You might be considering starting a weight training program but want to know how long does it take to build muscle? There is no simple answer to this question because it depends 100% on you. What are your goals? Be realistic when setting your muscle building goals. Don’t expect to start a program today and be big and sculpted in a week or two, it just doesn’t work that way.
The way your muscle builds with weight training is that you shock your muscles by pushing them beyond their limits. Or, at least, you are pushing them beyond the norm, causing them to stress. When the muscles are shocked in this manner, they will respond by growing in mass and strength to accommodate the extra stress put on them. As soon as the muscles realize that they need to bulk up to handle the stress that you are putting on them, they will do so. So how long does it take to build muscle? In all actuality, about an hour.
The muscle starts building when the workout is over. So be sure to allow your body some rest time for the building process to take place. Plenty of sleep at night is required for building muscle. How long does it take to build muscle does not necessarily depend on how many times a day you shock them. Please do not over-obsess about body building, this is a mistake that many beginning body builders make and they tend to burn out after just a few months. It is a lifestyle, not an obsession. You should only be weight training three or four times a week. Any good body builder will tell you that the interim rest period is when the muscle is actually building. Some light aerobic exercise can be done on the off days.
In order to build muscle faster, you should consistently increase your weights and reps or sets in order to continue to shock the muscle. Increases should happen no less than every two weeks. If the muscles get accustomed to the weight that you are using, they will cease to build. At that point you are maintaining and not building.
How long does it take to build muscle? As stated, muscle building starts right away and you will feel almost immediate results, in that you will feel your muscles burn and tighten during your first workout. This means that the muscles are stressed and will build. So the answer is that it takes about an hour after your first workout to build muscle.
What you probably are asking is how long does it take to build muscle and other people see the results? That, my friend, is going to take about four to six weeks of hard training.