicken, lean beef, eggs, fish. If you are not a big eater add 2-3 protein shakes per day.
Carbohydrates
To go through all this high volume work you will need a lot of energy. This means you’ll need to increase your carbohydrate consumption to about 6g-7g of carbs per kilogram.
This doesn’t mean you should eat everything you can get your hands on, though. Choose good complex carbs like oats, brown bread and pasta, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruits and vegetables and rice after the workout.
Fats
Add healthy fats that come from sources like avocado, hazelnuts, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, almonds and olive oil to increase your calories and create the right hormonal environment for growth. Your fats should be around 0.7g-1g per kilogram.
Supplements
Creatine
Creatine will help you in a few ways: It will increase your strength, it will help you recover after the high volume workouts and help you gain some weight faster. For fastest results, do a loading phase where you take up to 20g daily (with lots of fluids) for 5 days and then continue taking 5 g a day.
Glutamine
Glutamine will boost the muscle recovery and speed up the glycogen synthesis (carb storage) in the muscles. Consuming 5g post workout is enough. Read more here: Glutamine: The Best Post-Workout Supplement
Fish oil
According to certain studies, Omega-3 rich fish oil helps in muscle preservation as well as inflammation reduction. Read more here: Fish Oil at Night Reduces Cortisol and Can Fish Oil Help You Build Muscle ?
Magnesium, Zinc
Two essential minerals that are needed for maintaining normal nerve and muscle function, immune system function and healthy testosterone production.
The bad news is that sarcoplasmic fluid takes only 25-30% of the muscle mass. This means that in a short time you’ll stop growing if you don’t add weight to the bar.
And this is the point where most of the newbie lifters get stuck, (remember, in sarcoplasmic hypertrophy there is very little or no strength increase involved ) which means it’s almost impossible to increase working weights.
In conclusion : 10 lbs of sarcoplasmic weight in a month can be gained, but a better solution is a smart routine, where low reps and high intensity will be used for myofibrillar hypertrophy.
High volume phases (high rep ranges, more sets and lower intensity) will be used once the strength levels are high enough.
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