PNBA Bobby Fotheringham Outlines How Much Muscle You Can Build Each Year in Natural Bodybuilding

July 27, 2022

PNBA Bobby Fotheringham explains how much muscle you can build yearly in natural bodybuilding.

Of course, building muscle as a natural takes longer than building muscle with the help of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). So, how much muscle can you add to your frame in natural bodybuilding each year? Professional Natural Bodybuilding Association (PNBA) athlete Bobby Fotheringham answers this sought-out question on social media.

Bobby Fotheringham is a 2x UKDFBA British Champion and NBFI Italy World Champion. On Instagram, Fotheringham outlined how much muscle mass a natural bodybuilder can expect to gain each year. Fotheringham stated:

“Natural bodybuilding, there are limits to the rate we can gain muscle in a period of time.

There are many scientific models that could give you a rough idea of growth potential, they are all pretty much say the same thing. The one Iv been reading up on is

Lyle McDonald’s Model V

1 Years Training (9kg – 12kg)

2 Years Training (4kg – 5kg)

3 Years Training (2.5kg – 3kg)

4+ years Training (0.9kg – 1.3kg)

This to me is about spot on. I’m in to 6 years now and starting at 62kg and at the top end of bulking last prep was 90kg”

You can see Fotheringham’s full statement and progress over the years below.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Bobby Fotheringham (@bobby_pnba_pro)

How Much Muscle Can You Build Naturally?

Bobby Fotheringham isn’t the first natural competitor to disclose how much muscle a natural athlete can build. Men’s Bodybuilding Natural Olympia competitor, Christian Schneider, gives a timeline for the amount of muscle a natural athlete can gain each year as a weightlifter. Schneider and Fotheringham agree on how much muscle a new lifter can acquire within the first year of training (9kg – 12kg). Schneider asserted:

“As a newcomer to training, you can still build muscles quickly and so it is quite possible to gain 9-12 kg in the first year [sic]

In the second year the whole thing is halved and you build up a little slower and less [sic] The following year you can still expect a good increase of 2-3 kg

From the 4th and 5th year it will usually only be 300-800g per year. That doesn’t sound like much, but after 10 years that’s a good 5 kg of pure muscle mass [sic]”

How Much Muscle Can Steroids Build?

Natural bodybuilders in the INBA PNBA league are smaller than bodybuilders in the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) Pro league. That’s because INBA PNBA athletes are prohibited from doping. Whereas the IFBB Pro league doesn’t screen for steroids and other PEDs.

And steroids add substantially more muscle to your frame. According to studies, athletes using steroids can gain 4.5-11 pounds (2-5 kg) of lean body mass. And considering that Fotheringham claims that after 4+ years of training, your rate of muscle growth slows to 0.9 kg-1.3 kg per year, this is staggering (1).

References

Hartgens, F., & Kuipers, H. (2004). Effects of androgenic-anabolic steroids in athletes. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 34(8), 513–554. https://doi.org/10.2165/00007256-200434080-00003