How much muscle mass can a person build naturally?

Geschatte leestijd: 5 minuten How much muscle mass can a human build naturally? This is perhaps one of the first and most frequently asked questions by strength athletes to their Personal Trainer or coach. The answer can be found in this article.

Building Muscle Mass

What do you think when you look at the photo on the right? Beautiful? Will you ever achieve that? Well… then I probably have bad news for you. Sorry to start the article off so negatively. I’ll finish it positively. Unfortunately, the fitness world is a pool of deceit and lies.

“Everything is possible if you set your mind to it #dedicated”

What kind of bullshit is that?! No, not everything is possible. Only your mother tells you that because she loves you. Guys like Lazar Angelov say this because they want to sell their products to you. By saying that everything is possible with hard work, a wrong expectation pattern is created. You believe what they say and work your butt off, but no matter what you do, you don’t come close to the body you admire. Then your idol says that he/she takes supplement x and that it works very well. Because you want to look like him/her, you buy it.

BINGO! Marketing trick successful.

I can get really irritated by these kinds of methods. They fuel insecurities. Motivating and inspiring is good, I applaud that, but please keep it realistic. And that’s exactly what I want to talk about; realism. The question I answer in this article is: “How much muscle mass can a human build naturally (approximately)”. Remember that this is a different question than ‘How big can I get?” Every person is different, and everyone has different genetic potential. What determines your potential for muscle building is explained in part 2 of this series. Also, how quickly you can reach your peak. Note. If you are comfortable with your current perception of your bodybuilding potential and think that a threat to that perception may negatively impact your self-image or your motivation to train, then do not read this article!

Natural Practice Examples

To determine how big a person can get naturally, it’s useful to look at practical examples. The problem nowadays is that you never know for sure if someone is natural or not. It’s also the case that when someone has used, that person benefits from it for a long time. When you use, satellite cells are activated faster and more, resulting in more muscle cell nuclei. You keep these muscle cell nuclei. When you stop, your muscles can shrink significantly, but you keep the muscle cell nuclei. This means that there is a permanent potential for muscle growth. This is a mechanical form of muscle memory (different from the neurological ‘muscle memory’ like riding a bike that you never forget). To get a good idea of what is possible naturally, it’s smart to look at the top bodybuilders before anabolic steroids existed. Anabolic steroids have been known since approximately 1950 after John Ziegler discovered them.

“But there is now more knowledge about nutrition and training”

That’s correct. There’s more known. However, what you need to remember is that this doesn’t shift the genetic limit. You don’t suddenly have more potential for muscle growth as you learn more about muscle growth. Our genes are still the same compared to 80 years ago. The limit remains the same, the speed at which you reach it increases. Famous bodybuilders from that time are Steve Reeves and John Grimek. See the photos below. Remember that these were really the TOP of the bodybuilding era at that time. These are not just beginners from that time, these are the Phil Heaths and Kai Greenes of that time. People with exceptional potential who have worked hard and long. There are examples of people who consciously focus on natural bodybuilding. Leroy Kakiay and Rico van Huizen are Dutch examples of this. Rico and Leroy have participated in natural bodybuilding competitions in the past. In these competitions, you are tested for the use of prohibited substances. Unfortunately, with these tests, you cannot go back indefinitely in time to check if someone has ever used or not. 100% certainty does not exist.

Circumference Measurements

In the table below, you can see the circumference measurements of, among others, the above bodybuilders [1].

	Chest	Biceps	Forearms	Neck	Thighs	Calves
George Eiferman	120	42.4	34	41.9	63.5	40.6
Reg Park		47		45.7	67.3	44.5
John Grimek	126.7	45.7	36.8	45	65.3	43.9
Jack Delinger	120	43.7	35.1	42.7	63.5	42.2
Steve Reeves	125.7	45.7	36.8	44.5	64.8	45.2

Realize after seeing the above values how significant these circumference measurements are. 45 cm biceps are substantial! Rico has arms of about 41.5 cm in the photo below.

Fake Naturals?

If all is well, you now have a reasonable idea of ​​how much muscle growth is achievable naturally. Now I would like to mention examples here of individuals who boast of being ‘natural’. Not the bodybuilders who deny the use of anabolics when asked but people who draw attention to the fact that they are natural. We have already devoted attention to this in the article “fake naturals, false idols”. However, even in that article, it is only pointed out that it is highly unlikely that the muscle mass of certain individuals has been achieved entirely naturally.

How can you determine if someone is natural or not?

You can’t. There is no one method that gives you 100% certainty. However, there are indicators. An indicator you can use is the so-called FFMI: Fat Free Mass Index. The FFMI is an indicator to indicate how much fat-free mass someone has relative to his/her height. You can calculate your own FFMI here. For a long time, it has been circulated that an FFMI above 25 is not achievable for naturals. In the above-mentioned article about fake naturals, this is also mentioned as an indicator, although not as an absolute limit (taking into account exceptions, people with great predisposition). Greg Nuckols later doubts the statement that an FFMI above 25 is not achievable for naturals in a later article [2]. In the study by Kouri et al. 1995, they looked at 20 Mr. America’s from the time when anabolics were not yet known (see the above photos). They averaged 25.4. They then compared the FFMI of 83 users versus 74 non-users [3]. Based on this data, they concluded that an FFMI above 25 is not achievable for naturals. However, Greg points out limitations of the study:

1. The only requirement to participate in the study was that the age limit was 16 years and you had to have trained for at least 2 years.
2. Only 157 people participated, of which 74 were non-users.
3. There may be users among non-user groups.
4. Body fat percentage was determined by looking at someone’s body.

It may well be that someone with an FFMI above 25 uses. The chance that this is naturally achieved is small. However, the chance is even smaller at an FFMI approaching 30. As I said at the beginning; you don’t have 100% certainty. Conversely, many users also do not come close to an FFMI of 25. There are so many guys who do not have an impressive physique despite using anabolics, due to a lack or little predisposition for muscle growth, knowledge, or effort. On the website Nattyornot.com, you can read how likely it is that a known fitness icon is considered natural or not. From the perspective of a fitness icon, it doesn’t add anything to say that you use. These people live off their fan base. The more fans -> the larger the reach -> the more sponsors want to pay you to promote a certain product. Being honest about not being natural definitely results in fewer fans, which in turn results in less money. Admitting to using is often tantamount to financial suicide. So the importance of continuing to lie is very large. Unless, of course, you base your business model on openness like a Rich Piana.

Success Formula: be

realistic, work hard, and be patient. And, are you surprised or did you expect it? I can imagine that it can be quite a disillusionment for many (beginner) athletes. I certainly didn’t like it when I found out that the guys I looked up to were using aids. For the average citizens, the bodies achievable naturally are still very large. But natural vs. non-natural is not comparable, a world of difference. John Grimek was 1.74 meters tall and weighed 88 kg. Big Ramy is 1.78 meters tall and weighs 143 kg and is considerably drier. About 70% (!) more mass. Compared to Big Ramy, John Grimek was nothing… It should therefore be clear that Big Ramy is not natural. (Natural) Bodybuilding/fitness is not a sport for the impatient. You now know what to expect and what not. Realistic expectations will lead to fewer disappointments, look at it positively.

1. http://www.weightrainer.net/potential.html
2. http://gregnuckols.com/2016/12/11/ffmi/