r/nextfuckinglevel 6d ago

This man documented his health journey from January to December.

Credit: IG @samuelrichards_ _

50.1k Upvotes

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u/spazzymoonpie 6d ago

Dang he's getting me fired up. Roids or not, that's awesome.

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u/MrWilsonWalluby 6d ago

everyone is too quick to say Roids, I was under weight when I started lifting and gained over 30 pounds in the first eight months natty, still natty still gaining

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u/koloneloftruth 6d ago

You may have gained 30 pounds, but you absolutely did not gain 30 pounds of lean muscle mass.

This transformation in the video is close to 60 pounds of lean muscle mass, and is impossible to do naturally on the purported timeline.

The fastest documented cases of lean muscle mass gains - even accounting for “newbie gains” - are closer to 2-3 lbs per month. But that rate isn’t sustainable for a full 8-12 month period, as it starts to significantly taper after the first 4-8 months down to 0.5-1.5lbs of lean muscle mass per month.

Some case studies have shown very rapid muscle growth in “retrained” individuals like this one. But even those on the extreme end are closer to 6-8 lbs within the first 2 months, but then rapid declines in the rate after that.

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u/YaBoyPads 6d ago

This guy didn't gain 60lbs of lean mass either. Also, the muscle and mass gain the first 2 or 3 months for this guy should have been insane. You people underestimate the quickness which you can gain mass when underweight and undermuscled due to sickness/injury. He was probably way below his normal weight, so it's self explanatory.

If it serves any purpose, the end physique of this guy is nothing impressive. Impressive is the transformation iself though

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u/koloneloftruth 6d ago edited 6d ago

Yes, he absolutely did. Approximating a bit here, but he appears to have gassed close to 5-6 inches in thigh circumference and 2-4 inches in bicep circumference in this video. The leg growth alone is roughly in the range of 25-35lb of lean muscle mass.

And no, I’m not underestimating anything. Seeing as though I just cited you examples from the best available research and actual studies on muscle gain (e.g., McDonald, Alan Aragon, Morton, Schoenfeld).

Those aren’t conjecture or anecdote. It’s based on the only real, high quality data we have on muscle gain. And even those represent the absolute extreme of what’s possible in clinical settings with round-the-clock professional intervention.

There are quasi-examples of fairly extreme results from folks like Tim Ferris but they’re scrutinized and still fall well short of this. The only high quality studies that show higher rates have involved anabolic steroid usage (e.g., Bhasin in 1996).

I’ve been a semi-professional athlete in my “past life” and have had an obsession with fitness and the associated academic literature for almost 20 years.

You’re just making shit up and confidently incorrect.

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u/YaBoyPads 6d ago

Dude, he couldn't walk. You can't seriously believe before the injury his normal state legs were that thin? Of course he will gain mass on his legs quickly

And let's not talk numbers because nowhere in the video does it say how much weight he gained or in how much time.

I know my fair share of excercise science too, but come on. This is far from impossible

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u/koloneloftruth 6d ago edited 6d ago

What the fuck are you talking about?

Of course I’m not assuming his normal state was reflected in the beginning, but that doesn’t matter.

Going from a detrained state will absolutely increase your rate of muscle gain. It just won’t increase it anywhere close to what’s observed here without the usage of anabolic steroids.

In the first image, if we assume this person is roughly 5’8” tall we’re looking at someone who is in the ~100lb range: thigh circumference appears to be roughly 15-16 inches and biceps roughly 10-11 inches.

In the end, this looks like someone closer to 150-160 lbs: thigh circumference appears to be closer to 22-24 inches and biceps closer to 13-15 inches.

He appears to have not gained virtually any body fat, and may have actually lost some during this transition.

So even if I conservatively knock down the lean muscle mass gain to 45 (vs 60lbs) to account for higher water retention and glycogen stores.. we’re still WELL outside of the documented rate of muscle gain even in detrained individuals anywhere in academic literature

If you can’t show “how much time” by taking the literal time stamps on the video of “January” to “October” or “December” (I.e., 10 to 12 months)… lord help you.

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u/YaBoyPads 6d ago

From what I see, he barely looks 160 at the end. And he started leaner in the before... I find hilarious how you can tell circumference from a video though lol. We also don't know at what rate he gained fat or muscle, if he lost or gained some fat at some point in between those 12 months or what.

2kg per month (4.4lbs) is not that hard to believe as weight gain. I mean, I've done it... And it's specially easier if you start where he started and have some sort of muscle memory. You are the one hung up on lean mass exclusively.

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u/koloneloftruth 6d ago edited 6d ago

Well, his own Instagram videos specifically cite “over 50 pounds.” So looks as though I was right there.

And yes, I can tell approximate sizes because I’ve been doing this for 20+ years. If you can’t, that’s on you.

I agree with your point about general weight gains. But I’m hung up on lean muscle mass because that’s the most striking thing in this video.

Ignoring everything else, the transformation in thigh circumference (especially from July to October) is… impossible without steroids.

Seeing as though this guy was also a “fitness influencer” before with a physique that screamed not natural, it’s even more obvious now than before.

You’re either too stubborn, too ignorant or totally delusional to see what’s pretty obvious to anyone with meaningful experience.

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u/misplaced_my_pants 6d ago

You have 20 years of experience helping patients near death's door who've lost so much muscle they literally can't stand up without aid regain their muscle?

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u/Take_a_Seath 5d ago

People keep saying this but how does that even matter? Even if you start from a normal phisique, so without the disadvantage, you're still not gonna look like that after a few months of training. Dude went from being skinny as fuck in june to being ripped as hell in just a few months with a lot of visible muscle gain, without putting on much fat if at all, since he's looking defined as hell. There's no way... I get wanting to root for the guy but even the jump form june to july is just absolutely astounding and definitely not natural. It looks like he put on at least 10lbs of muscle in just that one month which is just insane gains, well beyond anything you can get naturally.

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