The short answer (upcoming pun intended) is that it’s simply not true that ten pounds is the maximum you can gain in a year, unless you’re talking about an <i>achondroplastic</i> dwarf.

I myself have gained more than ten pounds of muscle at many points over a twenty year history of bodybuilding. It’s even more possible when you’re a <i>green hand</i>, as you will gain a lot easier from day zero than you will five years down the line. I think you’ve missed that the first four responding posters in the second link you’ve provided all agree with this in different manners. And from what I can see, (I may be wrong here) but Tim Ferriss also claims to have started his training regime—specifically targeted at maximum muscle gain—from day zero.

Regarding your third link, well, just looking at the quote you’ve supplied beneath it is enough. There are two variables in that statement which need to be highlighted, “…the average bodybuilder…” and “…nearly impossible…”

If you consider the reverse of what the author seems to be saying it would be along the following lines: “…in order to gain more than ten pound of muscle in a year, you need to be an above average bodybuilder.” So, all we need to do now is figure out if Tim Ferriss is an ‘above average bodybuilder’ or not. If everything he is telling us is true, then there is the possibility that he is indeed above average, either in genetics, or in his understanding of exactly how to build quality lean mass. Or even better, both.

However, you’ve unfortunately taken the third link out of context. If you read on, John Little actually goes ahead and supports ‘mavericks’ like Tim Ferriss. Immediately following the point where you’ve cut off his sentence, he continues:

“…due largely to the person’s falling prey to the hype and outright B.S. that is propagated by most bodybuilding publications and that line the pockets of more than a few gym owners and personal trainers.”

By this comment it seems to me that John Little’s definition of an average bodybuilder is someone who chooses to follow popular techniques…as opposed to those who use a more scientific route.

Now I’d never heard of Tim Ferriss until today when I typed the word ‘superhuman’ in the Google Blog search for other reasons, but his thinking and techniques are very similar to the ones that I used when I was in training. People also found it hard to accept the accomplishments that I made relative to my time and frequency in the gym (whole body, once a month, average of 30 minutes per workout.) I never made gains to the tune of 34 lbs in 28 days though, but then I never had the luxury of constant optimum conditions within which to grow. Real life kind of gets in the way.

My routine was based on the theories and practices of Mike Mentzer, a strong science-based proponent of the Heavy Duty method of training, which Tim Ferriss’s method seems very similar to.

It’s a real difficult call to make—not being able to examine the Tim Ferriss’s results first hand—but I’m gonna stick my neck out and say that 34lbs in 28 days could be done by a beginner, under strict and optimum conditions…conditions which include choosing parents with the best genetics possible!