When they say muscle growth is the highest during the first year of lifting, do they mean that if I started lifting at the start of 2019, by the end of 2019 the one year noobie gains stop even if I've stopped working out for 3 of those months or went on a cut during 3 of those months or is it talking about 1 full year of lifting. So lifting all 12 months? 

@VHKprimus Generally speaking it's the first year or 'actual' training. By that I mean your first year of not only training properly, but eating properly and resting properly too.

If during 2019 you had a 3 month break and had 3 months where you weren't in a surplus, then you have potentially missed out on some newbie gains, BUT, it doesn't mean they're over. It just potentially means you won't make as many gains as you could have, if you had stayed consistent and in a surplus throughout the first year.

So don't be discouraged that the first year is over - just focus on making the second year even better by staying on track as much as possible! We can help you with that here on the site!