Building muscle indicators

moondust7

I have a question for those of you that are working to build muscle. What are some of the indicators that you notice when you are starting to build up muscle (other than the obvious increased muscle size) - for example, muscle soreness after working out (that kindof feels good!), an increase in strength (such as being able to sit up in bed easier or lift things easier), etc.? I'm just trying to figure out how to gauge how well the exercises I am doing are working to build/increase muscle. Thanks!!

angryguy77

The weight you lift during your workout should give you a good idea of how much you are gaining. If you are going weeks w/o adding weight or increasing reps, you are either in a plateau. using bad form, or your diet is not giving your muscles enough nutrition.

jeffpettis

Aside from the obvious bigger muscles, if you are pushing every set to failure, everytime you workout, you will begin to see that the weight you are lifting after a couple of weeks gets easier to lift (which is a sign of strength gains). You will actually be less sore after working out because your muscles will get accustomed to lifting heavy weight. Overall you should be able to tell a marked difference after about a month of steady strength training. The biggest thing to remember is your muscles need lots of rest with strength training, rest is probably more important for gaining muscle mass than the actual workout itself. The reason for this is the muscles grow as they are healing, not as your working them. Hope this helps a little.

erickirb

For starters you can get stronger and feel sore and not have an increase in muscle. It is actually very difficult to gain any amount of muscle if you are in a caloric deficit. What you are probably seeing and should expect to see is an increase in strength and your muscles becoming "harder", neither of these have to come along with an increase in muscle mass.

So since you are trying to lose weight, the chance you will gain any muscle is slim to none. What strength training does for you while in a caloric deficit is help retain the muscle you do have (most people lose muscle as they lose weight)

moondust7

Thanks - this is great information and very helpful. I would not have thought of any of that. The strength training I am doing right now mainly consists of calesthenics, rather than lifting weights, but it sounds like Ia weight training program would be very beneficial as well. I will keep nutrition, rest, and increased reps etc. in mind as I keep going.