Do Upper and Lower Body Muscles Grow Differently?
The dose–response relationship between resistance training volume and muscle hypertrophy: are there really still any doubts?
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Four out of five combined training studies showed different muscle growth patterns between upper and lower body regions.
Most people assume that a balanced full-body program will yield proportional growth across all muscle groups.
Practical Takeaways
Monitor upper and lower body progress separately and consider adjusting weekly set volume for each region if growth stalls or becomes imbalanced.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Four out of five combined training studies showed different muscle growth patterns between upper and lower body regions.
Most people assume that a balanced full-body program will yield proportional growth across all muscle groups.
Practical Takeaways
Monitor upper and lower body progress separately and consider adjusting weekly set volume for each region if growth stalls or becomes imbalanced.
Publication
Journal
Journal of Sports Sciences
Year
2017
Authors
B. Schoenfeld, Daniel I. Ogborn, J. Krieger
Related Content
Claims (5)
Doing more sets of weightlifting for each muscle group in a workout generally helps you build more muscle, but after a certain point, adding extra sets gives you smaller and smaller gains.
Doing around 31 sets per muscle group each week is the sweet spot for building muscle, and doing more than that won't give you noticeably better results.
When you train your upper and lower body, your muscles don't all grow at the same rate. To get the best overall results, you probably need to adjust how much you train each specific area instead of using the same routine for everything.
Different parts of your body don't grow muscle at the same rate when you lift weights. Because your upper and lower body respond differently to workouts, you might need to adjust how much you train each muscle group to get the best results.
If you do a workout that targets both your upper and lower body, your muscles in those areas won't grow at the same rate or in the same way. Research shows that most combined workout routines lead to noticeably different muscle growth patterns between your arms and chest compared to your legs and glutes.