Q: I'm a 41 year old woman, I've been weight training 3 times a week. My question is how long does it take to build a pound of muscle?

A: For a 41-year old woman it can take a very long time. Women in general gain muscle MUCH slower than men and it only goes down with age. If you've just started training, you'll get what's called 'beginner gains' -- relatively quick changes in body compostion -- so you may gain that pound of muscle without any change in weight in a month or less. But past the first couple of months, the rate of muscle gain will slow down significantly. You can try a muscle-building diet (which involves slight overeating to gain weight), but it's virtually guaranteed to put on quite a bit of fat as well as muscle. Unfortunately fast quality muscle gains are just not something a 41-year old woman is built for :) If you're interested in trying a muscle-building diet anyway, please read my nutrition article and then fill out Mike's Fitness Guide specifying 'Gain Muscle' as your goal for a complete diet suggestion. Again though, keep in mind that it will be extremely difficult for you to gain new muscle without simultaneously gaining new fat.

However, If you're weight training to help you lose fat, don't despair about inability to gain new muscle -- your existing muscle mass, when properly exercised, will have a very potent fat-burning punch on its own! The fact that you're weight training now is much more important than exactly how much muscle you have when it comes to the amount of fat you'll burn. So keep lifting! :)