How long until you see results?

[FreshTart]

I'm curious how long until your body starts to show results of working out.

I've been biking 22.6km 3-4x a week for about 5 weeks now and my body and my stamina are no different then when I started :lol: I'm curious how long before I start to a) go faster b) look like I'm actually working out :lol:

[Jinga]

I believe, its usually at about the 4-6 week point where you see results, but I don't know anything about biking and I usually don't stick to any plan longer than a few days. :p

[SeaSiren]

I don't know anything about biking either. I noticed results (gains) in weight lifting in two weeks.

[FreshTart]

Perhaps it's b/c of my asthma; I may always sound like I'm about to faint :lol:

So I have 1 more week before I can start complaining ;)

[CaptainSwab]

It took me about a year before I realized that my times were improving in running. As far as looking like you are working out, that could be never. :p Some of the people I run with, you would never think could pound out the miles that they do.

As for cycling, I wouldn't know since I get frustrated with it very quickly. :)

[Jes]

I started running about a year ago and was really frustrated by the lack of immediate results. They happen so gradually! Recently, I was gratified when a coworker told me that I had such nice legs and that she had to start running. I looked at my legs and I do have the runner's lean goin' on! Just be aware that you may have to look at the body results from a long term perspective, but the stamina should start coming. Push yourself to do a bit more once or twice a week, too, and you'll start noticing that the distance you once thought was so hard has become easier.

[Professor12]

I agree with jes; results are gradual but you have to push yourself to see them. As in weightlifting, you aren't going to see results if you keep lifting the same weight for the same reps week after week. Perhaps try mixing up your biking so one day you set out to do the last 8km of your ride significantly faster than normal, and another day you ride an extra 8km at your regular pace.

[FreshTart]

I spend 90 min biking 3-4x a week; there is no way I'm going to bike more :lol:

Oh well. Perhaps I'll always wheeze for the entire trip :lol:

[Michael]

Hopefully you'll get to where you enjoy it and do it for that reason alone. I've started walking a few miles a day and I don't really notice any major benefits but I look forward to going and feel like a bum if I don't. And I know it's better than sitting here on the computer.

[Elena99]

I think I was about 8 weeks into running before I noticed that I had had some really nice shape to my legs, specifically lower. Unfortunately, I messed that up and gained weight since. :-P But I'll get it again.

[FreshTart]

Hopefully you'll get to where you enjoy it and do it for that reason alone. I've started walking a few miles a day and I don't really notice any major benefits but I look forward to going and feel like a bum if I don't. And I know it's better than sitting here on the computer.

I enjoy saving the 2 bus tickets a day :bobo: :vebo: :bobo: :vebo:

I just want to stop wheezing when I'm going 30kph trying to make my left hand turn in 5 lanes of traffic :lol:

[Thalia]

I've been walking a few miles a day since spring. I noticed the uphill part got much easier pretty quickly and my spider veins started to fade. It hasn't seemed to effect my weight or muscle tone, but I do think it's improved my mood and sleep patterns.

[FreshTart]

My veins are getting worse, but that's normal. They used to be like that when I was uber duber cool and psychotically in shape :D

[Jes]

It sounds like you are riding to work and back every day? I don't know if you want to do this, but it'll get easier if you change things up. Like, if one day you ride extra hard for a short time and then another day you ride slow for a long time.

[FreshTart]

Jes - I ride in traffic (to work whenever I work), so it's whatever speed traffic is going. :lol: Also, the weather matters, too (windy days I am barely moving, but am working the crap out of my body).

I see what you're saying about hard/slow, but I can't push the entire ride hard. I find it too hard to breath. I am a wuss. It's important you know this important fact :lol:

[FreshTart]

I should say that I'm not going to stop biking, as it saves me $1.60 each way in bus fare :D

I'm just whining rofl

[zoebird]

it is vastly different for different people for a number of reasons!

1. what do you mean by 'results' specifically? i figure that you're refering to stamina as being the ease at which you do the movement changing? have other factors changed since you started that may impact your 'feeling' of stamina?

for example, it's often more taxing on the body to ride on a very humid day, or in the rain, than it is on a day that is dry with a comfortable temp. If your first few days seemed to be a 'comfortable temp' and now you're heading into a more humid july, it's likely that it's more difficult to ride (harder to get air in, etc). Because of this, it may *feel* the same as when you started (say that was your base line of a comfortable or normal day), but you've actually improved because now a 'hard day' (one with more heat and humidity) is equal to your 'regular days.' So, in this case, stamina has increased.

But, the second concept of 'results'--well, that's a whole other issue, isn't it? what sort of 'body' results are you looking for specifically? certain areas will gain muscle faster and other areas will hold onto fat longer--based mostly on body type. I know that my body responds very quickly to exercise, as does my sister's, but our bodies respond very differently. I tend to get 'cut' really quick and she tends to 'get bigger' first because the muscles grow and the fat stays, and then the fat goes more slowly. And, she always maintains a greater body fat % than me, because of her body type. She looks great, BTW. :) So, every body type looks good when it's healthy and strong, even if it's not culturally valued.

If you've found that there are some, albeit slight, changes to your body (and i'd be surprised if you didn't), then they're there. What has changed? what hasnt? of what hasn't, there may be a good old fashioned explaination as to why. . .and sometimes that why is a good reason why that is going to stay that way, and sometime's it's an explaination of that area's specific timing.

ANd then, there's just that factor that even within body types and everything else, people are unique individuals. So, the changes that you're looking for--clearly defined--may take a totally different amount of time than they would for 90 other people, you know? :)

i love saving money, yo. if i could walk or ride to work, that would be golden!

[zoebird]

hey, i never put a number 2 in there. . .hmm. weird. :)

[pseudo_vegan]

I skimmed over the first page so, forgive me Maven Krista if I repeat anything someone else said... :worried:

But I think we are often our own worsts critics...I've been lifting for several months now and running as well...I can tell a physical difference (both in weight I'm able to lift/distances I'm able to run/time I run them in) in my body, but SEEING a VISUAL difference...I notice little change...

However, I've been told a couple of times now that I've "trimmed down" and I bought some yoga type pants and my quads, while not dainty and girly-like, look nice in them...starting to get the runner's legs :D

So just keep on keepin' on. If nothing else your bank account will see results from the money you're saving :up:

:nigel: Cheers!

[FreshTart]

But I think we are often our own worsts critics...

Perhaps you are right.

[rabid_child]

I've been working out consistantly for 14 months and have seen no difference whatsoever. i'm fairly certain its a waste of my time.

[SeaSiren]

I've been working out consistantly for 14 months and have seen no difference whatsoever. i'm fairly certain its a waste of my time.
Thats terrible!

What type of workout? How Long? How many times per week? What is your calorie intake per day? Fat intake per day?

[veggiewriter]

I was in 2nd-semester weight-lifting class with a girl who'd taken one of those dunk-tank type fat % checkers at the beginning of the year. At the end of our semester together she took another one, and while she told me that she hadn't been seeing any results from her lifting (she was still wearing the same clothes, etc.) that the dunk tank tech told her that she'd lost something like 15 lbs of fat and had replaced it with 8 lbs of muscle. I never saw her after that, but I'd imagine that if she kept it up that extra muscle would have really helped her metabolism and she may have continued trimming down with each future month.

[FreshTart]

What type of workout? How Long? How many times per week? What is your calorie intake per day? Fat intake per day?

That's Master Corporal SeaSiren to you, punk.

;)

[CountessKerouac]

Biking is funky though. Last semester, I biked about 10-20 miles 3Xs a week and actually gained weight. So, go figure.

I always gain weight when I work out because it makes me eat more. Except this time, because I've really been keeping up with it. I lost only 7 or 8 lbs from two months of consistantly working out, so whatever. It takes so much time. Keep it up and you will see benefits eventually! :D