Why your muscles get stronger faster when you start lifting weights
Myokine Response to Blood-Flow Restricted Resistance Exercise in Younger and Older Males in an Untrained and Resistance-Trained State: A Pilot Study
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When you first start lifting weights with bands that squeeze your arms and legs, your body releases special signals (myokines) that help your muscles grow. After training for 12 weeks, your body stops releasing as many of these signals because it’s already adapted.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 538 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
When you first start lifting weights with bands that squeeze your arms and legs, your body releases special signals (myokines) that help your muscles grow. After training for 12 weeks, your body stops releasing as many of these signals because it’s already adapted.
Systematic Reviews & Meta-Analyses
Max 100Randomized Controlled Trials
Max 90Cohort Studies
Max 72Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional Studies
Max 44Case Reports & Case Series
Max 30Expert Opinion & Narrative Reviews
Max 538 / 72
Evidence Score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Publication
Authors
Cordingley DM, Anderson JE, Cornish SM
Related Content
Claims (6)
People who have not previously trained may experience different muscle growth patterns from those who have been training regularly, when exposed to the same exercise routines.
In untrained men aged 25 to 70, performing resistance exercises with restricted blood flow for 12 weeks leads to a 32% increase in overall strength and a 30% increase in strength relative to lean body mass, showing that muscle strength can improve even with light weights when blood flow is partially restricted.
After performing resistance exercise with restricted blood flow, the body releases more of a protein called irisin in untrained young men, but this release is smaller in older men and in those who are regularly trained.
In untrained men aged 25–70, changes in muscle strength relative to lean body mass after 12 weeks of blood-flow restricted resistance training are linked to the levels of certain signaling proteins in the blood—higher levels of interleukin-4 and interleukin-6 correlate with greater strength gains, while higher levels of leukemia inhibitory factor correlate with smaller gains.
After 12 weeks of training with blood-flow restricted resistance exercise, the release of certain signaling proteins (IL-4, IL-7, and irisin) into the bloodstream during a subsequent workout is lower in trained men than in untrained men.