Q: Hi Mike, i am 24, weigh about 135lbs, been doing weights for about 12 months, i have noticed some growth but was wondering how long it will take to get big, say about 200lbs, i work out three times a week using split days.

A: How big you get will depend entirely on your DIET!! What you do in the gym is break down muscles. Then in between gym sessions your body goes to work to repair the muscle damage and, if enough nutrients are available, make them a little bigger. So you need to make sure you supply enough food to your body to help it repair and build up muscles.

Fill out Mike's Fitness Guide specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal. It'll give you a complete detailed daily diet suggestion. Work it around to make it fit your lifestyle (combine some meals into one maybe, substitute foods around), but try to keep the overall calories, protein, carbs, and fats the same and split it into at least 5 meals a day.

Then start following that diet. After a couple of weeks if you're not gaining any weight or if you've actually lost weight (possible if you have a faster an average metabolism -- the guide is written for an average person), then increase portion sizes slightly. Then wait another couple of weeks and again see if you're gaining weight. If not, increase portion sizes again, and so on.

Your goal should be to gain 1 pound every 2 weeks -- that's a very good muscle building pace that will assure you gain minimum or no fat. In one year, it's perfectly reasonable to aim for 160 lbs! 200 lbs will take a lot longer though, but set a goal of 160 lbs in 1 year and do that first. Remember, your goal is to gain 1 pound every 2 weeks. If you're gaining too fast, cut portion sizes slghtly. If you're not gaining fast enough, increase portion sizes slightly. Good luck!