how long to notice??

[jimc]

i was told that it takes around 30 days to notice any muscle gain. so if today i work my arms i will see some gains in about a month??

 

[kaukasion]

im my experience it depends on your body fat
it took me months to notice gains because of fat loss
i just kept looking smaller

but i would say that you should be able to notice some gains if you stick with it for a month

 

[Cynical Simian]

so if today i work my arms i will see some gains in about a month??

Yes. Regardless of whatever else you do in the intervening month, you will gain muscle. You could even get them amputated and see some gains.

A serious answer: it's just one workout, and there are way too many other variables (bodyfat, calories, etc.) for a question like this to be at all reasonable. Just worry about sticking with a decent program, and you'll get stronger and (with a caloric surplus) gain muscle.

 

[anotherbutters]

I'm sure you didn't mean it like this, but I imagined this scenario and fell about on the floor laughing:

Journal:
day 1: 10 sets of curls
day 2: no change
day 3: no change
...
day 28: no change
day 29: no change
day 30: yay, bicep peaks!

Seriously, like CS said, if you follow a decent enough program and eat enough, you'll make gains, but it's consistent application over a long period of time that's going to make the biggest difference.

 

[DZLS]

check my pics in the pic forum, hell, i'm seeing gains by the week...

if you are training properly there is not reason you can't see gains almost immediatly...

 

[blut wump]

I read this question the same as AB. Very funny. On rereading it I still think that's what is meant so the answer is 'no'.

If you work your arms today. They ache for a couple of days and might even seem larger to you. People might notice them for a couple of hours. After a few days the ache will subside and you'll recover to be exactly the same as if you'd never worked them. The pain and effort will have been for nothing.

You need to arrange a program of steady lifting and progression for your training. Aim to get stronger week by week and you will grow and be visibly a more powerful person. During the early weeks, you can get stronger session by session. Take a look on here for some of the many 5x5 references and start reading.

 

[carlsuen]

I'm sure you didn't mean it like this, but I imagined this scenario and fell about on the floor laughing:

Journal:
day 1: 10 sets of curls
day 2: no change
day 3: no change
...
day 28: no change
day 29: no change
day 30: yay, bicep peaks!

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

You can notice changes in musculature after a few days of training due to "the pump" and some sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. If you stop lifting, even while keeping up diet, chances are that will subside soon enough. Your best bet to getting bigger arms? Focus on getting a bigger bench, overhead press, row, and pullup weight. If you're eating enough to support hypertrophy, then adding weight to the core exercises will give you the, erm, bulk of your growth.

On top of that, throw in two sets of isolated arm work twice a week in the 12-15 rep range for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. You'll be satisfied with the results.

Man, is it just me, or as we all learn about this stuff, does it seem ridiculously simple? I mean...there's not much to this anymore. We all know what to do, it's more a matter of doing it.

 

[Introspective]

Man, is it just me, or as we all learn about this stuff, does it seem ridiculously simple? I mean...there's not much to this anymore. We all know what to do, it's more a matter of doing it.

When i first came here as a complete noob, i read over a few posts and thought you was all mad scientists. After hours and hours of reading over the space of a few months, reading things over and over it becomes alot more clear and doesnt
seem as daunting as it first did.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

Well don't throw out that original thought just yet. Who's to say I'm not a mad scientist?

 

[blut wump]

Mad? I was livid.

 

[djeclipse]

Mad? I was livid.

You're all nuts!

 

[djeclipse]

On top of that, throw in two sets of isolated arm work twice a week in the 12-15 rep range for sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. You'll be satisfied with the results.

Why 2 sets twice a week? And where does this fit into the single factor 5x5 program? Day 1 and 3 possably?

 

[vin01]

I agree with all the above posts.. but is everybody saying that if we quit lifting, while eating at a maintenece level, our muscles will shrink to the same size they were before? If that is true what happened to all the growth we experienced, or was that just temporary? How can we make the gains permanent??

 

[blut wump]

You'll lose it all in six to nine months with not so much as a hint of swoleness remaining if you stop exercising.

The muscle comes back faster when you start again than it did when you grew it initially.

 

[Anthrax Invasion]

In order to maintain muscle, you'll need to be eating at least a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight, and training regularly (though not as often as you'll need in order to gain the muscle). Training once a week 2x5 for an exercise for each body part is likely enough to maintain mass, but everyone will vary here, so you'll need to be wary if you decide to go strictly maintenance. I don't see a reason to stop trying to progress, though.

 

[anotherbutters]

I agree with all the above posts.. but is everybody saying that if we quit lifting, while eating at a maintenece level, our muscles will shrink to the same size they were before? If that is true what happened to all the growth we experienced, or was that just temporary? How can we make the gains permanent??

You can't.

If you had soft hands and you started doing lots of rough, manual work, your body would react by developing calouses to protect your hands. If you stopped the manual work, your hands would go back to being soft again, because your body no longer needs to defend itself against the extra stress on the skin.

Similarly, the only reason why you develop bigger muscles is because you impose a stress on the body by lifting weights and you feed it enough surplus to do something about it. Muscle is calorifically expensive to maintain and of no real use to the body, other than to support the stress you're imposing on it. Fat is useful in times of famine, so if you stop lifting and remove the need to keep the muscle, the extra calories you're eating to maintain it will be used to stock up your fat reserves.

 

[Illuminati]

i was told that it takes around 30 days to notice any muscle gain. so if today i work my arms i will see some gains in about a month??

to tell you the truth, you, personally, will never notice the difference. i suggest taking pictures every once in a while (once every 3 months) and compare them over the years. that is the only way that you will notice. your friends and family might see the difference, but in your eyes, you will always look the same. trust me. if you are serious about lifting, you will some day realize that what I am saying is the truth