You’ve no doubt seen plenty of30-day transformation stories。如果您阅读了足够多的内容，您可能会认为从瘦身到肌肉是快速而简单的。然而，在现实生活中，肌肉生长是一个较慢的过程。
So, how much muscle can you really expect to gain in a single month?
“我在低端每月每月一磅肌肉，每周的肌肉都达到两磅。所以确实有所不同。”Joel Seedman，，，，PhD, an exercise physiologist who’s been training people of various fitness levels for nearly 16 years.
影响肌肉增益的因素
你是否落在高或低的μscle gain spectrum depends on a variety of factors. Unfortunately, many of these variables are largely outside your control, including gender, age, muscle fiber type and how long you’ve been training.
1.性别
Men have higher levels of testosterone than women, which makes gaining muscle an easier and faster task for men. “When [women] grow muscle, we’re relying on insulin-like human growth factor to do most of the job, so we definitely don’t have the same muscle bulk because of that,” saysHeather Milton，，，，a certified strength and conditioning specialist and a board-certified clinical exercise physiologist at NYU Langone’s运动表演中心。
That said, testosterone levels vary within the sexes as well. Some women have higher levels of testosterone than other women and may gain muscle easier as a result. Similarly, some men may have lower levels of testosterone than other men, and their potential for gaining muscle will be more limited.
2.年龄
根据种子曼的说法，获得肌肉的理想年龄范围为18-25岁。25岁以后，睾丸激素水平开始有所下降，尤其是在男性中。这使肌肉的增益变得更加困难，尽管绝非不可能。Seedman说：“这并不是那么容易获得太多，这并不是说您还没有得到很多肌肉，但是您可以获得的速度通常在18 - 25年的范围内是最高的。”
然后，您会在40岁左右的激素下降。种子曼说，只要您跟上训练并保持营养锁定，您仍然可以在40岁以后获得相当数量的肌肉。
3.肌肉纤维类型
Things get interesting when you start looking at the muscle fibers themselves.
您可能已经听过诸如“快速打交道”和“慢双交”肌肉纤维。Simply put, fast-twitch muscle fibers (also known as type II) are great for performing tasks that require great strength, speed and power (e.g., sprinting, jumping, Olympic lifts), while slow-twitch muscle fibers (also known as type I) are ideal for activities that take a lot of endurance (e.g., distance running). We all have a mix of different muscle fiber types, but some of us lean more heavily toward one or the other (Think: sprinters versus endurance runners).
What does this mean for gaining muscle? Well, fast-twitch fibers have greater potential for growth. If you have more fast-twitch muscle fibers, you may be able to build more muscle in general, as well as build muscle more quickly than those with more slow-twitch muscle fibers.
“If you have more type I muscle fibers, you are going to grow [muscle],” Milton says, “but the difference is in the quality of the size and shape.”
4. HOW LONG YOU’VE BEEN TRAINING
米尔顿说，通常，较新的锻炼者会比经验丰富的运动者更快地看到肌肉的增长。当您开始锻炼时，您的身体不需要太多适应，并且要出现基于身体和基于性能的变化。但是，随着您获得更多的经验，需要更多的努力才能看到改进。
该规则的一个例外是前运动员或高级提升者，他在经过一段时间后返回训练。Seedman说：“过去，当您获得肌肉时，然后丢失了肌肉，就更容易获得它。”
The reason is you’ve already built neuromuscular connections — or pathways between your nervous system and the muscles themselves — that enable your body to recognize when it’s being asked to create muscle mass. “So, rather than working from the beginning and learning a pathway, your body already recognizes that so you can naturally progress more quickly,” Milton explains.
HOW TO GROW MORE MUSCLE
在肌肉生长方面，您确实有几个变量可以控制：饮食和训练。
DIET
Seedman说：“如果我们谈论的是真正可以最大化肌肉增长的第一件事，那确实是饮食。”当涉及肌肉增长时，很少macronutrientsare more important than蛋白质。
力量训练分解肌肉，同时恢复（以适当的蛋白质摄入为帮助）重建您的肌肉并使它们能够更大，更强壮。因此，这是定期填充蛋白质供应的关键。瞄准每天每公斤体重的1.4-2克蛋白质，如国际运动营养学会。将其分解为更多的数字：一个150磅重的人每天需要大约95-136克蛋白质。
训练
不用说：如果没有定期训练，就无法获得肌肉。假设您已经涵盖了这一问题，则有一些方法可以调整您的力量常规以鼓励最大的增长。
一件事专注于复合运动。这些练习涉及多个关节，并立即锻炼几个肌肉群。优先考虑蹲下，硬拉，肩膀和胸部压力，推拉，俯卧撑和行等动作。“这些将成为您的主要建筑商，” Seedman说。
You may be tempted to skip compound exercises in favor of isolation moves like biceps curls and triceps extensions, but unless you’re a bodybuilder who’s prepping to compete, you’re better off sticking to bigger movements, Seedman says. After all, rows and pullups build your biceps, while chest presses and pushups build your triceps.
每周通过三个强度训练会议优化肌肉生长。Seedman说：“这将为您提供足够的康复，这也将使您频繁地刺激该蛋白质合成过程，这对于持续的肌肉生长很重要。”
