I have been extremely consistent for about 11 months, however no ever looks at me and says ‘Oh he probably goes to the gym’
Several reasons
1)Poor starting point
Had a lot of fat and almost no muscle, overweight
2)Trash program
The coach in the gym directly put me on machines without squat bench etc, 20sets per muscle group
- (Probably) poor genetics
Barely saw any ‘rapid’ progression on my lifts in the start, took me weeks to increase weight
4)Obsessed with losing fat/fatigue from cut
Ended up cutting way too long, I wanted to get ‘lean’, but since I had no muscle, never lost my gut, just looked even worse ‘skinny fat’
However I seem to have fixed all the issues on my end, and am seeing slow but steady increase in reps and weights, it’s still kinda demotivating when my friends say that they can’t see progress but ofc they don’t know how bad I fucked up and ngl I am actually getting a little excited with everything coming together, and was wondering how long did it take y’all to start looking good
It take around 1 year to see any noticeable results. I’m not talking night and day results, just some growth. The result is going to vary depending on where you start and also depends on genetics. Some people build muscles faster than others.
Results also do not need to be strictly physical, they can be mental as well. As change can be the mentality of managing your health, feeling like moving around is much easier, less pain, etc. The end goal really depends on the program that is set.
Since your starting point was “a lot of fat” it may be hard to notice physical changes (muscle growth) within that time span. The most obvious changes will be fat lost if dieting and exercising consistently. You may also feel moving around seems much easier. Just keep at it and the results will come as long as your body is being pushed.
Machines are not a bad starting place, especially if you do not have form. They restrict movement to just focus on the targeted muscle. This can help teach and show you the forms for training each muscle. Form it very important in lifting, more so than weight. This will prevent injury and make training more efficient. Once you are comfortable with the forms then free weights can be an option. Free weights will use more supporting muscles to maintain form, not always the most targeted for specific muscle.
As for weight lost. Slow and stead is much better in the long run than rapid weight lost. This usually equates to changing how you eat and your habits. Doing so will help you keep the weight off in the long run. A rate of 1 or 2 pounds a week is pretty good.
Cutting is more so for leaning out fat to make muscles more definitive. You need to build muscles first before you cut. Right now it seems like you are more in the state of getting to a sustainable body weight and forming muscles as you go.
Growth is always must slower than people make it seem. Its the consistency and hard work long periods later that tends to get notices. Keep it up and before you know it you will get to a more noticeable “he goes to the gym” look. More importantly is you improving your overall health. Best of luck.
Thanks a lot, I definitely have lost a lot of fat, I look quite skinny with a loose shirt on (my preferred way)(in a surplus rn), however If you look at my arms, you don’t really see any muscle ‘poking’ through, it just looks kinda slappy and I still have a significant belly
As far as Machines vs free weight compound movements, I like free weights because it generally just feels better to me, and maybe I would have progressed faster, I would have loved if he actually made me just try once
It may not be very noticeable but you are building muscle. Body change is slow but you will get there. Don’t be discourage, you already made gains from weight lost alone, just keep at it and you will hit your goal. It took me a while to see growth in arms but it will come.
At this point, I will say go try free weights. You have been using machines for close to a year so you should have the general motion down for each exercise. You can try pushing back with your trainer/coach and insist on starting some free weights.
When using free weights, start light, get comfortable with the motion, then move to more heavy. Try to restrict any extra motion outside of the movement you are working on. If you need to do extra motions to move the weight, go lighter or try negatives. Negatives are the motion of slowly relaxing the muscle. For example, when doing bicep curls, there are two motions, a pull towards you (contracting the bicep) and a release down (relaxing the bicep). Negatives are the relax part of the motion but you relax as slow as possible, let the weight go down as slow as you can. Negatives can help build strength without going through the whole motion.
Negatives really help with pull ups if you can’t do any. Grab hold of a bar at a high position and as slowly as you can lower yourself down.
Thanks a lot for the info!