working out, how long til I see results?

Question

Started working out a month ago, I can't see any changes! I work out at least 3 times a week. I do about 20 min of cardio and 20-25 min of weight lifting, Why am I not seeing any results?

Answer 1

You are doing a bare minimum. You wouldn't see much change with that amount of working out. For weight lifting you probably need to do at least 45 minutes to an hour 4 times a week, and with the cardio I would think at least the same. You may not be working out at the right intensity level. Are you increasing the amount of the weights?

Answer 2

Alter which muscle groups you work on. Run/walk a few times a week. What you eat can be a big cause of not seeing results. Reduce sugars/sodas/sweets. Drink more water. If you are fairly skinny in the first place you may not see a difference for some time. You will however notice exercise becoming easier. Soon after your muscles will tone and feel harder. Since its a slow process you might not even notice how much you have changed. Someone who doesn't see you too often will though. Give it two months. Near the two month mark there should start to be some changes.

Answer 3

It really depends on what you mean by "results." Do you mean that you are doing and lifting exactly the same as you were a month ago? We see "results" when we look for them, which means that, sometimes, we get results we don't recognize because we know what results we want, so we don't see the results we are getting.

Working out is a balancing act. You want to work at it hard enough to do yourself good, but not so hard that you injure yourself. If you want "results" like weight loss, you're in the ballpark of the right kind of workout, as long as you don't do what the experts call "compensatory overfeeding," that is, feeling hungry enough to eat more than you were eating when you started your working out.

If you want to build muscle, increasing the intensity of the workouts (heavier weights, faster running intervals) is the way to do that. If you want to build definition without the muscle mass (and judging from the pictures I saw from the latest women's bodybuilding competition, women can build mass--though I wonder how many steroids it took for them to do that), then doing more repetitions with lower weights is the way to do that.

Where did you start? That is, how long had it been since your last workout regimen? How much did you weigh a month ago? How old are you? How much do you eat? What do you eat? These are all factors that make a difference in how long it will take to see results.

In fact, you might be seeing results already and just not recognizing them. Depending on what you do and how, workouts build mostly stamina or strength first, with the other showing up a bit later. If you're doing as you day, I'd bet that you're building more stamina at present with a little strength building happening at the same time. But might you not be doing quite enough now?

It takes time to build yourself up, especially if you've been away from it for a time. I'm a runner, and even as fit as I am, if I sustain an injury--I have, from time to time, like shin splints or tendonitis in the knee or the iliotibial band, a really big tendon on the outside of the thigh--and am off for more than two weeks, it takes twice as long for me to get back into the shape I was as teh time I spent resting. So if I rest for four weeks it takes me eight to get back to where I was. And that's if I'm already fit.

Where are you in your fitness? If it's been a while, it'll take a while.

Be patient with yourself and don't get discouraged. You might have higher expectations for yourself than you should. That's easy to do. I did it when I started running. I wanted to be a half-marathoner in a couple of months, but it wasn't going to happen. I had a lot of work to do before then. Keep at it, and along the way, increase teh intensity of yoru workouts just a little each week. No more than 10% more this week than last in either weight OR repetitions, in distance OR speed. Do not, under any circumstances (well, unless you're being pursued by a really big dog) try to increase both at the same time. Take one week and increase, say, the weights you use or the speed you run. The next week, stay on those weights and that speed and do a few more reps and a little more distance.

And if it takes you a little longer than a week to increase one or the other, then, fine. Do it at that pace. Listen to your body and don't do anything it doesn't like. Don't "work through the pain," because pain tells us that something's wrong. Stop and do something else. But do whatever you need to, and increase what you do slowly and gently. You're in this for the health of it, not the bragging rights, which no one will ilsten to, anyway.

In short, keep at it, don't let it get you down. It's just a little more complicated than the sellers of books and substances that promise instant, easy success would like us to think it is. But you're doing teh right thing. Kepp it up, think about it, and watch what happens.

Good luck.

Answer 4

How are you eating? Have your eating habits and content changed? If you were previously eating a lot of carbohydrates, chances are that you just breaking even as far as how many calories you burning when you are exercising.

The simple truth is that you have to burn more calories than you are taking in. This is the basic principle behind shedding body mass.

Also, take into consideration that you are building muscle, so in the beginning, you might actually gain some body mass before your muscles work efficiently enough to burn body fat.

Just some insight from personal experience.

P.S. Try to notice if you can get around easier, or you are not as tired all the time or you seem lift heavier weights before you started working out. That would be some results right there.

http://www.handlethetruth.net

Answer 5

It depends on what your looking for...if you need to burn more fat so you can see the muscles you've been building then do more cardio..jumping rope is the best...i don't care what anyone says..if your knees can handle it!! Ten minutes of continuous jumping rope, no double jumps, is the equvalent of about 20 minutes of jogging..and you will get some nice calf muscles!!
If you want more defined muscles do more (by more I mean more than what your doing now) reps of lighter weight.
If you need a little more bulk in your muscles then you need to up the wieght to something that you can only lift about six times and then move down in wieght for the rest of your sets/reps & follow your work-out with a glass of chocolate milk or some other protien.

Answer 6

I would increase your workout to 5x a week. With 30 min of cardio and 30 min of lifting at the minimum. You should also change your diet plan and eat healthier foods and you will lose weight quicker and get toned quicker. Good Luck!

Answer 7

Well I was told you have to do 5 times a week in order to see results so increase twice more a week. Then see if there is a difference with in another month. 3 times a week is good for maintaining what you got now. (30 minutes is right that is the minimum)

Answer 8

It usually takes longer than that; results could be minimal and you might not notice it. If you want to decrease the time to see significant results, try to start a well balanced healthy diet. The easiest thing to do is get a membership at a gym where they have trainers that can help you reach your goal and maybe advise you about nutrition too. Keep working hard and you'll see the results.

Answer 9

You'll probably see or feel short term results soon. You will have more energy, maybe be slightly thinner, and probaly feel yourself getting stronger. If you keep it up for a long time, many months straight, maybe even years, you'll see the long term rewards for your hard work. You should feel much stronger and more energetic, and have converted any fat you had at one time into muscles. One thing you didn't mention is your dietary habits, because while all this excersise will certainly allow you more flexability, you still can't pig out and expect to see you drop weight imediately.

Answer 10

When I was doing tae bo I started noticing results with in a week of starting and lost 20lbs with in 30 days,