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I live by the numbers: Weight and Muscle Goals

Like most people who are dead serious about body building, I too believe in setting goals and trying to reach them. The goals should not be too easy neither should they be too ambitious. And the goals will always be measurable and be limited by time. So we come to the topic of numbers. I live by the numbers. In this post I will tell you what my goals are how I arrived at those numbers.

Baseline and Time
Taking my current weight and fat % as my starting point, I set myself a difficult yet reachable goal for a time period of 3 months. My weight on October 1, 2009 was 118 lbs at 10% body fat. Here is the data I have now:

Time = 3 months
Current Weight = 118 lbs
Current Fat % = 10%
Current Fat Mass = Current Fat % x Current Weight = 10% x 118 = 11.8 lb
Current Muscle Mass = Current Weight - Current Fat Mass = 118 - 11.8 = 106.2 lb

Muscle Gain Goal
Now since I know the deadline which is in 3 months and taking the somewhat commonly agreed muscle growth number of 1 to 1.5 lbs/month I arrive at the muscle mass I can put on in 3 months. Which is 3 to 4.5 lbs. I wanted this to be a bit challenging but not too challenging so I took a mass gain of 1.25 lbs/month.

Time = 3 months
Muscle Gain Per Month = 1.25 lbs/month
Muscle Gain = Muscle Gain Per Month x Time = 1.25 x 3 = 3.75 lb
Target Muscle Mass = Current Muscle Mass + Muscle Gain = 106.2 + 3.75 = 110 lb

Weight Gain Goal
Since I will inevitable gain some fat during a mass gain program I am willing to allow my fat % to go up to 12% by the end of 3 months. That is a 2% increase in fat percentage. I am very skeptical that I can keep my body fat percentage so low while gaining mass, but we will see after this experiment and I can make better calculations for the next time. There are usually no good limits to how much fat you can gain. You can gain a lot of fat if you just eat all day long. So here are the calculations for target weight:

Target Muscle Mass = 110 lbs
Target Fat % = 12%
Target Fat Mass = Target Weight x Target Fat %
Target Weight = Target Muscle Mass + Target Fat Mass
Target Weight = Target Muscle Mass + Target Weight x Target Fat % 
Target Weight = 110 + Target Weight x 0.12
Target Weight = 110 / .88 = 125 lb

There you have it so my target goals here once again:

Target Weight  = 125 lb
Target Muscle Gain = 3.75 lb
Target Fat Gain = 3.25 lb

Let us see if I can really reach my goals as I set forth.
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Comments

  1. SS GuyOctober 23, 2009 at 8:23 PM

    That is definitely a reachable goal Chandan. I wish you all the best! Hope you got a chance to finalize your diet (calories) and your routine. I would like to know how your diet works for you - please write when you have a chance.

    ReplyDelete

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