Hey everybody, I’m planning on getting back into the gym after a 2 year hiatus. I’m 6’5” and 270 pounds, used to be a D1 athlete where I was around 220, was mildly yolked but never was insanely ripped. I am unsure if I want to cut down or maintain weight and focus on building muscle, but my main question is: how long until I would notice some results? My muscles have mostly atrophied at this point and im probably around 35% body fat now. What are your recommendations in terms of cutting or maintaining and how long will it take to notice some muscle build up? Thank you so much!
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You’ll notice real change after about 2 weeks just because the weights will feel lighter. You’ll notice real physical differences after 6 weeks if you really commit and you’ll likely be an entirely new person at 6 months assuming you stick to dieting and heavy lifting
3-4 weeks to notice results as a general rule. Trust the process and disrespect gravity.
When you say “maintaining”, are you trying to maintain your current body composition?
I would cut for atleast 3 months. Do cardio and pick a lifting routine which you enjoy. Muscle memory is definitely a thing, you will notice results soon enough if you are dedicated.
If u know ur limits without injury and go beast mode pretty quick a week or two. Hard part is finding that limit so u got to slowly build up to it than it moves with gains.
Look for results in your lifts going up. Everything else will follow.
Before you start working out you should really write down why you are doing it and what your goals are. Lose weight? Build muscle? Maintain mass but rebuild muscle? These are different diets and different workouts.
If you want to lose weight and build muscle, then first realize that weight loss is 90% diet. Intermittent fasting and keto work for me. I also do high intensity interval training every other day, with long walks on my off days.
I’ve been going 4x a week for the last year. The scale has gone up, but so has my pants size. The only difference I notice is the little number next to my workout log has gone up a bit, and my knees and back hurt a bit more than they used to.
For me I didn’t notice a difference until 4-5 weeks when I actually fell energized each day. Like I can go to the gym and still continue my day with high energy no problem. Noticeable physical changes didn’t start till 6-7 weeks.
First off, be kind to yourself and give your body some time to adjust to the training and nutrition. Slow but steady wins the race. Changing your physique is a process that takes some time, it’s not something you achieve within a month (unless you are a Hollywood actor on steroids). Whatever routine you choose to follow, always know this: high-frequency / volume training works better than any “bro-split” out there and yields more gains – no matter what body part you want to grow (i.e. chest, delts, back, legs, arms, traps, abs, etc). High-frequency training upregulates your BMR (basal metabolic rate), which allows your body to burn more calories while at rest. Your body becomes a ‘furnace’ when following high-frequency training. Ideally, apply an Old-School methodology to your routine, such as Full-Body or Upper / Lower. That’s what Old-School bodybuilders in the ’60s and ’70s used to do and had some of the most beautiful, balanced, aesthetically-pleasing physiques to ever walk the planet. Have you heard of Vince Gironda? Steve Reeves? Google their names to see what Old-School physiques look like. One of the best things you can do as a lifter interested in aesthetics and performance is to study Old-School bodybuilding. Old-School bodybuilders were ingenious physique architects. They had a profound knowledge of the principles of proper nutrition, smart supplementation, exercise science and muscle adaptability. If you combine Old-School bodybuilding wisdom with modern, evidence-based science, it’s the best, safest, most effective way in achieving a strong, sexy, healthy and aesthetic physique. *Vintage Physique* by George Kelly is a nice read on the topic.
Diet, diet, diet! No amount of lifting will change your body composition unless you have a diet to match.
Take a picture every month cuz it’s hard to notice when you see yourself everyday.
4 weeks for someone to notice, 6 for you. Is the average.
I had a DVT and just got back into lifting yesterday. Just focus on clean, portioned eating, and push yourself but not Too much from the beginning. I’d give it like 5 days and depending on how much youre doing youll notice.
Going to be a bit easier for you because your muscles aren’t being developed for the first time.
Honestly for me it wasn’t really a notice thing until I was pretty far into it. Once I was down 20+ lbs and converting into muscle someone commented on it and it was when I noticed. It’s small incremental changes overtime and since you see yourself everyday you’re unlikely to notice it for a while
Wish I woulda taken a before pic when I started my journey 2 years ago. I’d highly suggest taking one a month to get that visual confirmation of progress
You’re a former D1 athlete but don’t know anything about training? I find that counterintuitive
Muscle memory is a thing! Because you have previous experience lifting weights it’s not a new concept to your muscles. This means you’ll be able to get back to where you left off a lot sooner that you think.
4-8 weeks. Take it easy, build up slow, give your body time to adapt and get stronger. Don’t overdo it.
food changes you quicker than any activity ever will if u ask me, cut out dairy in your daily foods and cook everything you can. it’ll get your skin looking nice asf over the muscles once you’re getting close to your goal too so double win🤷♀️
Brother, i think is around 2 to 3 months you begin to see changes, but you have to go nearly every day and eat properly, or it will take longer than that.
I was in the same boat having 2 years out of the gym. I started back at 80% what I could previously have done and after about 6 months I’m almost back to the weights I was lifting at my best.
6 months to a year would be a good time frame. Maybe check in once every other month.
As long as you keep doing the workouts you’re doing, they’ll get easier each time you do them. Eventually, they’ll feel like nothing, and you’ll step up the weight
As a guy who had a very similar build, I would maybe think about just trying to cut down first. I was around that same weight post-COVID, and tried to both lose weight and put on muscle at the same time and trying to do both just kind of led me to making very little progress. Obviously the most important thing to do is eat right and excessive, so do what you’ll enjoy, but doing one then the other has worked much better for me.
I was 275 a bit before Christmas this past year, cut down to 210 about 2 months before Thanksgiving of this year spending 90% of my time at the gym doing cardio. I lost a little bit of muscle but only 3.5-4 pounds worth, and since have put on about 6 pounds, and I like to think most of that muscle back.
Want quick results? Low weight high reps, you’ll notice results after one good session. Want strength training? It’ll take a few weeks but the weight will go up. Want to lose weight? What you eat will be a way larger factor than how much you work out. It takes an hour walking to burn 300 calories, that’s a cosmic brownie
15 minutes tops
Took 2-3 months for me, being in your shoes previously. I was a wrestler, now committed to the gym life.
3 months of dedication
Took me six months to notice I don’t have a belly anymore
You should see improvements in strength with a couple of weeks. If you watch your diet you should notice the weight coming off around week six. Here’s the cool thing, you will likely get 3-12 months of newbie gains and in this window you can gain muscle and lose weight, don’t squander it.
You’re 6’5, so it takes a bit longer to notice your result, shorter people get faster result but if you’ve had some muscles before they will grow back faster due to muscle memory, give or take 3 month of dedicated practice, and for body fat control intermittent faster has been a good go to for me, I eat 2 a day, no snacking no sweet foods and most importantly no food for 19h and am ripped as F, and am the ripest person i personally know or seen (7% average) but snacking and sweet are allowed but i just don’t like them.
In overall discipline, within 3 months you will see noticeable changes – remember to watch closely also your protein intakes as they might elevate your result and maybe even boost recovery.
I was never super athletic but was 190lb and pretty muscular 6ft when I got married. Now 7 years later I hit 250 and haven’t hit the gym consistently for years. From March-jun 2020 when covid hit I hit my home gym every day and got in shape but then that ended in jun 2020. 3 weeks ago I got a gym membership and was doing great, 5 days a week for 3 weeks and was feeling better when last week I tried a 135 lb deadlift and strained my back so bad I could barely stand or move 2 days later. I’m still trying to recover but once my back is good I’ll hit it again