If you are an fitness enthusiast and follow some fitness related page on any of your social media handles, it’s most likely that you often see posts like: you gain 15-20 lbs muscle in the first year, 20-30 lbs muscle in second year and the range goes on increasing with the training period with a picture on the side of the ranges that depicts, you can grow from being a tiny little man in the first year of training to a huge bodybuilder’s size in a matter of a decade of consistent training. Or maybe, you have also seen those motivating quotes with a shredded, ripped to the bones fitness athlete in the background saying, “It takes Discipline, Dedication and Sacrifice for your goals to become reality”.

Now, as motivating and inspiring, it may sound it actually becomes the reason why most people either give up on their fitness journey or they switch from being natural to being enhanced to achieve their dream physique. Unrealistic Expectations, they are dangerous and you need to know what you can expect as you begin your training to be satisfied with your gradual progress.

Most of us will dream to achieve a physique in the above picture, maybe a bit smaller or bigger depending on their personal choice but the majority will be happy to achieve a physique shown above. But if I am being brutally honest, 90 percent of us will never ever look that in our lifetime, even with a shit ton of PEDs, forget about achieving it naturally.

This is where Genetics come into the picture and I do think this is one of the least discussed topics in the fitness industry because every other fitness influencer is convincing you to buy their programs with promises of achieving an unrealistic picture that’s in your mind with the help of their training protocols.

Here’s a table for Men and what they can achieve in the continuous years of training. Now, this table is for Men with Good to Average Genetic (with reference to building muscle).

• Muscle Gained for Training Experience:
• 8-12 lbs for Year 1
• 6-8 lbs for Year 2
• 4-6 lbs for Year 3
• 3-5 lbs for Year 4
• 2-4 lbs for Year 5
• 2-3 lbs for Year 6 to 9
• 0-1 lbs for Year 10 and more

The following is a table for females and men with poor genetics (with reference to building muscles):

• Muscle Gained for Training Experience:
• 4-6 lbs for Year 1
• 3-4 lbs for Year 2
• 2-3 for Year 3
• Nearly 2 lbs for Year 4
• 1-2 lbs for Year 5
• Less than 1 lbs for Year 6 to 9
• 0-0.5 lbs for Year 10 and more

So, to summarise a man with gifted genetics can expect to put on somewhere around 30-50 lbs of muscles naturally whereas, a man with poor genetics can put on somewhere around 15-25 lbs of muscles in lifetime naturally.

So, not all of us can be bodybuilders even if we train all our lives and stay dedicated, do all the sacrifices and all but at the end it’s the genetics that play a huge role in the amount of muscle one can pack on. Even someone with poor genetics, enhanced with PEDs can sometimes pack less muscles from an individual who’s natural with gifted and best of genetics for muscle building.

The next popular thing in the fitness industry is those shredded and ripped freaky bodies and by shredded I mean 5 to 6 percent body fat. Is it really attainable and maintainable for everyone?

If I keep it short and give a single word answer, the answer is ‘NO’. Again, this comes down to our genetics. Now, humans are a spectrum of Endomorphs, Mesomorphs and Ectomorphs. They are a mixture of all of the body types. Some have a less of Endomorphs quality, less of Mesomorphs quality and more of Ectomorphs quality and the others may have any possible combinations of the three.

• Ectomorphs: These are people who have a hard time putting on muscles and fat.
• Mesomorphs: These are people who are more likely to gain muscles.
• Endomorphs: These are people who are more likely to gain fat with ease. These are people who have hard time putting off weight and they just feel more hungry all the time and they have more fat cells of all bodytypes.

Now, based on your samatotypes spectrum, your body has a specific range which is decided by the Set Point Theory (Lowest Attainable Weight – Highest Attainable Weight Range). Every individual who stays in this range will be able to keep his hormones(Ghrelin and Leptin Hormones) in moderation, experiencing a good mood and functionality. What’s achievable is trying to stay in the lower limit of the range and staying as lean as we possibly can but if we look for crazy shreds, going below our lower set point limit, we may achieve it for a day or maybe a week till we eat back to our lower limits again.

Lastly, the major takeaways from the articles are the realistic muscle building capacity of humans naturally and understanding that striving for the shredded physique year round is definately not the way to look forward to. What we need to do is train hard, keeping our expectations in check with the reality and trying to get as lean as we can without suffering.