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...

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Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

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Muscle Growth Is Very Strongly Correlated with Strength Gains after Lower Body Resistance Training: New Insight from Within-Participant Associations

Cohort Study

Human

2025 Dec 1

Contradicting (0)

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No contradicting evidence found

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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.

Source Study

Muscle Growth Is Very Strongly Correlated with Strength Gains after Lower Body Resistance Training: New Insight from Within-Participant Associations

Score: 39

DOI: 10.1249/MSS.0000000000003819

Similar Assertions

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.

100%

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.

77%

When untrained young men lift heavy weights three times a week for five months, they get much stronger—some exercises more than double their original strength.

73%

People get noticeably stronger in just 4 weeks of heavy weightlifting—even before their muscles get bigger—because their nerves learn to fire better.

72%

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.

72%