The more you lift weights (up to a point), the more muscle and strength you gain—and new studies say it’s a steady climb, not a peak and drop like we used to think.
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
Lifting weights with more sets puts more stress on your muscles, which turns on a molecular system that builds more protein-making machines inside muscle cells. More machines mean more muscle protein is made, making muscles bigger and stronger — and this keeps improving as you do more sets, as...
Most probable mechanism
When you lift weights with more sets, the stress on your muscles triggers a molecular signal that turns on a system inside muscle cells that builds more protein-making machines (ribosomes). More ribosomes mean the muscle can make more proteins, which makes the muscle fibers thicker and stronger over time. This effect keeps getting stronger as you do more training, without hitting a limit, as shown in the study by Hammarström et al. (10.1113/JP279490).
Resistance training with higher volume increases mechanical tension and metabolic stress in skeletal muscle, which acts as a stimulus for cellular adaptation (10.1113/JP279490).
Mechanical and metabolic signals activate the mTORC1 signaling pathway in muscle cells, leading to phosphorylation of its downstream targets 4E-BP1 and S6K1 (10.1113/JP279490).
Phosphorylated 4E-BP1 releases eIF4E, enabling the assembly of the translation initiation complex to begin protein synthesis (10.1113/JP279490).
Phosphorylated S6K1 enhances translation efficiency and stimulates ribosomal biogenesis by increasing ribosomal RNA synthesis and ribosome abundance (10.1113/JP279490).
Increased ribosome abundance elevates the translational capacity of muscle cells, leading to greater myofibrillar protein synthesis and muscle fiber hypertrophy (10.1113/JP279490).
Greater muscle protein synthesis results in measurable increases in muscle mass and strength in a dose-dependent manner, with no evidence of plateau or decline up to moderate training volumes (10.1113/JP279490).
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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Ribosome biogenesis and resistance training volume in human skeletal muscle
Contradicting (0)
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