We often get asked by new members or beginners, how much or how long do they have to train to see visible results? In today’s short blog we aim to dissect this issue.
For some when starting out with weight training their results don’t come immediately, this could cause a significant loss of motivation, in worst cases dropping out of exercising all together. Truthfully, this isn’t a great approach at all, once our body gets stimulated by external loads, which can create enough stimulus, changes start happening. These benefits include becoming stronger, increased muscle growth and fat loss.
In the first phase (2-4 weeks) what starts happening is that we start to build strength, balance and coordination. This will lead to a neurological response or ‘neural adaptation’. These things happen well before any real changes in our body can occur, or simply the increase in muscle mass (Hypertrophy).
As a beginner the most important thing is to develop solid movement patterns and correct muscle recruitment sequencing with various exercises. As coaches, it is our role to consider the clients’ training age and plan around these in accordance to the specific goals. An experienced coach will be able to develop a program around these factors for the client to achieve success.
The results of a solid well defined movement pattern coupled with exercise selection and progressive overload will lead to muscular hypertrophy. This will take effect around 6-8 weeks of consistent training, which might turn off beginners who spend a solid 3-4 weeks at the gym then drop out due to not seeing any significant changes.
Programming for the hypertrophy phase will need to create enough stress to the body through time under tension, this means that adequate rest is needed to ensure maximal recovery and adaptation. Overtraining could occur if you train too hard and similarly detraining could happen if you don’t train as hard. Therefore, for any serious gym-goers, programming is key to ensure long-term success the coach must understand the basic principles of intensity, volume and frequency.
If you have any questions on training, programming or want to do a personal fitness assessment with us, feel free to contact Iron Hive anytime and we’ll be on hand to give you the best advice we can.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sirapob Puangin is a decorated Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS). He also holds qualifications from the IWF NSCA and NASM and is currently a graduate student of Sports Science at Chulalongkorn University. He serves as the weightlifting and head coach at Iron Hive Gym. And has competed in numerous Weightlifting and Powerlifting competitions.