And if you exercise regularly, over time you will gain even more fitness benefits. “At 6 to 8 weeks, you can definitely notice some changes,” said Logie, “and in 3 to 4 months you can do a pretty good overhaul to your health and fitness.” Strength-specific results take about the same amount of time.
This is because your lower-body is stronger than your upper-body (think about it, we spend the day walking with our legs, not our arms). In order to see results, add weight to your leg workouts at a level that feels challenging but not impossible.
Spinning, cardio kickboxing, running, swimming, jump rope, the elliptical, stair-climber and rowing machine are fast ways to lose weight and tone your body. Each of these allow you to burn calories, while toning your arms, legs and stomach.
It depends on your body fat percentage (which most gym trainers will measure for free). If you're living with obesity (over 25% body fat for a man or more than 32% body fat for a woman), aim to lose fat first. The higher your body fat percentage, the harder it is to gain muscle while minimizing fat gain.
You Don't Have Enough Training Volume
Hypertrophy adaptations (I.E. building muscle) are ruled by the principle of volume. The more volume in your training (more sets and reps) the greater the hypertrophy response you will get (up to a point of course).
Generally, aim to do either : 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio activity at least five days per week (150 minutes per week) at least 25 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity three days per week (75 minutes per week)
You need to work hard to build muscles, but that does not mean you spend your entire day in the gym. Performing weight training exercise for 20 to 30 minutes, twice to thrice in a week is enough to see results. You have to target a specific muscle group on a particular day.
On average, you can build noticeable muscle in as little as 6-8 weeks with consistent training. Noticeable fat loss can take as long as 6-12 weeks on the slow range, or 4 weeks on a faster protocol. This is assuming that you are optimizing everything you can for fast results.
If you are new to exercise and looking to improve your current level of fitness, doing 12 to 15 reps should be sufficient. Improving your fitness and strengthening your muscles will help you burn calories, which can lead to weight loss.
Most people require around 20 calories per pound (or 44 kcal / kg) of bodyweight to gain muscle mass. Using a 180-pound (82kg) male as an example, the required daily calorie intake is 3600 calories (20 kcal x 180 lb = 3600 kcal).
You're not eating enough – one of the main causes of not being able to build muscle is not eating enough and more importantly, not eating enough of the right food. Everyone bangs on about the importance of protein, but carbs and fats are just as important when it comes to growing muscle.
How to build muscle. Spending your whole day in the gym isn't necessary to build muscle. Weight training for 20 to 30 minutes, 2 to 3 times a week is enough to see results. You should try to target all your major muscle groups at least twice throughout your weekly workouts.
People with high body fat percentages or anyone who's been bulking for 12-16 weeks should focus on losing fat before building muscle. People who are skinny fat, new to strength training, or those who want to prioritize their performance in the gym over their appearance should consider bulking before losing weight.
Mostly, losing weight is an internal process. You will first lose hard fat that surrounds your organs like liver, kidneys and then you will start to lose soft fat like waistline and thigh fat. The fat loss from around the organs makes you leaner and stronger.
Strength training specifically leads to gain lean muscle gain. These are fat-free tissues that are highly metabolic, allowing more caloric burns than any other tissue in the body. Essentially, this is why strength training works best: it loses fat while maintaining muscles that burn calories.
If your primary goal is to increase your aerobic endurance or lose body fat, then you should perform cardio first. If your primary goal is to increase muscular strength, then do strength training first.
Consider increasing your protein intake to 30% of your calories or roughly 1 gram per pound of body weight/day if you are looking to drop some pounds and tone up.