Slooooow progress!

claireychn074

Little comparison post: firstly some caveats. I didn’t start lifting until I was 42 (although I had done a load of sport /exercise before that), I’m female and I train for sport not aesthetics - all of which means other people could make faster progress. But the point is we are all different. It’s taken me 7 years (between these pics) to build muscle, training consistently c8-10 hours every single week - illness or minor injuries not included.

It’s incredibly hard work - and defo has not been achieved with banded exercises, 2lb weights or any “weird tricks”.

Oh, and I thought I had HUGE muscles in the first (pink top) pic 🤣🤣

AnnPT77

Kudos, @claireychn074 - nice work. You look great: I'm especially attentive to lats, and it looks like you've made some gains there among other spots.

Can you comment on your strength progress over that same time span, without investing too much effort in looking back? I think that would be interesting.

I feel like popular culture encourages people to think appearance, muscle mass, and strength march ahead in lockstep more than they may in reality, even though they are of course correlated to some extent. Patient persistence like yours is rewarded in all those realms, for sure!

claireychn074

@AnnPT77 its an interesting question. Taking the very long view, I got two PBs on my lifts in a competition in October and I’m now ranked in the UK masters’ weightlifters, so yes the strength is increasing. My sport trains for explosiveness and my speed under the bar has definitely improved. The short term view is similar to weight loss - the progress goes up and down, so patience and trusting in the process is key.

I had untreated anaemia for 3 years which significantly impacted my ability to improve. I had a bad ankle sprain just as I peaked in strength, and I was on crutches for over three months. It then took 6 months just to get some of the strength back again. So the strength gains are definitely not linear.

There’s also a significant psychological impact on changing shape as a Gen X woman. We’ve been taught to take up as little space as possible our whole lives, yet here I am getting bigger. And yes - my lats are now the widest part of my physique! No clothes fit, and I do sometimes have to remind myself it’s okay to be different.

The other aspect which is rarely talked about by influencers is “use it or lose it”. Once you’ve developed muscles you have to continue working hard to keep them. They won’t magically stay without the food, training and recovery.

nossmf

Looking good!

A guy I know used to be firmly convinced that gaining muscle was a doomed proposition, because everybody knows the muscle magically transforms into fat the moment you stop exercising. Lost count of the number of conversations I had with him trying to teach him the truth, that muscle biologically CANNOT become fat, that the problem is when a former athlete stops exercising (body reduces unneeded muscle) yet continues to eat the same (body changes the unused calories into fat).

xbowhunter

Great progress!

AnnPT77

claireychn074 wrote: »

@AnnPT77 its an interesting question. Taking the very long view, I got two PBs on my lifts in a competition in October and I’m now ranked in the UK masters’ weightlifters, so yes the strength is increasing. My sport trains for explosiveness and my speed under the bar has definitely improved. The short term view is similar to weight loss - the progress goes up and down, so patience and trusting in the process is key.

I had untreated anaemia for 3 years which significantly impacted my ability to improve. I had a bad ankle sprain just as I peaked in strength, and I was on crutches for over three months. It then took 6 months just to get some of the strength back again. So the strength gains are definitely not linear.

There’s also a significant psychological impact on changing shape as a Gen X woman. We’ve been taught to take up as little space as possible our whole lives, yet here I am getting bigger. And yes - my lats are now the widest part of my physique! No clothes fit, and I do sometimes have to remind myself it’s okay to be different.

The other aspect which is rarely talked about by influencers is “use it or lose it”. Once you’ve developed muscles you have to continue working hard to keep them. They won’t magically stay without the food, training and recovery.

It sounds to me like you're doing beautifully, and looking likewise, @claireychn074. Congratulations! Your strength improvement is excellent.

It takes character to persevere through those health/physical challenges, too, I know.

I hear what you're saying about "taking up space", but I think that's not necessarily new with gen X . . . maybe not even totally absent for those born later, not sure.

I was born in 1955, when in some ways most women couldn't take up even metaphorical space, let alone physical space. (Few women got advanced degrees; few/no women doctors and lawyers and such; few women newscasters/reporters except maybe on the fashion/food beat; etc.) One of my friends, who worked as a hair stylist, started weight training in her 30s (1970s), and says she didn't tell her clients because some would've dropped her. I met a woman who was on the US Olympic team in the 1980s. She described lifting with one of her female rowing buddies at the university gym back then, and having young men gather around them to taunt and even spit.)

I agree that things are not where they need to be yet, and I empathize. But things have improved over my lifetime. It's just too bleepin' slow.

I also empathize about the clothes-fit issue. That pull across the shoulders, and the cutting-in from the underarm seam, is a real thing. (Rowing really a lot for years tends to develop lats - part of why I admire nice lats on others, like you . I also resent that many jackets - for some reason especially workout jackets, weirdly enough - tend to have sleeves so narrow that they're hard to even wear over a long-sleeved close-fitting t-shirt. I feel sausage-like, and I'm not all that muscular.

Keep up the great progress, you're a wonderful example!

springlering62

Ooooooh! How did I miss this thread?! 😍

claireychn074

springlering62 wrote: »

Ooooooh! How did I miss this thread?! 😍

It was the start of some of the lat comments in other posts! 🤣