How long does it take to build muscle is not, of course, a question with a simple answer, despite what the TikToks or Reels promising to unlock the one thing you need to get big might suggest.
In fact, they tend to raise many more questions: Like, should you be fasting? Or should you be cutting out cardio, relying solely on supersets, smashing calisthenics, attending military bootcamps, doing everything on the bosu ball, using only kettlebells, taking protein immediately after your workout, nailing creatine, eating lots and lots of beef, training at a specific heart rate, squatting with your partner on your shoulders, performing every workout without your top on, or adding a resistance band to absolutely everything?
The list of suggestions goes on. There’s a gym obsession for everyone, but none of it will get you in shape the way that focusing on the (somewhat less sexy) essentials will.
So let’s go back to basics. This is the only information you really need to tackle the perennial question: how long does it take to build muscle?
How do we actually build muscle?
The process of building muscle is known as hypertrophy. We enter hypertrophy when we apply tension to our muscles during exercise.
“This tension stimulates a cascade of biological signals in the body which leads to an increase in muscle protein synthesis, a process during which new proteins are produced and integrated into the muscle fibers, leading to larger and stronger muscles,” explains Harry Cox, founder of London’s high-end Club Q Health.
How can we actually do this?
Resistance training is a great way to build muscle in the gym. Essentially, this means moving your body with weights to make those movements harder. A bicep curl with a dumbbell is harder than it would be with no weight, for instance. This is resistance training. The heavier the weight—or greater the resistance—the more our muscles are forced to adapt, making them grow stronger over time.
Do it right and you can build muscle by weight training as little as two to three times a week, according to fitness expert Penny Weston.
“You should always make sure to increase your weights to push yourself and ensure you are creating as much resistance, and therefore muscle trauma, as possible,” she says, referring to a method called progressive overload.
To progressively overload your muscles, you’ll want to go heavier on at least two out of your four sets per exercise.