Eating More Doesn’t Mean Gaining More (Muscle)
How fast should you gain weight during a muscle-building phase?
In bodybuilding, this matters, because muscle growth is slow and finite, especially for trained athletes. A surplus is helpful, but more food doesn’t always mean more gains.
That’s why the “sweet spot” for weight gain typically falls around 0.5-1.5% of body weight per month, as shown in the infographic. This supports hypertrophy, recovery, and training adaptations without excessive fat gain, especially helpful over long off-seasons.
But it’s not one-size-fits-all. Key factors to consider:
🔹 Training advancement:
New lifters or those returning from injury can often build faster and tolerate more aggressive surpluses. Advanced bodybuilders benefit from slower gains to minimise fat.
🔹 Body composition:
The leaner someone is, the more aggressively they can often gain, particularly post-show, where fat regain may improve performance, recovery, and hormonal health.
🔹 Surplus longevity:
Gaining slowly (~1%/month) allows for longer productive phases with fewer mini cuts, ideal for sustained off-season progress.
🔹 Goals and preferences:
Gaining faster isn’t “wrong” if trade-offs are understood. Likewise, staying at maintenance is fine, but for optimising growth, a surplus is usually more effective.
🎯 TLDR:
Strategic bulking is about balance. Too slow may limit gains. Too fast, and you’re mostly gaining fat.
Find your own “sweet spot” based on training age, current body comp, and long-term goals.