Why Growing More Muscle Takes Time

A common complaint of newbies in the gym is that they are not getting bigger right away. After about 3-4 weeks of hitting the gym, when they don’t see visible growth, you might hear the oh-so-common complaint, “I’m not getting any bigger and I don’t know why.” There are a couple of possible reasons for this.

First, from a physiological standpoint, your body will maximize what you already have before it starts packing on muscle. This means that it will learn to move more efficiently and synchronize the muscle mass you already have before deciding that it’s time to add more. I’ve briefly touched on this in the article INTERmuscular and INTRAmuscular Strength/Coordination and Why That’s Important. There are 3 major mechanisms through which your body will make itself stronger:

1) Neurologic Efficiency

“Neurologic efficiency” refers to how your body learns to sequence all your primary movers to fire at the same time; this way, they all try to contribute to the same movement. In the very beginning, when you first start to train, your body will first attempt to maximize its neurologic efficiency.

2) Biomechanical Efficiency

This means learning how to move properly. Biomechanical efficiency is the next big step towards maximizing strength. Learning the correct way to lift, tweaking your technique to fit your body type, and figuring out how your body moves and functions are all critical for getting bigger and stronger. This is where a strength and conditioning/performance coach can be valuable in helping you lift in a way that will enhance your ability to properly gain muscle. 

3) Muscle Hypertrophy 

 The one that you have been waiting for. After your body has maximized its potential to get stronger using what it already has, it will finally start to put on some muscle. Now, for what you don’t want to hear: hypertrophy will generally take about 6 weeks to start happening. Yes, you read that right, 6 weeks! First the neurologic factors start to do their thing and then slowly but surely your muscles start to grow a little (figure 1).

Figure 1: Neural and strength contributions to strength over time.

However, you have to stay consistent with your training if you’d like to see these muscle hypertrophy gains last. The strength and hypertrophy may come slowly, but they are very easy to lose. Neural contributions to strength come fast and first, and muscle size contributions to strength come slow with consistency in training for longer periods of time. Stick with it, stay consistent, and your muscles will grow and get bigger slowly with time.

Ryan Goodell, CSCS

For consultation/personal training/coaching inquiries email: ryangoodell@weightsandstuff.com

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