Doing more workout volume doesn’t necessarily make your muscles grow more—your body’s internal muscle-building signals stay about the same no matter how much you train.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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Effects of High-Volume Versus High-Load Resistance Training on Skeletal Muscle Growth and Molecular Adaptations
Even though one group did more reps and got bigger muscles, their muscle cells didn’t show stronger growth signals than the group doing fewer reps with heavier weights — meaning more training doesn’t always mean stronger biological signals for growth.
Contradicting (2)
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The degree of p70S6k and S6 phosphorylation in human skeletal muscle in response to resistance exercise depends on the training volume
The study found that doing more sets of weightlifting caused stronger molecular signals in muscles that tell them to grow — meaning more volume does make growth potential bigger, which is the opposite of what the claim says.
Ribosome biogenesis and resistance training volume in human skeletal muscle
The study found that doing more sets of weight training led to bigger muscle growth and stronger molecular signals for building muscle, which means more training volume does make a difference—not the same response at all volumes.
Gold Standard Evidence Needed
According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.