Question
I’m an old school lifter who’s unfortunately lost a lot of muscle. Can you tell me how fast I can gain it back? Or if I can build a lot of new muscle?
Answer
Much depends upon how much muscle you originally built, by what means and other particulars about your current situation.
Because I have limited info from your email, I’m going to give 2 examples at the extremes to illustrate how different people’s situations really are.
Let’s assume lifter A is today 160lbs, and desires to get to 190.
He’s been as big as 200lbs when he was 19, but did so using anabolics pretty much from the start of his training at age 17.
Let’s further assume he held that weight (200lbs) for only a year.
At that point, he got off all anabolics and has only trained sporadically since.
The likelihood that he’ll build 30lbs of new muscle at age 50 is slim. As in, real slim.
Lifter B is today 160lbs, though he’s been as much as 200lbs in his youth.
He reached that weight at the age of 21 after 5 hard years of training, and held it for over 10 years. Further, he did so without the aid of any bodybuilding drugs.
Re-gaining 30lbs of muscle is a lot more likely, since his body achieved this feat and more in the past.
Provided his endocrine system is still intact, I’d say it’s a 50/50 chance (assuming he does everything right).
The moral of the story is this: If you maxed out your genetics without the aid for bodybuilding drugs AND held that condition for a decade or more, re-gaining the muscle you’ve lost will be a lot easier task.
