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What Muscle Grows Fastest?



It all comes down to your genes. Some people grow their biceps the fastest, while others grow their hamstrings the fastest.


Read the Top 20 Multivitamins for Bodybuilding if you want to learn about some natural ways to help your muscles grow.


Because of this, if you put two people on the same workout plan, they will look a little bit different and have different amounts of muscle mass.


For example, when I did a full-body program, my legs and traps grew faster than the rest of my muscles. My arms, chest, and back all fell behind, even though I was almost working them harder.


Most of the time, the chest and quads grow the fastest. From a genetic point of view, the quadriceps and chest grow the fastest for most people. Both of these muscle groups are huge, and because they have more fast-twitch fibers, they grow the fastest. And most people's genes cause these things to grow the fastest.


But I've seen people whose genes make their traps grow faster than the rest of their bodies. Most people of Scandinavian background have this trait, but it can be different for each person.


More often than other muscle groups, these ones are worked out. The fact that the quads and chest are worked out more often than other muscles is one of the main reasons why they grow faster.


This is mostly because of two things:

  • These muscle groups are usually worked out during workouts, but forearms and calves aren't.

  • Many different exercises work the chest and quads without meaning to.

  • First of all, most programs only have you work your chest and legs.

  • Simply put, most programs always have you work on your chest and legs. In Arnold's Blueprint to Mass, for example, you work your chest and legs twice a week, and there are often 3–4 different exercises that focus on your quads and chest.

On the other hand, most programs won't have you work out your forearms or calves as hard or as often as your quads or chest.


It's not surprising that most people say their quads and chest grow faster than anything else because the volume and intensity of their workouts are so different.


But you might be wondering, "What if I turned up the volume on everything else?" Wouldn't that speed up the growth of the other muscles?


Nope, not really. This is because muscle fibers are different and because almost every exercise you do works your quads and chest.


Yes, almost every exercise works your thighs and chest. As was already said, one of the main reasons your quads and chest grow so quickly is that they are used in almost every exercise you do.As soon as you put down the weights after your first set at the gym, your muscles start telling your brain that they want to grow. When you're done with your workout an hour or two later, the process of building new muscle protein has already started.


But how quickly can you really get stronger? And how long until they're big enough for you and other people to notice?


In this post, I'll try to answer these questions.


In 2–3 months, how much muscle can you build? Let's get right down to it. In the table below, you can see some typical results from 2- to 3-month-long training studies that looked at muscle growth.


Beginners

  • 5–15% thickness of muscle

  • 10–30% muscle area

  • 2–3 kg fat-free mass

Trained

  • 3–10% thickness of muscle

  • 6–20% muscle area

  • 1–2 kg fat-free mass

Fat-free mass is everything in your body that isn't fat, just like it sounds. That includes your muscles, bones, organs, water, glycogen, and the food in your stomach and intestines, among other things. Because it's easier to measure than just pure muscle mass, fat-free mass is often used in studies about training.


Usually, about half of your fat-free mass is made up of muscle mass. 6 But when it comes to training-related increases in fat-free mass, most of the extra fat-free mass will likely come from muscle, followed by glycogen. Assuming that you train well from the start, eat well, and get enough sleep, your muscles will grow the fastest when you first start training. As your muscles get used to the training, they will grow slower and slower.


A study from Japan gives us a good example of this. Seven young men who had never worked out before did bench press three times a week for 24 weeks. Each workout consisted of 3 sets of 10 reps until failure. 7 In just over five months of training, their chest and tricep muscles got bigger, as shown in the diagram below.

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