How Long Until You See Results From Working Out?!
How long until you see results from working out?
Maaaaaaaaan, if I had a nickel for every time I’ve been asked that question, I’d be in the strip club making it hail every night!
Yup, I’d walk into the club with a bag of money and watch the dancers start getting excited…until they found out that it’s not cash raining down but coins, which are pelting the fuck out of them.
Go ahead and laugh, fucker!
You know that shit’s funny because strippers are soulless beings unworthy of decent treatment, just like gingers. Fuck that politically correct shit!
Wait, what were we talking about?
Oh yeah, you wanted to know how long until you see results from working out!
Well, you should expect to see results a few days after starting to work out, if not immediately as soon as you walk out of the gym’s doors.
Anyone who says otherwise clearly doesn’t have any fitfluencer accounts on their timeline and thus hasn’t seen, read, or heard the pitch for the supplements, training programs, and fitness accessories they’re peddling that can have your body looking exactly like theirs in lickety-split. That’s not all. There are also print magazines and digital media publications with their own ads and articles about exercise and how a particular fitness product, training regimen, or whatever else can change your body in only X number of days. Were you to have ever come across any of those things, then you’d know that results are pretty instantaneous.
But are they?
I hate to break it to you, but the above couldn’t be further from the truth, as many soon find out.
They begin exercising regularly, living a more active lifestyle, drinking more water, making an honest effort at proper nutrition…
…only to discover one week later that their muffin top or beer belly hasn’t been replaced by washboard abs and a tapered waist; their pencil neck isn’t barrel thick and sitting atop mountain-sized traps; they haven’t gone from an ironing board backside to having so much cake that people call them Sara Lee; or transformed from string bean status to a serious Mr. Olympia contender.
Egads!!!
So because the results aren’t coming fast and furious enough, what do they do?
Well, they become frustrated and eventually quit.
That’s what they do!
What started with so much promise fizzles out with them reverting back to old habits in pretty much no time because they don’t see any changes to their body.
I’m here to tell you that you’re setting yourself up for failure if you begin any fitness endeavor with the mindset of expecting to see drastic results in a number of days or a few short weeks.
So how long does it take to see results from working out?
While changes that result in you feeling more energetic and experiencing an elevated mood, for example, can occur after as little as 10 minutes of exercise via the release of endorphins, physiological changes to your body, such as those to your composition, muscle size and shape, strength, and aerobic capacity, for instance, can take 8-12 weeks.
Yes, you math whiz.
That computes to about two to three months of consistent effort!
That’s why you better think again if you think a handful of trips to the gym are all you need to reach your goal, whatever it may be.
NOTE: There are some variables to consider that can result in progress happening faster or slower. One such variable is your starting point. Take the following illustrations for example: a newbie can expect to gain more muscle mass in less time than a seasoned vet because their body hasn’t adapted to the training stimulus; an out-of-shape lifter can expect to get in shape faster than a sedentary person without lifting experience because of muscle memory; and an obese person can expect to lose more body fat and change their appearance in a faster period of time than someone who’s already lean because the body tends to hoard fat the less and less of it you have as a defense mechanism. Sure, the obese person won’t be as slim and trim as their already lean counterpart, but the difference in their appearance will be more noticeable to the naked eye by the time the changes set in. Other factors that can affect the rate at which you experience a tangential difference in your body and/or the ability to do things include the type and amount of exercise you’re doing, your nutrition, your sleep, your recovery protocol, and your genetics.
Sorry, but your mom is wrong, snowflake.
You’re not so special that your arms will balloon to that of Popeye’s the first time you touch a dumbbell. Or so special that rappers will compose big booty sonnets to your rump shaker after only your very first glute training workout.
Be realistic and prepare yourself for the long-haul because change takes time.
After all, the results of you overeating, getting out of shape, neglecting to train your quads, what have you, didn’t happen overnight. Your weight gain, health problems, and chicken legs with a massive upper body are the fruits of days, months, and years of you being patient as those issues developed. That exact same patience displayed in letting all of those things occur is the exact same patience that needs to be exercised when you resolve to address whatever your body issues are.
So how long until you see results from working out?
That’s how long!!!
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