How to Get Jacked, A 16-Week Plan

Lyle McDonald's natural muscle gain model places a year-one male lifter at about 22 lbs of lean mass per year, which is roughly 6.7 lbs in 16 weeks. Anything advertised faster is either water, glycogen, fat regain, or steroids. Women gain at roughly half that rate. By year 4 you are looking at 2 lbs per year, hence why advanced lifters chase fractional gains.

Garthe 2013 and Helms 2014 both show that gaining at 0.25 to 0.5% of bodyweight per week minimizes fat regain while still maximizing muscle gain. Above 500 calorie surplus, the extra calories go to fat. The body has a hard ceiling on how fast it can build muscle protein and a hard surplus does not move that ceiling.

Morton et al. 2018 meta-analysis of 49 studies and 1,863 subjects found 1.62 g/kg as the optimal threshold above which additional protein produced no further hypertrophy benefit. 1 g/lb equals 2.2 g/kg, which is the upper end and totally fine but not magic.

From Schoenfeld 2017 and Renaissance Periodization volume landmarks. MEV is Minimum Effective Volume, the lowest weekly sets that produce growth. MAV is Maximum Adaptive Volume, the range where most growth happens. MRV is Maximum Recoverable Volume, beyond which fatigue outpaces recovery. Start a mesocycle at MEV, progress to MAV by week 4 to 6, deload before MRV.

For hypertrophy, frequency matters less than total weekly sets per muscle if both fall in the MAV range. Schoenfeld 2019 meta-analysis: 2x per week per muscle beats 1x, but 3x is no better than 2x at matched volume. 4 to 5 day splits work well because you can hit each muscle twice weekly without massive single sessions.

Katch-McArdle uses lean body mass directly, which is more accurate than Mifflin-St Jeor for lifters who carry significant muscle relative to their height. If you do not know your body fat percentage, set it to 15 to 20 percent for males and 22 to 28 percent for females.

No, but you should track sets per muscle per week and the bar weights on your main compounds. Add 2.5 to 5 lbs to compounds every 1 to 2 weeks. If you cannot, you are either undereating, undersleeping, or near your MRV and need a deload.