Last updated on August 22, 2020
Question:
I am 13 years old and have a bit of muscle. When I took your test, it said I was at stage 3.6. I want to know how long it will take me to get to stage 4.0 and begin developing muscles.
Please help me!
Answer:
It varies between individuals, but the typical boy spends about two years in each stage. Since you are about half-way through stage 3, it will probably be another year before you reach stage 4.
Don’t be too anxious about moving on. Your body is a marvelously designed machine that is able to do many things at once, yet there are limits. At the moment you are shooting up in height and every bit of spare energy is going toward that growth. It isn’t that your muscles aren’t growing, they are but mostly in length to be able to reach between your longer bones. Once you’ve come near your final height, your bone growth will slow down and you will start seeing your muscles make gains. You will also have more spare energy for muscle growth at that time.
It doesn’t mean you can’t strengthen the muscles that you currently have. You can get stronger with exercise, but you won’t see bulging muscles until later.