Tips hat.. You know your stuff so my ebattle angle failed therefore I am throwing in the towel. If you would have started talking about how you added on 50 pound of muscle yourself (like a typical uneducated meat head) I would have copy and pasted my personal training books to my next post. I just dont have the troll in me today... Im so weak.
Ok, real life post..
Newb gains are typically 10 - 25 pounds of muscle a year because a normal human body will only add on 1-2 pounds of muscle a month naturally. Once you get closer to your peak like stated its extremely hard to gain. 3 of the guys in that picture played college sports and have been lifting for a while. Incorporating cross fit plus power lifting is where they get their gain. Cross fit is used for cardio while weight lifting is for muscle building. They do it right, and teach doing it right, but its a hybrid of the two.