NO MATTER WHERE you are on your fitness journey, it can be tough to stay patient. Yes, you might wish you could fast-track your goals so you can cross that finish line (literally or figuratively) ASAP. The sense of accomplishment that comes with tangible progress and reaching new PRs is often what motivates you to keep going. But as a wise man once said, there’s no magic pill for immediate gratification. And, after all, if it were that easy, it wouldn’t be called “work,” right?
Don’t be discouraged if you feel like you haven’t noticed the results you were after immediately. There are lots of changes happening behind the scenes that are worth celebrating.
Just know, exactly how long it takes to see results from your workout routine will vary from person to person. “There are numerous factors that contribute to these timelines,” says Kurt Ellis, C.S.C.S., owner and coach at Beyond Numbers Performance. “Factors such as genetics, age, gender, type of training program, and lifestyle indicators can impact how soon someone will see changes.”
Here, Ellis digs into a few of these key elements, shares some of the results you can expect to see and when, and offers other perspectives on what it means to “see results” so you can celebrate your wins through every stage of your journey
How Long Does It Take to See Results From Working Out
You might assume that seasoned gym-goers would see results sooner because they aren’t new to this game, but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Ellis. “Beginners will usually experience results sooner than more advanced athletes because both their baseline level of fitness and training age [how long you’ve been working out] is lower,” he says.
Think of it this way: If you’re a beginner staring at a ladder from the floor, there are more rungs to climb, and therefore more levels to reach—and with each rung, you’re making progress. Whereas more advanced athletes may have already hit some of the lower rungs and milestones and have less distance to travel to the top.
There’s also the matter of neurological adaptations, a.k.a. “newbie gains.” When beginners start strength training, neural adaptations will lead to rapid progress in strength (and to a lesser degree, muscle growth). That early progress is exciting, but it only lasts so long (and probably won’t take you up to the point of accomplishing your larger training goals, anyway). Once you go beyond that initial progress and maybe even hit a plateau, it’s important to remember that you’ll still see results—just more slowly than you did at the start
One often-cited study from 2009 shows that it takes a minimum of 18 days for someone to form a habit once a decision to change a behavior is made, and that goes for athletes of all kinds, explains Ellis. So you might consider that timeframe your first benchmark toward progress—and that should be celebrated. Deciding to work toward something, make changes, and commit to them is no easy feat.
From there, “typically you can see tangible changes—whether it be body composition, change in resting heart rate, etc.—within two to six weeks,” says Ellis. That breaks down to roughly two to four weeks for beginners and four to six weeks (or more) for more seasoned athletes, he adds.
