Where you feel the most resistance during a workout doesn't change how much your muscles grow, as long as you move through the same range.

Scientific Claim

When resistance is applied such that peak torque occurs at either the longest or shortest muscle length during a movement with identical total range of motion, muscle hypertrophy is not significantly different between conditions.

Original Statement

“The study caused quite the controversy online. I believe a lot of this is fueled by various people missing key details of the overall literature or failing to think critically about certain variables. In this video, we'll break down the new study and then importantly explain how it fits within the rest of the scientific literature. I plan to touch on nearly every point related to this new study that I've seen circulating online.”

From video:We Need to Talk About Jeremy Ethier’s New StudybyHouse of Hypertrophy

Context Details

Domain

exercise

Population

human

Subject

resistance training with fixed total range of motion

Action

produces

Target

similar muscle hypertrophy regardless of peak torque location

Intervention Details

Type: exercise

Dosage: 5 sets of 8–12 reps to failure, 2 minutes rest, 10 weeks

Duration: 10 weeks

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Placing Greater Torque at Shorter or Longer Muscle Lengths? Effects of Cable vs. Barbell Preacher Curl Training on Muscular Strength and Hypertrophy in Young Adults

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2020 Aug 13

Two groups lifted weights in slightly different ways — one lifted hardest when their arm was bent, the other when it was straight — but both ended up with almost the same amount of muscle growth. So, where you feel the most resistance doesn’t matter much for getting bigger muscles, as long as you do the full movement.

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Similar Assertions

When comparing full range of motion to lengthened partials, observed hypertrophy differences may be confounded by differences in peak resistance location, making it difficult to isolate the effect of muscle length alone.

81%

When you stretch your muscles fully during workouts, the ends of the muscles grow more than the middle parts — the stretch makes the muscle ends bulk up more than the center.

76%

Even though muscles might grow a tiny bit more at the far end when stretched more, it’s so small that it doesn’t really matter in practice — all parts grow about the same.

76%

Even if you don’t move through the full range, doing the exercise where your muscle is stretched the most (like halfway down in a squat) builds more muscle than doing it where the muscle is bunched up (like a shallow squat).

75%

Even the middle parts of your muscles grow more when you stretch them fully during workouts — it’s not just the ends that benefit from full range of motion.

75%