Most people underestimate how much time it actually takes to build dense muscle. When you see fitness influencers go from zero to hero overnight, understand that steroids, cosmetic surgery, or both are almost always part of the story.
A Realistic Timeframe To Build Muscle
Based on your starting point, your genetics, and how consistent you are, it will take about 1-5 years of the correct and consistent training, nutrition, and recovery to develop your base physique. Your base physique is simply the body you discover after dedicating time to the iron. Your strong and weak points will be revealed.
This is where genetics comes in. The genetic tools that you naturally have will play a big part in how fast you see results. But regardless of what your genetics are, you have 100 percent control over how close you can get to your ceiling.
It may take you longer, but taking the scenic route with no tolls will still get you to your destination.
18 Month Transformation
In 2013, I trained Ishmael (in the above picture) who started his true fitness journey at age 39.
Ishmael started his process as a skinny fat guy who was completely out of shape. After he got past the beginner stage, he became one of my training partners. In 18 months, he went from a skinny fat guy to a lean, muscular guy who placed 2nd in his class (Masters, ages 40-44) at the 2015 NGA Mr. Natural Philadelphia.
With all this being said, you will not bat 1000 at the plate. There will be days when you miss meals, have stale workouts, and only get 5 hours of sleep.
But you have to continue to consistently train hard, eat correctly, and get the proper recovery. If you’ve been lifting for five years and don’t look like you lift or have respectable numbers, something is wrong. At that point, continuing without change isn’t commitment. It’s negligence. Repeating the same approach is a fast track to fitness oblivion.
Building Mental Muscle
Building physical muscle is great, but building mental muscle is what truly separates the contenders from the pretenders.
There are a lot of lifters in the iron game who have the look but lack mental toughness. I’ve watched soft lifters, who have a decent look, fold the moment training gets uncomfortable, especially on leg day.
When you have an accountable training program, you will be forced to consistently dig deep to complete your workouts. Embrace the challenge of hard workouts because routinely completing them will improve your mental toughness.
The Last Rep
There are no overnight success stories with physique building or mindset development. Success requires time, effort, and standards. Embrace the process or stay average.
If you are ready to say goodbye to average, my 21-Day Fit program is the ideal starting point for you.
I’ll holla at you next time.
The People’s Trainer & Barber
Fitman x Fademan
