Doing weight training either heavy or light until you can't do another rep for nine weeks doesn't change your hormone levels in your saliva, and that's okay—your muscles can still get stronger and bigger even if your hormones don't budge.

37

Pro

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Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

37

Community contributions welcome

37

Muscle Hypertrophy, Strength, and Salivary Hormone Changes Following 9 Weeks of High- or Low-Load Resistance Training

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2025 Dec 30

The study had guys lift heavy or light weights to exhaustion for nine weeks and found their hormone levels didn’t change much — yet their muscles still got bigger and stronger. So, you don’t need big hormone spikes to grow muscle.

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Source Study

Muscle Hypertrophy, Strength, and Salivary Hormone Changes Following 9 Weeks of High- or Low-Load Resistance Training

Score: 37

DOI: 10.3390/jfmk11010017

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