Muscle how long does it take to build

If you are at a satisfactory lean starting body composition start with a bulk for 12 weeks, then rest for four to eight weeks, followed by a six to 12 week cut - depending on how much fat you gained. It's important to include maintenance or reset periods lasting at least four weeks in between to allow your body to adjust to a new normal before jumping into the next phase.

This will help your metabolism settle and allow you to maintain as much of your muscle growth as possible. Dieting results in a temporary metabolic adaptation where your metabolism and rate of fat oxidation slows - meaning you are prone to store more fat when calories are increased again 12 , So if you have recently gone through a cut to have a lower starting body fat, you might want to consider maintaining your lower weight for a few weeks first to allow your metabolism to stabilize before trying to bulk.

And vice versa. Jumping into a cut too soon after a bulk could result in some unintentional loss of gains. The worst part about transforming your body is not seeing immediate progress or not knowing if your hard work is even paying off.

Tracking changes in your body weight is one of the easiest ways to tell if your hard work is paying off.

The scale might not always go up every day, but it should be creeping up slowly and consistently week after week. You will naturally experience a lot of fluctuations in your weight due to changes in water weight, hormones, and dietary changes - especially in the beginning stages.

But after three to four weeks a lot of these fluctuations should even out and you should start to see the scale move in the right direction. Track your weight at the same time each day and plot it on a chart to see your long term progress. Getting jacked will often mean your clothes start to fit differently - usually in a good way.

Muscle building and increased strength tend to go hand in hand. Feeling strong is one thing, but the best way to track this is to log your workouts each week. Note how many reps and the weight used, and aim to increase the amount e a ch week. Training programs that utilize progressive overloads are perfect for this.

Lifting weights increases fluids to your muscle giving you that post weight training pump, especially when you are just getting started wi th strength training. Over time, some of the water retention may diminish but you should continue to feel bulkier. One of the best ways to measure your visual progress is with daily or weekly progress photos.

Stand in front of a mirror and take a full body photo. Repeat and assess your visual transformation regularly. You will be both amazed and motivated by the results you see. Ultimately the most efficient way to measure your muscle gain progress is to assess your body composition at the beginning and end of your bulk. Gradually add sets, weight, or reps to increase stress on the body and to keep building muscle. For example, if you're lifting pound dumbbells, you might find it difficult at first.

After a time, lifting those dumbbells will start to get easier because you're building muscle and getting stronger. If you continue to lift those pound dumbbells you're not going to build muscle.

You'll stay the same. You have to make your regimen more strenuous again. Several factors contribute to muscle gain — and sometimes loss — including age, gender, and protein intake. Age: Building muscle and strength becomes more challenging starting at age 40 when your body naturally starts to lose muscle mass. Regular resistance training can fight this decline, says Haroldsdottir. Gender : Males and females differ in their metabolism, types of muscle fibers, and speed of muscle contractions.

While men are thought to grow muscle faster, women's muscles may recover faster and are slower to fatigue after workouts. Protein : To gain muscle you need 0. If you're not seeing the results you want, check to make sure you're getting enough protein in your diet, as it's essential for muscle growth. Hormones : Hormones are responsible for controlling many physiological reactions in your body including energy metabolism, tissue growth, and growth or decline of muscle protein.

Hormones, such as insulin, contribute both to building new muscle and helping to burn fat. Testosterone helps repair muscle protein after exercise; cortisol, human growth hormone HGH , and others also play roles in muscle growth. Progressive or volume overload : Research has shown that continuously increasing the amount of weight and reps while strength training may help build strength and muscle mass, though results vary depending on sex, age, and muscle groups worked.

You might see some gains, but you definitely can't optimize muscle growth when you don't give your body a fighting chance to recover.

Your lifting routine: If you're trying to build muscle, you should know about two key strength training concepts: frequency and volume. Frequency refers to how often you train a muscle or muscle group, while volume refers to the total load you stress a muscle with. For example, if you perform three sets of 10 reps on squats using pounds, your total volume is 3, pounds.

More volume and higher frequency typically equate to more muscle, unless you reach the point of overtraining. Your training age: The more advanced you are, the less muscle growth you'll see yeah, that sounds backward. Everyone has a maximum genetic potential for muscle growth, and the closer you get to yours, the harder it gets to build more muscle.

Your actual age: Like a lot of things, building muscle gets harder as you get older. Sarcopenia , or loss of muscle mass and function, is actually a big problem in older adults. That's one reason why it's so important to stay active as you get older. Other major factors include your genetic potential for building muscle which is impossible to quantify without lab testing, and even then, kind of wishy-washy and your testosterone levels -- which is why men typically have more muscle than women.

Other hormones, including human growth hormone and insulin growth factor also play a role in muscle growth. All that said, the muscle-building process starts the moment you challenge your muscles to do something.

True beginners might see muscle growth within six weeks of starting a resistance training program , and advanced lifters may see results within six to eight weeks of switching up their usual strength training regimen. Regardless of fitness level, building muscle takes several weeks, even when your diet, sleep and training regimen are all dialed in to optimize muscle growth. Like with any training, the time it takes to grow muscle can vary based on many factors.

Smaller muscles require less time than larger muscles think forearms vs. Nutrition and rest also are particularly critical during this process. The most basic step: supplementing your diet with extra protein. The National Strength and Conditioning Association NSCA , which is among the most highly respected authorities in the exercise science field, recommends 1. You should also get seven to nine hours of sleep every night because that is when the body spends its time and energy repairing damaged tissue.