“Coach, I’ve been coming for 4 straight weeks and can’t see any physical change in my body. What gives?”
Ah, the hard and fast truth: biology isn’t on the same timeline as your work schedule.
Here’s the deal. Best case scenario, if you’re nailing your nutrition and your training is on point, it takes about 8 weeks (56 days) to gain 1lb of muscle. So yeah, that swole you’re dreaming of won’t happen on a two-week paycheck cycle.
Now, think about how you get paid—bi-monthly or monthly, right? Well, biology doesn’t care about your paycheck. It’s not a 9-to-5 job where you punch in and out. If you’re not eating properly or pushing hard enough, the “muscle” you’re seeing in the mirror? Never happening. Could be 8 to 12 weeks before you see anything, but in some cases, it might never come if your diet is off or your intensity is low.
So what are you really feeling during those “strength” gains, if you aren’t adding muscle?
Neurological improvements. Basically, your body is just learning how to create more mechanical tension and apply force to your muscles more efficiently. The more your brain gets used to creating that tension, the more fibers you’re able to activate. The end result? Stronger tissue, better resilience, more muscle tears to repair into stronger muscle.
Coach’s big takeaway: Focus on the quality of your tension (aka the “squeeze”), not just the quantity of reps. That’s how you build real strength—one quality rep at a time.
