Even though lifting weights with short breaks makes your body release more growth hormone, that doesn’t mean you’ll grow bigger muscles over time.

Even if your muscles get a big burst of growth hormone right after lifting weights, that doesn’t mean you’ll grow bigger muscles over time—some people who got way more of this hormone didn’t grow more muscle than others.

Even if your growth hormone spikes right after lifting weights, that doesn’t mean you’ll end up with bigger arms after 8 weeks of training.

Even though short rests make your body release more hormones like testosterone right after lifting, that doesn’t help you build more muscle — longer rests work just as well or better.

After working out with weights, the levels of certain hormones in the blood don’t predict whether a guy will gain more or less muscle over 16 weeks — so those hormones probably aren’t the main reason some people grow bigger muscles than others.

If you lift lighter weights with only 30 seconds of rest between sets, your body might spike growth hormone and make your muscles look bigger right after the workout—more than if you lift heavier weights and rest for 3 minutes between sets, as long as the total amount of lifting is the same.