How Do I Know If I’m Gaining Muscle?

Do you want to know when your hard work in the gym will start paying off in terms of gains? Building muscle necessitates converting nutrients from food into lean tissue with the help of strength training and recovery. As you might expect, this process is fairly complex and takes some time.

The exact amount of time it takes to build muscle mass, however, is determined by the amount of muscle you want to gain, as well as a variety of individual factors listed below.

So, how long does it take to gain muscle? And how do you know if you're on the right track?

How Long Does It Take to Gain Muscle Mass?

Many factors influence how much muscle you can gain and how quickly you can gain it, including genetics, diet, training, and hormones. Furthermore, your starting body composition may be an important factor to consider.

In reality, your body can only process so much food before it converts it to muscle mass. And for many of us, gaining multiple pounds of muscle per week is not a realistic goal. Gaining weight, like losing weight, takes time, consistency, and patience.

It is also important to consider the type of weight you want to gain – you most likely want to gain muscle, not fat or excess fluids. And the faster you gain, the more likely it is that the scale will creep up due to water retention and fat, not just muscle. Not to mention that rapid weight gain results in stretch marks.

The average person can gain approximately 25 pounds of muscle in a year at this rate. Of course, this isn't always feasible in the long run. A more realistic goal would be to gain 5 pounds of solid mass every six months. Many people will need to take breaks from bulking and cycle through the cutting phases as needed. Furthermore, as your muscles grow in size, the rate at which you can gain steadily slows.

How Can You Tell If You're Gaining Muscle?

The most frustrating aspect of body transformation is not seeing immediate results or not knowing if your efforts are paying off. Before you start panicking about gaining too much fat or not seeing any gains at all, here are five ways to track your progress and stay on track with your goals.

1. You're putting on weight.

Tracking changes in your body weight is one of the simplest ways to determine whether your efforts are paying off. The scale may not always rise every day, but it should rise gradually and consistently week after week.

You will naturally experience a lot of weight fluctuations due to changes in water weight, hormones, and dietary changes, especially in the early stages. However, after three to four weeks, many of these fluctuations should have evened out and the scale should begin to move in the right direction.

Track your weight every day at the same time and plot it on a chart to see your long-term progress.

2. Your clothes don't fit quite right.

When you get jacked, your clothes will often start to fit differently – usually in a good way. If you notice that your shirts are fitting a little tighter around your shoulders, chest, and biceps, or that your pants are getting snug in the thigh and hip area, this is a good sign that you're gaining healthy weight.

3. You're Building Strength

Muscle growth and increased strength often go hand in hand. If you're properly fueling your body and strength training several days a week, you should see some progress in your fitness as well.

Feeling strong is one thing, but the best way to track this is to keep a weekly workout log. Take note of the number of reps and weight used, and aim to increase the amount each week. Training programs that make use of progressive overloads are ideal for this.

4. Your Muscles Appear “Swole”

Feeling puffier or larger is normal and is most likely a sign that your muscle fibers are growing. Lifting weights increases fluids to your muscles, giving you that post-workout pump, especially if you are new to strength training. Some of the water retention may diminish over time, but you should continue to feel bulkier.

Daily or weekly progress photos are an excellent way to track your visual progress. Take a full-body photo in front of a mirror. Repeat and evaluate your visual transformation on a regular basis. The results you see will astound and motivate you.

5. Your Body Composition Is No Longer the Same

Finally, the most effective way to track your muscle gain progress is to evaluate your body composition at the start and end of your bulk. You have the option of using an inexpensive and convenient at-home scale or scheduling a DXA/DEXA scan, which estimates your body fat percentage with a 1.6 percent margin of error.

Your lean body mass should be increasing faster than any body fat you've gained. If you're gaining a lot more fat than you expected, you may want to slow down your bulk and reconsider your nutrition.

How to Build Muscle Quickly

Finally, how long it takes to gain muscle is determined by the individual and how long you can stick to your muscle growth goals.

Muscle protein synthesis necessitates a delicate balance of proper nutrition, strength training, and rest. While the specifics may differ depending on your level of fitness, the fundamental principles of muscle gain remain the same.