I have been extremely consistent for about 11 months, however no ever looks at me and says ‘Oh he probably goes to the gym’
Several reasons
1)Poor starting point
Had a lot of fat and almost no muscle, overweight
2)Trash program
The coach in the gym directly put me on machines without squat bench etc, 20sets per muscle group
- (Probably) poor genetics
Barely saw any ‘rapid’ progression on my lifts in the start, took me weeks to increase weight
4)Obsessed with losing fat/fatigue from cut
Ended up cutting way too long, I wanted to get ‘lean’, but since I had no muscle, never lost my gut, just looked even worse ‘skinny fat’
However I seem to have fixed all the issues on my end, and am seeing slow but steady increase in reps and weights, it’s still kinda demotivating when my friends say that they can’t see progress but ofc they don’t know how bad I fucked up and ngl I am actually getting a little excited with everything coming together, and was wondering how long did it take y’all to start looking good
Base body shape plays a part, I’m exceptionally tall with a somewhat bell shape to the ribs so unless I was to go full roid monster I’ll probably never look ‘big’.
More important though is if you carry yourself with a level of self assurance. When I was much more consistent there may not have been the big striated muscles, but I simply felt sure of things. That sense of ‘it may not have happened today, but that next PR target WILL happen’.
Getting a bit older now has mandated backing off some, things popping that really shouldn’t be, but just personally knowing you’ve put in the effort has a notable impact on other people’s perceptions.