Why your muscles grow (and what doesn't help)
Load-induced human skeletal muscle hypertrophy: Mechanisms, myths, and misconceptions.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Muscle growth is nearly identical in arms with 4–5x different post-workout testosterone levels.
Everyone assumes testosterone = muscle growth. This shows the body doesn’t use acute hormone spikes as a signal for hypertrophy.
Practical Takeaways
Focus on progressive overload—lift heavier or do more reps over time. Skip the pump sets and hormone-boosting routines.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Muscle growth is nearly identical in arms with 4–5x different post-workout testosterone levels.
Everyone assumes testosterone = muscle growth. This shows the body doesn’t use acute hormone spikes as a signal for hypertrophy.
Practical Takeaways
Focus on progressive overload—lift heavier or do more reps over time. Skip the pump sets and hormone-boosting routines.
Publication
Journal
Journal of sport and health science
Year
2025
Authors
Derrick W. Van Every, Matthew J Lees, Brandan Wilson, Jeff Nippard, Stuart M. Phillips
Related Content
Claims (10)
Total mechanical tension accumulated over time is the primary stimulus for skeletal muscle hypertrophy, regardless of the temporal distribution of training sessions.
The total mechanical tension accumulated over time is the primary stimulus for skeletal muscle hypertrophy, regardless of the temporal distribution of training sessions.
If you're new to lifting weights, you can expect to gain about 3 pounds of muscle in the first few months—but after that, gains get much slower, and you won't become a bodybuilder without drugs.
Lifting weights makes your muscles grow mainly because the force you create when you contract your muscles sends a signal inside them to build more protein—other things like muscle pump or hormones don’t really matter for growth.
Even if your testosterone spikes after a workout, it doesn’t make your muscles grow any faster—what matters is the actual lifting, not the hormone rush.