What makes someone strong right now isn’t the same as what makes them get stronger after training — your starting point doesn’t tell you how much you’ll improve.

Just because certain muscle traits make someone strong right now doesn’t mean those same traits will help them get stronger from training—what matters for improvement is different.

Just because your muscles get bigger from lifting weights doesn't mean you'll get much stronger — the two don't really go hand in hand.

When guys who’ve never lifted weights before start training, most of their strength gains come from their muscles getting bigger—not from their brain and nerves getting better at telling muscles to work harder.

When guys who’ve never lifted weights start training, most of their strength gains come from their muscles getting bigger—not from their brain and nerves getting better at telling muscles to work harder.

When young men do isometric leg exercises for 12 weeks, their thigh muscles get bigger—and that bigger muscle size helps explain about 1 in 5 of their strength gains, even if their nerves aren’t getting better at telling muscles to work harder.