Expectations

Many people believe the locker talk they hear about gaining 20lbs of muscle in a summer, it just isn't realistic for a natural bodybuilder!  The biggest problem is that people want to believe that you can add massive amounts of muscle quickly - you cant! First, lets talk about how people get these unreasonable expectations. Teenagers will gain weight yearly as they mature whether they do bodybuilding or not, sometimes quite rapidly. Many of the anecdotal stories you hear about adding 30lbs muscle in a year are just due to rapid puberty growth spurts, not any specific workout plan or supplement. 

When you hear someone in the locker room saying how MegaMassCreatine5000 put 30lbs of muscle on them, don't believe a word of it, they would have gained the 30lbs even if they ate dirt instead. Lets talk about another dirty little secret that leads to unreasonable expectations - steroids. Lots of people use steroids but don't admit it, even to their close friends - Why? Its illegal! Jail term 1-5 years. Many beginning bodybuilders go up to steroid-freak at the gym and ask them - "what are you taking to get so big?" Of course, he isn't about to admit he uses illegal steroids (you never know who is a DEA agent) so he says:

"Mega-creatine 1000 and JinaHyrdroCynine400 made me gain 40lbs muscle in a year! Try them!"

Don't bother asking people at the gym if they use steroids, you will never get an honest answer. You might as well ask them if they robbed the Wells Fargo bank last weekend, only an idiot admits to a crime that can put them in jail. No wonder so many people think they are "hardgainers" or are somehow weak and deficient when they are actually quite normal, they are comparing their results to steroid users! Learn to spot the signs of steroids so you don't compare your progress to that of steroid users.

Possible Signs of Steroid Use

• rapid weight gain
• change in personality
• stretch marks between shoulder and pecs
• severe body acne
• blotchy skin. Very faint dark irregular patches, kind of a purplish tinge that look like they might be a bruise or a zit about to erupt.
• skin looks like its been doused with baby oil at the slightest exertion

Remember that you cant tell for certain if someone is using steroids by looking! The best indicator is how rapidly they have gained muscle mass, see the below chart. The mistake that the naive public and beginning bodybuilders make is that assuming that anyone who is big, muscular, and ripped has used steroids. If someone went from 150lbs to 200lbs over 10 years adding 5lbs of muscle a year, that's probably natural. If they went from 150lbs to 200lbs in 2 years, that's steroids!

You cant tell by looking at the "after" photo.
So how much muscle gain can you expect to achieve in a year with five intense, one hour workouts a week and strict, solid nutrition? I would say 5-10lbs/year. Remember though that this is for mature adults, not teens. As mentioned above, teens have puberty growth spurts that are unpredictable in magnitude and length. Its also worth mentioning the "first year gain" effect , some people have very rapid gains (15 or 20lbs muscle gained) the first year they start bodybuilding but this kind of gain is one-time-only. As your body becomes more highly trained, the gains are slower and harder to achieve till you reach your natural genetic limit. The below chart applies to adults who have been training a year or more:

Muscle Gain	Verdict
5-10lbs/yr	95% certain they are natural
10-15lbs/yr	50% certain they are natural (50% chance they use steroids)
15-20lbs/yr	10% certain they are natural (90% chance they use steroids)
>20lbs/yr	2% certain they are natural (98% chance they use steroids)

Note here that 'steroids' can also mean the banned pro-hormone supplements that convert to steroids in the body - call these what you want, they are still steroids in my book.

So how much can you realistically expect to improve your physique?  It depends on several factors including your age and body type.   Below is a chart showing some realistic expectations for various body types.  After the age of 40, the hormone levels decrease so the gains will be less than shown in the table below. Remember again that the below gain expectations do not apply to teens or people in their first year of lifting who can have much better results. 

	Body Type	Reasonable expectations for male 20-35 years
	Endomorphic body type is characterized by an increased amount of fat storage, due to having a larger number of fat cells than the average person, as well as higher proportion of digestive tissue. They have a wide waist and a large bone structure.	With excellent nutrition and hard workouts expect to gain 10lbs of muscle a year.  With cardio and strict nutrition, expect to lose 1lb fat per week. Note that even though you are gaining muscle your scale weight will go down because of the fat you are losing.
	Mesomorphic body type is characterized by a high rate of muscle growth and a higher proportion of muscular tissue. They have large bones, solid torso combined with low fat levels. It is also noted that they have wide shoulders with a narrow waist.	With excellent nutrition and hard workouts expect to gain 10lbs of muscle a year while keeping the 8-pack abs.
	Ectomorphic body type is characterized by long arms and legs and a short upper body and narrow shoulders, and supposedly have a higher proportion of nervous tissue. They also have long and thin muscles. Ectomorphs usually have a very low fat storage; therefore they are usually referred to as slim.	With excellent nutrition and hard workouts expect to gain 5lbs of muscle a year while keeping the 8-pack abs.

I personally think that way too much emphasis is placed on body-type classification, why? Because it DOESNT MATTER! Regardless of your body type, you do exactly the same thing to gain mass or get a ripped 6-pack!