How to tell if you’re building muscle?

takemetosingapore19

Hey! So I’m young and new at this.. I have been lifting for 2 months and cutting calories at the same time. I noticed a few days ago that my arms are looking more muscular. They have indents in the bicep area and my shoulders have dips. I have been lifting more and more weight and doing exercises easier. Is there an accurate way to measure how much muscle I’ve gained? Because I’m very curious! Does anyone know if body fat scales are accurate? Thanks!

SCoil123

Body scales are very inaccurate. Paying for a dexa scan is your best bet. In the meanwhile you should be taking measurements. It’s a great way to measure progress at home when the focus is body recomposition

canadianlbs

on actual mass changes: i've never done any body-comp assessments. a guy in my weekly 'club' does do dexa scans periodically, for what that's worth. but i've heard different things about their accuracy.

as far as growth, ime it just kind of creeps up on you. often while you're staring at some other body part or expecting the mass to show up in a different place/way. i'm a woman who was 49(ish?) when she started lifting so ymmv dramatically, of course. for me the first thing i noticed wasn't the muscle belly areas, but more like my connective tissue around my joints filling in. so the little close-focus things you're suddenly seeing is very similar to how i started to notice it too.

jessef593

Currently If you're cutting calories and seeing increased muscularity it's likely due to the fat loss.

It seems to be a very common misconception. People believe that since they can see more muscle when reducing fat, it means they've built significant muscle. Not sure how that is common belief but it is. It's the fat on top that hides our muscle definition so if we reduce that, Definition is likely to follow.


Now I'm not saying you haven't build a slight amount of muscle especially if you're new to lifting. Just stating the most likely scenario.

For muscle increases. I go by.

Measurements And body fat calculations. Generally using a navy method.

If you have a similar bf% as last year but are 10lbs heavier then it's you've gained some muscle along with a little fat.

Then for measurements you will want to keep your body fat consistent or even decrease it for the measurements in order to produce the most accurate results.

All to often do you see people add 30lbs and spike their bf% followed by saying they've added 1-2" to their arms. Yes some will be muscle. But fat also causes your measurements to increase significantly, especially since fat takes up much more space compared to muscle.

I hope that helps/makes sense. Only on my first cup of coffee.

stanmann571

1. Track 1RM
2. Track measurements. Upper/lower arm, Calf, Thigh, chest.
3. DEXA or Bod-POD

SonyaCele

scale, tape measure, bf measurements, mirror, clothes fitting differently, etc.

However, being as you are female, and in a deficit, you aren't going to be seeing much gains in terms of muscle mass. The indents you are seeing are probably from a drop in body fat, rather than muscle mass gains. In order to put on muscle, you need to be the right diet and exercise plan, and even then we gain very slowly because we just don't have the muscle building hormones like guys do.

cwolfman13

takemetosingapore19 wrote: »

Hey! So I’m young and new at this.. I have been lifting for 2 months and cutting calories at the same time. I noticed a few days ago that my arms are looking more muscular. They have indents in the bicep area and my shoulders have dips. I have been lifting more and more weight and doing exercises easier. Is there an accurate way to measure how much muscle I’ve gained? Because I’m very curious! Does anyone know if body fat scales are accurate? Thanks!

What you're likely seeing is fat loss which will reveal more definition of what's underneath along with "pump"...your muscles filled with water.

While you can experience some noob gains, you don't really build much in the way of muscle mass when you're cutting calories as you are in a catabolic state and building mass is anabolic. You will maintain the mass you have and as you lose weight (fat) you will look more defined because that lean mass is being uncovered.

fb47

takemetosingapore19 wrote: »

Hey! So I’m young and new at this.. I have been lifting for 2 months and cutting calories at the same time. I noticed a few days ago that my arms are looking more muscular. They have indents in the bicep area and my shoulders have dips. I have been lifting more and more weight and doing exercises easier. Is there an accurate way to measure how much muscle I’ve gained? Because I’m very curious! Does anyone know if body fat scales are accurate? Thanks!

Without any machine, the only way I see it visually is when I do bulk and cuts, every end of cutting phases is always different from the last visually and always for the better. Best way is to take a picture of your physique once a month, that's what I do. When it comes to numbers, well you have the Dexa scan like people have mentionned here.