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How much muscle can you realistically expect to build 'naturally' - i.e. without taking powerful muscle-building drugs (including anabolic steroids, selective androgen receptor modulators (SARMS) and others)?
Obviously, this will depend on many things, including:
Your overall genetic disposition for building muscle
Your anthropometrics (essentially your body 'geometry' ... bone size and proportions, location of muscle insertions, etc.)
Your general state of health and tolerance for exercise (weight training in particular)
Characteristics of your body's endocrine system (the system relating to hormone production and regulation)
Dr Casey Butt is known for his work on this question and, in particular, for developing an empirical formula that attempts to estimate maximum lean body mass (i.e. total body weight minus total body fat) based on just four physical quantities; namely your height, wrist circumference, ankle circumference, and body fat percentage.
You can read an interview with Casey Butt by 'Muscle & Strength' magazine here.
But let's just take a look at Dr Butt's formula:
The formula is:
M = H1.5 × {√W ÷ 22.667 + √A ÷ 17.01} × {F ÷ 224 + 1}
... where M is the maximum potential lean body mass achievable in pounds, H is height, W wrist circumference, A ankle circumference (all in inches) and F is body fat percentage.
Expressed in metric measurements, this is equivalent to:
M = H1.5 × {√W ÷ 322.4 + √A ÷ 241.9} × {F ÷ 224 + 1}
... where M is in kg and H, W and A in cm.
A more realisitically achieveable lean mass is considered to be 95% of the calculated maximum.
The calculator on this page computes M, along with estimates of other body girths based on M. The figures in brackets are 95% of these values.
Units:
Metric Imperial
Height:
in
Wrist:
Ankle:
Body fat:
%