How To Know If You Are Building Muscle

TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro
00:46 Muscle Growth Time-Frame
02:46 Direct Assessment
05:22 Conflating Factors
08:33 Indirect Indicators
13:02 Practical Recommendations

STUDIES

ONLINE COACHING & CONSULTING

BOOKS & TRAINING TEMPLATES

SOCIAL MEDIA

[kevinjobe]

For the young guys out there, have patience. I started seriously training around 21, just turned 40 last year. Bigger and stronger at 40 than I ever was in my 20s. Eat well, don’t do stupid stuff that causes injury and you’ll get there.

[JJ-bjht]

I've only been training for about 9 months, but just looking at the pics I took when I started lifting compared to now and there's quite a difference. It's weird how you don't really notice it until you look back. I've still got a long long way to go on my journey but I'm proud so far and really enjoying it!

[DDD-xxmg]

Been training intensively 5 days per week for the last 2 years along with high protein diet and very happy with my results with significant improvements from were I started 💪💪💪

[roymartinez]

Be patient, I've been lifting since high school off and on. Do it naturally and stay at it, I don't mean 4 or 5 days every week but be consistent and you'll eventually look well defined and not abnormal.
I just turned 60 and still lifting and stronger now then when I was 40.
Keep it naturally no chemicals.

[marccarter]

Took me 10 years from a skinny 16 year old, to a decent 14 stone of muscle at 26 years old. Great thing is that you muscles remember, i have trained on and off for years. i have just started back again at 50, getting decent results after 3 months. Once you have done it, it easy to do again!

[skeliskull]

I feel like 10 years to be content is extremely over estimated. I would say after even only a 3-6 months (as a complete beginner) you will feel more confident in yourself. After about a year you should feel pretty good about yourself. Sure you may still want to chase further gains but I feel like if you don’t feel confident in your body at that point you may have body dysmorphia. I think most dudes don’t want to be fully shredded like a bodybuilder - they just want to be a bit more filled-in and that actually doesn’t take very long with the right diet and strength training.

[peertimm]

Thanx a lot for explicitly and repeatedly pointing out the factor of time. As a 30year old who tried his first fitness stuff before 18 without getting anywhere until 2 years ago, this feels like a great relieve: Knowing that sticking to something proven and actionable over time WILL eventually work. Not giving up and changing up every few months like I did for most of my life. That is a deal I can get behind.

[ratatataraxia]

Thanks for this, I’m doing ok right now but I’ve been demotivated in the past and this will really help if it happens again. ❤

[ronecf]

Great video once again man, just found your channel a few weeks ago and ive recommended it to all my gym friends and they love it. Very professional and useful information and almost always trying to add all types of variables. Appreciate this man ive gotten so much knowledge from this youtube channel alone. PLEASE, please keep up the good work😂 much love

[paulmorgangaming]

I love your content bro, as a new PT in the industry your videos have really helped boost my knowledge. Thank you 🙌

[aroundandround]

Over a one-year timeframe, I found pictures not very useful because my weight training caused proportional growth everywhere, but the best indicators were more than doubling of my compound lift weights, improved mirror self-perception, clothes fitting better (or not fitting), and other people I hadn’t seen in a while unprovokedly asking if I’d been lifting; on the other hand, taking DXAs a year apart was useless as it said all of my ~20lb weight gain was fat and that I’d lost a few ounces of muscle!

[thedarknight]

This is the video i’ve needed to find. Cheers bro.

[yanib]

Your video was excellently explained and presented, and you've gained a new subscriber!

[Beefis]

OMG - this makes me so relieved! Thank you! Subbed for life :)

I started by weightloss journey this year with a GYM Personal trainer, with Keto, IF, meal tracking and cardio. My first dexa scan was:

1) Feb 7th 2022 - Before
120.2 kg with 34.6% Body fat = 41.57 kgs of fat

2) July 29th 2022 - 2nd Dexa milestone (appx 24 weeks)
107.4 kg at 33.3% body fat = 35.76 kgs of fat

Key result was
12.82 kgs lost = 5.825 kgs of fat + 6.997 kgs of lean body mass

I was disheartened because I personally don't feel like I've lost muscle; instead I feel strong since I can finally squat/bench/lat pull down/deadlift 50 kgs now.

My assumption was that 70% of that 6.997 kgs of lean body mass, must have been water loss, due to keto (and less than <25 g of carbs per day).

After watching this video, I am overjoyed because at most I might have lost 0.5-1 kg muscle maybe - we'll have to wait and find out.
Next scan is 28th Dec - 21 weeks in between!

[danieldpa]

Consistency and patience - aka Discipline - that´s the hardest part!

[misdrevenous]

I am glad to stumble upon your videos. Well made and very informative

[DwijeshRocker]

Goldmine content... Keep up the good work...

[reaperpadhai]

❤️🙏राधे राधे बहुत ही बढ़िया राधे राधे❤️🙏

[brendeniselin]

I'm 40, and just started going to gym fairly regularly. I have been going for 4 weeks and combined with diet I have noticed fat loss and muscle growth already.

[kills]

I like to measure muscle circumference with a measuring tape on the biceps and the calves (thickest part).
This is by no means perfect but I thought it can detect changes in the short term quite well especially in the first few years of training. Additionally, it is somewhat robust to body fat changes since even during a bulk (unless you dirty-bulk) most men are unlikely to gain much fat on the arms and calves.
Unfortunately, this doesn't work well with other muscles like the chest, upper legs, back etc. since it is so hard to get the measurements right. For biceps and calves this is easier since you can look for the thickest part.