How to determine normal weight. Large muscle mass

There is a concern that bodybuilding or a large set of muscle mass negatively affects the heart. I am certified personal trainer and part-time bodybuilder. My cholesterol and blood pressure are within normal limits. Skeptics insist that the harmful effects of bodybuilding on the heart with excess muscle mass in the future will make itself felt.

I would like to understand how these people came up with the idea that bodybuilding is bad for the heart, because they have not done any research to confirm this myth. The use of steroids, which is common among bodybuilders, can adversely affect the heart. However, this article only applies to natural bodybuilders and other athletes who build muscle in a purely natural way.

Are there studies showing that lifting weights is good for the heart? Yes there is!

A report published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that lifting weights improves heart muscle health. Research by author PhD Barry Franklin states: “We now have a clearer understanding that weight training can significantly attenuate several factors that influence heart disease risk, including lipid and cholesterol levels, blood pressure, obesity and glucose metabolism.

You might be thinking, “Okay, this is all about lifting weights. But what about bodybuilding and building big muscle mass?” In the minutes of the meeting Scientific Council The American Heart Association, where weight lifting has been discussed, recommends the following: one set of 8-15 reps, including 8-10 different standard exercises, 2-3 times a week.

They will train much more than indicated above, especially with regard to the number of approaches. However, if the recommendations of the ACA protocol are followed at the most intensive level, then a person (if he is genetically predisposed and adheres to a maintenance diet) can become quite muscular. If a person chooses to lift weights, which makes doing 8-15 reps hard enough, then they don't intend to build muscle as if they were going to do it by choosing resistance exercises, which makes 8-15 reps nearly impossible.

In addition, the rest time between series of exercises, which is not established in the ACA report, plays important role in muscle development. No matter how diligently a person adheres to this protocol, he will not become ridiculously big, although he can become quite muscular, enough to make it skeptical that all these muscles are hurting his heart.

Other studies show that weight training can help reduce blood pressure at rest (Hypertension: Journal of the American Heart Association). Lead author Dr. George A. Kelly suggests, "Even if this reduction in blood pressure is modest, it may reduce an individual's risk of developing heart disease and angina."

Although these studies do not analyze bodybuilding regimens, anyone can conclude that a few steps of strength training on the way to the world of bodybuilding will not lead to heart damage. And why should they lead to this?

One person on a bodybuilding forum said that he heard from someone that a large amount of muscle increases body weight, and that as a result this additional weight leads to a deformity of the heart ... the heart muscle is stretched due to overweight whether it's muscle mass or fat mass. According to this theory, more tall people have a greater risk of developing heart disease, since generally tall people are heavier than short ones.

Of course, being tall is not a risk factor for developing heart disease! Body fat is the main risk factor for heart disease. Franklin said: "The more muscle you have, the higher your metabolic rate, and the more calories you can burn every day." Competitive bodybuilders and those who are at heart have a low percentage of fat relative to total weight body.

This makes all the details of their muscular structure more visible, even in the weakest bodybuilders, creating the illusion of a large number of muscles. Low body fat (in the "athletic" range) does not lead to heart problems. Franklin adds that for normal, healthy adults with a low risk of heart disease, lifting weights is safe.

Who shouldn't do regular weight lifting?

Franklin considers people with unstable angina, uncontrolled arrhythmia and uncontrolled blood pressure. However, those who criticize bodybuilding or excessive muscle mass believe that these activities are bad for the heart. healthy people or may become attic over time.

According to the American Heart Association, there are the following risks for the development of heart disease: obesity, smoking, hypertension, high levels of "bad" cholesterol, hyperlipidemia (excessive levels of fat in the blood), diabetes, constant mental stress, abuse of fatty foods, hereditary predisposition and ... . lack of physical activity.

Other risks of developing heart disease include a body mass index over 25, constant elevated level blood sugar (prediabetes), insomnia, sleep duration at night of 6 hours or less or 9 hours or more, sleep apnea syndrome (sudden cessation of breathing during sleep). Does a bodybuilder or a person with large muscle mass fit these signs?

Large muscle mass does not lead to any of these risk conditions.

Men and women who work hard to increase muscle mass are very conscious about the issue. healthy eating. Although they consider cheating with their food intake, the bulk of their diet remains correct, so all their food is more than refined, with significant restrictions on white sugar, white flour products, saturated fats, trans fats and other ingredients harmful to health.

Regarding the idea that the heart is deformed by body weight with large muscle mass, understand that the hearts of such a person are well prepared as a result of bodybuilding, as well as heart exercises that go along with the whole lifestyle of a bodybuilder.

Bodybuilding and a healthy heart- Video

Reading about the training of bodybuilding stars, I always felt that they did not finish something. And it's not even about the banal "chemistry". It cannot be that a person who has dedicated gaining muscle mass ten years of my life in the best gyms and with the best coaches, I wouldn’t have my own chips, lotions or even secrets, if you want. I don't know them all, and I can't know them all, but I saw through some of their little tricks. About non-standard training techniques, and how to increase the return on exercise when gaining muscle mass and will be discussed today.

It is possible to build huge muscles, it is much more difficult to make your body proportional, balanced and aesthetic. If you compare photos of athletes in the 90s and today's professional bodybuilders, then something else will catch your eye, in addition to the bloated stomachs of modern stars. This is an awesome quality of working out all muscle groups, coupled with a stunning relief. Yes, of course, and serious muscle mass. But as in recent times show the results of major competitions, proportional and aesthetic athletes win more and more often.

"Kid" Lee Labrada | Small muscle mass coupled with great shape

For me, an example of an incredibly beautiful physique was and remains Lee Labrada, the legendary bodybuilder of the 90s. With his height of 168 cm, weight of 84-88 kg and hands with a volume of 48 cm, he managed to long years be one of the top ten bodybuilders in the world. Labrada competed at the Olympia seven times, constantly breathing down the back of his head with a more massive athlete. He became the fourth, third, second, but never the first ... The world was simply not yet ready for the standards of muscle mass proposed by the phenomenal "Kid" Labrada.

But it’s not for nothing that I talk about this athlete for so long. Realizing that a huge muscle mass does not shine for him, Labrada developed his own bodybuilding philosophy. And his vision of the iron sport had a very strong influence on me.

I call this training strategy in gym tricky word "Synergism". This is when the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. And let you not be confused by the inherent illogicality of this term, they say, how can this be? But I assure you, this happens, in subatomic physics, for example, or in bodybuilding.

Principle gaining muscle mass performed by a brilliant bodybuilder was to ensure that each of his individual muscle group make perfect. Lee Labrada was not chasing muscle mass, but quality. He tried to make the judges, who for the time being did not notice him in the line of huge bodybuilders, freeze with delight, comparing his chest, back or arms with the massive, but worse developed parts of the bodies of his monstrous colleagues. Not being able to hit with muscle mass, Labrada blew everyone with his aestheticism, multiplied by the excellent quality of the muscles.

Naturally, his training program in the gym was also strikingly different from the training scheme of his more massive colleagues. But Labrada had something else - he was never stagnant. From year to year, from competition to competition, he constantly progressed. And I think that's also the merit of his gym training program.

In order to make his muscles balanced, proportional, ideal in shape and visually larger than they really were, Labrada constantly made changes to the performance of the most ordinary, classic exercises. He worked his muscles at unthinkable angles and angles, forcing the body to constantly grow and improve its shape. All gained muscle mass in the old fashioned way, and he was looking for new trajectories of movement, options for grip and foot placement. But let's talk about everything in order:

Little secrets of gaining muscle mass | Changing grip width

In any training program in the gym that describes the technique for performing various exercises, from bench presses to shrugs, grip width is a constant value. If you pull up, the grip must be wide. But what if you change the grip and grab the barbell or the handle of the simulator in a different way? Will there be a difference? Of course, it will, I will say more - by changing the width of the grip, the load can be directed to a completely different place, forcing the muscle to work in an unusual mode. For example:

• Bench press. If you grab the bar with a wide grip, most of the load will go to the outer part of the chest. And if the grip is changed to medium (intermediate between normal and narrow), the middle of the chest will receive a very strong load.

• Pull-ups. Simply changing the grip from wide to medium will drastically lengthen the trajectory of movement and shift the load to the bottom of the lats. I was amazed at how my back changed when I started doing medium grip pull-ups. The latissimus dorsi muscles have become much more pronounced precisely at the point of attachment at the waist.
• Horizontal block pull. Most of us use a narrow parallel grip for this exercise. But as soon as you hang a conventional handle for vertical traction instead of it, the load on your back will become completely different. I usually do a couple of sets first, holding my arms wide. This is how I feel the outer part of my lats. Then I change the grip to narrow and do 2-3 more sets, trying to get my elbows as far behind the body as possible. In this case, the middle of the back receives a large load.
• Bending the arms with a barbell. Let the physiologists shout at the top of their voices that changing the grip width does nothing for the biceps. They say that its form is genetically laid down, and we cannot influence it, but ... Making any changes to the usual technique of doing exercises becomes stress for our muscles, which can cause muscle growth.
• Dumbbell raise with supination. In fact, you can change the grip with any options for lifting dumbbells for biceps, but I get the strongest impressions from supination. To do this, I take the dumbbell not in the middle, as usual, but as close as possible to the inner edge. And when I wrap the brush, the load on the biceps, because of this little trick, increases significantly.

This is not a complete list of exercises that can be transformed beyond recognition and increase their impact. I try to change my grip every workout in the gym. This allows me to load my muscles differently each time and deftly dodge stagnation in gaining muscle mass.

Changing the load angle

This is another feature that I spied on professional bodybuilders who generously post videos of their workouts in the gym on the Internet. I was very surprised to see with what fiction they perform the usual classical exercises, constantly changing the angles of attack on the working muscle.

• Bench press. Classic variant This exercise involves a bench angle of 45°. I still see incline benches in gyms, the angle of which is not adjustable in principle. Most of from performing the exercise at such an angle, it goes straight to the front delta. To some extent, the load vector can be shifted to the upper chest if the bar is replaced with dumbbells, but the bench angle will have to be reduced to 30 °. Although I feel the greatest stretching of the top of the chest with an even more moderate slope of the bench. Which I also change with every approach. Why not additional stress for my muscles?
• Leg press in the simulator. I have noticed for a long time that most of the visitors in the gym do not know at all that the angle of the bench press platform can be changed. And how might this affect set of muscle mass of the legs? It turns out that quadriceps are very sensitive to changes in the angle of the load. It is worth tilting the platform to an angle of 30 ° and the load will shift to the lower thigh. And if, on the contrary, increase the angle to 45 °, the work will start top part both anterior and posterior quadriceps.

• Lifting dumbbells for biceps on an incline bench. I once noticed that the lower I lower the back of the bench while doing this exercise, the more my biceps are stretched. What angle should be there, according to the precepts of the King of Peas, 45 °? And I often do dumbbell curls while lying on a fully horizontal bench. And believe me, from such a non-standard reading of a regular exercise, my biceps are stretched simply unbelievably.

• Bench press in the simulator for the shoulders. Perhaps somewhere there are simulators for the deltoid muscles, which allow you to press strictly vertically upwards and direct the load precisely to the middle delta. But I haven't seen them on the Internet. But in the halls, I often meet shoulder simulators, where the movement is performed while sitting on an inclined bench. The muscle mass of the deltas from such presses is really rushing. But only not in width, but in thickness, because the main load is taken on not by the middle delta, but by the front, the largest and strongest. And the shoulders, instead of becoming wide, move forward, visually becoming narrower. it won't work that way. Having seen how the great Charles Glass does it, I began to sit on the contrary, facing the simulator, and with my back to the audience. Thus, the load on the front delta decreased, and increased on the middle and rear.

The idea of ​​such a bench press is very simple, but extremely effective. After all, it’s not for nothing that bodybuilding stars pay Charles Glass $300 for every hour they train with him in the gym.

As in the previous case, the list of exercises described is only a small fraction of the possible variations that allow you to look at well-known movements through the prism of changing the load angle.

Little secrets of gaining muscle mass |Changing the position of the feet

But in this case, you can make your legs grow by loading the quadriceps, adductor, hamstrings and calf in a different way at each workout in the gym. I think it is this trick that allows modern bodybuilding and fitness stars not only to pump up big legs, but to make them incredibly balanced and worked out at the same time. The whole secret is to constantly change the position of the legs and turn the feet.

• Barbell Squat. In my opinion, no the best exercise for the legs than the barbell squat. But even it can be thoroughly modified by simply changing the width of the legs. The wide-stance squat even has its own name - plie. This variation of the squat puts a lot of pressure on the inside of the thigh, which is why it is so popular with women who do plie every workout in the gym. Narrow stance, on the contrary, is extremely popular with men, as it loads the outer bundle of the quadriceps, creating the so-called "riding breeches". But if you go further and to change the width of the legs, further expand the feet, the load will shift to the patella. However, I advise you to perform such non-standard squat options in the Smith machine. There you can forget about maintaining balance and fully concentrate on the segment of the thigh muscles being worked out.

• Leg straightening on the machine. Because of my long legs, the adductor thigh muscle, called the "blob", for a long time didn't want to grow up. But I was able to find the key to this stubborn muscle by simply turning my feet as far outward as possible. And already at the start of the movement, only turning my deployed legs under the roller, I feel a strong tension in the patella region of the thigh. And the process of extension from the usual exercise for the quadriceps turned into a purposeful work to increase the muscle mass of my adductors.
• Lying leg curl. There are not many exercises for building hamstrings, and almost all of them consist of bending the legs, standing, sitting, lying down. It would seem that the same standard movement, how can it be diversified? But, in my opinion, the construction of this muscle is in many ways reminiscent of pumping the biceps of the arms. And, as in the case of hands, even a minor innovation gives a very strong return. Performing bending of the legs lying down, I change the position of the feet in each approach. I move my legs together, turn my feet outward or vice versa, turning inward. And believe me, the biceps of the thighs are very sensitive to such changes, responding to the growth of muscle mass and a noticeable improvement in shape.

• Toe raises. Nobody likes to train the calf muscles. And this is understandable - these muscles grow very poorly, they respond reluctantly to the load and the range of exercises for their development is very scarce. But, as is the case with other "stubborn" muscles, such as the neck and abs, without proportionally developed calves, a balanced physique will have to be forgotten. And in order to somehow diversify the training process for the development of the calves and at least shock them a little, I try to change the position of the feet in each approach (parallel, inward, outward). Sometimes I change the angle of the turn during the exercise itself, doing 10 repetitions first one way, then another. This allows you to introduce novelty into familiar exercises and makes the muscles respond to an unusual load.

If you bring together most of the variations of the exercises I described in one table, you get the following picture:

In conclusion, I suggest watching a video where the same tireless inventor Charles Glass shares his tricks in using the hack squat machine.

I hope these tricks will allow you to make your own. workout in the gym more effective and gain some more muscle mass, exactly where it is needed most. May the force be with you. And mass, of course.

If you want to know how much muscle mass you can gain without steroids, and how fast, then this article is for you.

Let's answer the question right now:

• Most men can naturally put on 20 to 25 pounds of muscle in their lifetime, and most women can put on about 10 to 14 pounds.
• If you measure the circumference of your wrist and lower leg, then you can quite accurately predict how much weight you can gain without steroids.
• After 4-5 years of proper nutrition and strength training approach the physiological maximum in mass gain.

This is one of the most common questions that beginner athletes ask. If you look for answers on the Internet, you can easily get confused. Some say there is an absolute limit (ceiling) on ​​how much muscle can be gained. And that limit is coming sooner than most of us think.

Others say it's nonsense. If you work hard enough, there is practically no limit to gaining muscle mass and strength.

Increasingly widespread use of steroids also complicates the understanding of the issue. Because some athletes are so huge that the question of whether they took steroids does not arise. But there are many people on steroids who are not easy to spot. And this leads to unreasonable expectations.

The truth is this. Everyone has a hard limit on how much they can pump up. It is impossible to predict 100%, but there are several formulas that allow you to fairly accurately predict the overall potential for muscle gain.

How much muscle mass can be gained naturally - what depends

Why do some people score more and others less?

It is rather difficult to estimate this potential very precisely.

There are two physical characteristics, which directly affect the severity of the muscles:

• The structure of the bones;
• Muscle structure.

Let's consider each of them.

Effect of bone structure on musculature

People with larger bones have more musculature than people with less thin skeletons. In addition, they usually have more high level testosterone, and muscle mass comes on much faster when they start doing strength sports.

What qualifies as a “large bone”, how to calculate what type of bone you belong to?

Two simple and reliable indicators of overall bone structure are wrist and ankle circumferences.

That is why, even with the same height, people with wider ankles and wrists have more pronounced musculature and better prospects for muscle growth than people with thin bones.

The influence of muscle structure on muscle expression

Each muscle consists of two main parts:

• The abdomen is the part that contracts and grows.
• Tendon - connects the abdomen and skeleton.

What are the main differences - some people have shorter muscles and tendons than others. This is very important point because the potential muscle growth largely determined by the length of the abdomen.

Muscles cannot grow in length, only in width, so if you initially have longer muscles and shorter tendons, you will gain more total muscle mass.

It's that simple.

For example, a photograph of a man's hand with a short muscle and a long tendon.

As you can see, he will have to work very hard to pump up huge arms.
To measure bicep length, bend your arm 90 degrees, tighten your biceps, and see how many fingers of your hand fit between the beginning of the biceps and forearm.
If 3 fingers fit - the length of the muscle is less than average, if 2 fingers - average length. If 1 finger fits, then you are one of the lucky few, you have long muscles.

The influence of testosterone

If you ask most gym goers what affects the rate of muscle growth the most, the answer is obvious: “testosterone levels.”

And it is true.

Testosterone is the main hormonal driver.

Its effects are so strong that, as some studies have shown, with an artificial increase in its level, mass gain occurs even without performing any exercises. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that testosterone levels will affect the amount of muscle building.

But there is one interesting point here. All this works with a significant increase in testosterone levels.

Here's what a lot of people don't understand:

The difference in testosterone levels within the physiological norm does not particularly increase or inhibit muscle growth. In other words, if you increase the level of testosterone a little (within the physiological norm), then it is unlikely that any changes in muscle growth will be noticeable. Natural fluctuations in testosterone levels have little effect on the potential of an athlete.

In general, how well you get to pump up without steroids can be accurately predicted based on the structure of bones and muscles.

How much muscle can you gain by exercising without steroids

Most formulas and equations are based on growth. Because the higher the person, the more space for muscle growth, that is, the more potential to gain it.

But that's not all. Because you can be shorter than average height, but larger than average in bone structure.

For calculation, you can use casey butt formula(how much maximum mass can be gained without steroids).

This formula is based on very in large numbers measurements of ankle and wrist circumference in steroid-free athletes from 1947 to 2009.

It is considered the most exact way estimates, and can be used to calculate the maximum potential size of each major muscle group.

Here is the formula:

Most likely, it looks like a Chinese letter. Therefore, below is a calculator with which you can do all the calculations.

Natural Muscle Potential Calculator

How to use this calculator:

1.Enter your height in centimeters.

2.Enter the circumference of the forearm. How to measure: open your palm and measure the circumference of your wrist with a tape measure closer to your palm.

3.Enter the circumference of the ankle. Measured with a tape measure around the narrowest point between the ankle and calf muscles.

About expectations

If these calculations make you a little frustrated, then this is normal. Most likely in social networks you have seen many athletes who claim otherwise. And it's understandable why.
In fact, it's good if you realize it now, before you become obsessed with unrealistic expectations. Which will lead to huge disappointments and failures in the future.
The good news is this: regardless of genetic potential, you can build a great physique without steroids.
It will take a little longer than you'd like, you won't get as big as the fake naturals on Instagram, but you can really transform your body.

How to Gain Muscle and Strength Fast

Let's break the whole process down into 5 steps.

Eat a little more calories than you burn

Lots of protein and carbohydrates

High protein diets are the most effective for muscle growth. Protein supplies the material for the synthesis of muscle fibers (amino acids). With their lack of growth of muscle tissue is impossible.

About half of the calories per day should come in the form of:

• They increase general level glycogen in the body, which improves the ability to work in the gym.
• They keep insulin levels slightly elevated, which reduces the breakdown of muscle proteins and creates a more anabolic (mass gaining) condition in the body.

Don't Overeat

Do lots of heavy basic exercises

If nothing worked out with the previous three points, then everything that you do in the gym, in principle, does not matter. If you manage to establish proper nutrition, it will help to make a serious breakthrough in gaining strength and muscles.

The best option when training is built on heavy basic exercises, such as the deadlift, and the military press. Why are these exercises so effective? Because it The best way progressively increase the load on the muscles - you become stronger every day, which means that the volume of the muscles increases.

Proper sports nutrition

This item is the last one because it is the least important. From it there is no sense without a properly constructed diet and training. But in modern life hard to organize correct mode nutrition, so various allow you to maintain the necessary balance nutrients in the body. And for a uniform and sufficient intake of protein into the body during the day, timely intake is very effective. More about sports nutrition can be read in this one.

When determining how much you should weigh, we start from your lean body mass. We cannot base on your age, height or body type. The weight tables used by the doctor are based on all of these factors combined. Such tables were useful until nothing better was available, but today it is clear that they give deviations of ten to fifteen kilograms for each individual. Can have excess weight in accordance with these tables and at the same time - a lack of fat. The reverse is also true. We have measured many thin people who, according to these tables, were underweight and had excess fat. They have no visible subcutaneous fat but their muscles were swollen with fat.

We define ideal weight a person by the size of his skeleton or lean body mass. If you have large bones and muscles, we plan for you to weigh more than a person of the same height, but with thin bones and small muscles.

Take for example a person at three different periods his life. When he is twenty years old, he goes to college and takes up wrestling, gymnastics and weightlifting. All three activities increase musculature, and his lean body mass is 66 kilograms. He can have 11 kilograms of fat and weigh 77 kilograms.

At the age of thirty-eight, he is a businessman, and his only physical activity, apart from weekend skiing and the occasional golf course, is running. Running keeps him lean and healthy, but it's not a sport that builds muscle. In fact, since the upper body muscles are not working in his current activity, he will lose some of them. Therefore, he will have only 63 kilograms of lean body mass left. Accordingly, he should not have more than 10 kilograms of fat and weigh more than 73 kilograms. His body is remarkably adapting to its new role. Obviously, a runner does not need the upper developed muscles of a gymnast. Muscle mass decreases, should decrease and total weight.

Let's take the third situation. Suppose our man, now over forty, falls into some extreme conditions. For example, two years on the verge of starvation in a POW camp, or a chronic debilitating disease for several years. He will lose a lot of muscle and a lot of fat. At the end of such an ordeal, he will be emaciated and skinny. His mother, and perhaps the doctor, will want to fatten him up. I strongly object. If his muscle mass has decreased to 52 kilograms, he must not have more than 9 kilograms of fat, and the total weight must not exceed 61 kilograms. The only healthy way to restore body weight in such a case is to build on the lost muscle, adding only up to 15 percent fat. If he eats to gain weight, he will only increase the weight of fat and end up obese like most typical fat people - even though he may remain thin.

Many sedentary Americans not only lose muscle mass with age, but also increase their fat content.

Consider the changes in a woman leading a sedentary lifestyle. Let's say that at the age of twenty she has a healthy 22 percent body fat and weighs 55 kilograms. At thirty-five, she is proud of the fact that she has gained only 2 kilograms - and yet she has 30 percent body fat. If you look at the table on page 36, you will see that she actually gained 5 kilos of fat while losing 3 kilos of muscle. The muscle mass of her body today is only 40 kilograms, and in order to have 22 percent body fat, she must weigh no more than 51 kilograms.

You see that the term " correct weight" is actually rather uncertain. The correct weight of a person changes with a change in lean body mass. If the woman we have considered is engaged in exercise, she will be able to restore the muscle mass of her body to the original 43 kilograms and thus earn the right to weigh 55 kilograms again. If she does not exercise, her correct weight is 51 kilograms.

The amount of muscle mass in your body also largely determines how much you should eat. Ultimately, it is muscle mass that burns calories. When you pour gas into a car, it is the size of the engine that determines the gas consumption, not the size of the entire car. The fat part of the body does not need calories for any practical activity. You don't need to feed fat with calories; fat is calories. Two people may be the same weight, but one may have more fat and therefore less muscle mass than the other. If both of them eat the same number of calories, then the one with less muscle mass will gain weight. In the next few years, there will be calorie tables that will help you figure out how many calories you should be eating based on how much muscle mass you have in your body.

When calculating the ideal maximum weight we must come from the active part of the body that burns calories all day, even when we sleep. We must proceed from the amount of active tissue involved in metabolism, our lean body mass. Then we calculate how much fat you can add to your muscle mass, so that it is 22 percent if you are a woman, or 15 percent if you are a man. If you exercise in such a way that your muscle mass increases, then the calorie requirement also increases, and you can have more fat without exceeding the ideal 22 or 15 percent.

Muscular body mass in men depending on their height (height, cm / MMT, kg)

165/49-54, 167,5/50-57, 170/51-58, 172,5/54-60, 175/55-62, 177,5/58-66, 180/60-69, 182,5/62-74, 185/64-76, 187,5/65-80, 190/66-83

Muscular body mass in women depending on their height (height, cm / MMT, kg)

152,5/32-39, 155/33-40, 157,5/34-41, 160/35-42, 162,5/37-44, 165/38-45, 167,5/39-46, 170/40-48, 172,5/42-49, 175/43-52, 177,5/44-54

This data represents the lean body mass range of people I have measured who have a normal body fat percentage of about 15% for men and about 22% for women. Unfortunately, I don't have enough data to give a range for men below 165cm or women above 178cm, so these people will have to estimate their desired muscle mass based on the value closest to their height. You can calculate your ideal total weight by dividing your lean body mass by 0.85 if you are a man and by 0.78 if you are a woman.

C. Bailey

"How to determine normal weight" and other articles from the section

A person may encounter the need to determine muscle mass in a situation where he has decided to correct his figure and say goodbye to body fat. To do this, he needs to know the percentage of fat and fat-free mass, the second can include muscles, skeleton, organs. How to determine the percentage of muscles in the human body, and what is the norm for their content in the human body?

Proper nutrition for gaining muscle mass

Determination of muscle weight

If there is no caliper, it can be easily replaced with a caliper. Before proceeding with the determination of muscle mass in the human body, it is necessary to be aware of what body measurements will need to be taken to begin with and take into account all sorts of nuances of this process.

It is worth starting the calculation with measurements using a centimeter, which will need to measure four circles:

• Shoulder.
• Forearm.
• Shin.
• Hip.

Measurement of body volumes with a centimeter

It is very important to get correct result, and you can achieve it by using the following tips:

• It is recommended to measure the shoulder only in a calm state, so you should not strain your muscles during the measurement process. Try to measure the shoulder in the place where most of the muscles are located.
• When taking measurements from the forearm, care must be taken that the arm is not in tension and hangs freely.
• To measure the lower leg, it is necessary to take measurements from the calves, preferably in the place where they are most identified.
• When measuring the thigh, it is necessary to stand straight so that the weight of the body is evenly distributed on both legs. Then you should take measurements with a centimeter, covering the thigh under the gluteal crease

Body measurements in centimeters

After the required indicators have been taken, for further calculations it will also be necessary to find out the subcutaneous fat folds. A caliper will help you do this. Based on the data obtained, it is possible to calculate what kind of muscle mass a person has.

In order to understand the calculations, you can use the following transcript:

• M - this is the muscle mass of the body, which we need to calculate.
• L is an indicator that characterizes the growth of men. For this formula, height is recommended to be taken in centimeters.

M - this is the muscle mass of the body

• r - to calculate this indicator, you need to perform three steps. The first step is to calculate the sum of the four indicators obtained at the very beginning of determining the mass - this is the coverage of the shoulder, forearm, lower leg and thigh. The resulting amount must be divided by 25, 12. The second step is similar to the first, because it also requires you to find out the sum of the indicators and divide it by 100. In the second step, measurements of subcutaneous fat folds are taken for calculation. The essence of the third action is to get the difference between the first action and the second. This difference and is an indicator of r, which will need to be substituted into the formula that was given above.
• K is a constant indicator, which is equal to 6.5.

This is how chest circumference is measured

According to this formula, provided that the calculations were carried out correctly, it is possible to determine the weight of the muscles in the human body. There is another formula with which it is quite easy to determine the percentage of muscle mass in the body of men and women. According to this formula, the percentage of lean body mass for men and women is calculated as the lean body mass obtained by the Matejka formula, divided by the P index. The resulting value is multiplied by 100 and the percentage of muscles in the body of men and women is obtained. The number P in this formula indicates the weight of a person, which must be indicated in kilograms.

The norm of lean body mass as a percentage for men and women is different. So, for a woman, the norm is 35% of the total body weight. But the norm for a man is slightly higher and is about 43%.

Of course, with regular physical activity and proper nutrition in the body of an athlete, the processes of increasing muscle mass are more activated than in a person who has nothing to do with sports. Therefore, the norm for an athlete is 50% of the muscles of the total body weight.

Measurement

In addition to calculating muscle mass, you can measure the progress of its growth, and this is quite simple to do. Moreover, this does not require abstruse instruments and so on, because in this case the measurement will be carried out by observation. Armed with a centimeter and a camera, you can proceed. In order to track the progress of muscle growth, you must:

• Measure muscle condition every week. This will allow you to trace even their slight increase. Recording the results obtained, every week the athlete will observe progress. Measurements must be carried out directly in the area of ​​​​the muscles on which the maximum load is directed.

Measure your muscles every week

• With the help of a camera, you can also follow the trend of increasing muscle mass. Taking photos every week, and comparing them with previous photos, changes are clearly visible.
• You should also pay attention to such things as raising more weight or working with equipment that is larger in weight than that with which work was carried out earlier in the gym. If an athlete noted that the weight of the barbell, dumbbells increased, then this may also indicate that changes have occurred in the body, muscle mass has increased.

In most cases, people who make every effort to increase their mass notice its growth when their usual clothes become tight for them. If a we are talking about shirts, t-shirts, then the discomfort when wearing them occurs in the shoulders. Pants also become tight in the legs.