The Study
Higher resistance training volume offsets muscle hypertrophy non-responsiveness in older individuals.
This study is like testing if eating more broccoli helps kids grow taller — but each kid eats more broccoli on one side of their body and less on the other. It found that kids who didn’t grow taller with a little broccoli grew a bit more with a lot. But we don’t know if the kids knew which side got more, so it’s not 100% sure.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Some older people don't grow muscles much with just one set of leg exercises. This study gave them four sets instead — and those who didn't respond before started growing muscles and getting stronger. People who already grew muscles with one set grew a little more with four sets, but their strength didn't get any better.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 570 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — for people who don't respond to light training, doubling or tripling the volume can make a real difference in muscle growth and strength.
- 251 people didn't respond to 1 set; 34 did.
- 3Nonresponders: + bigger muscles and + strength with 4 sets vs 1 set.
- 4Responders: + bigger muscles with 4 sets (slightly more), but same strength gain with 1 or 4 sets.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of applied physiology
Year
2024
Authors
M. Lixandrão, M. Bamman, Felipe C. Vechin, M. Conceição, Guilherme Telles, Igor Longobardi, Felipe Damas, K. Lavin, D. Drummer, J. McAdam, Cory M. Dungan, A. E. Leitão, Luiz A Riani Costa, A. Aihara, C. Libardi, B. Gualano, H. Roschel
Related Content
Claims (10)
Increasing the amount of resistance training each week results in more muscle growth, but the additional gain per extra session becomes smaller at higher volumes.
Doing more workout sets might help your muscles grow just a little bit more—even if the difference isn’t big enough to say for sure it’s not just random chance.
People might respond differently to how much weight training they do, but we can't say for sure because the studies done so far aren't clear enough.
Increasing the amount of resistance training per week leads to greater muscle growth, and this relationship does not change whether the training lasts a few weeks or several months.
In older adults, increases in muscle strength do not always match increases in muscle size; some people get stronger without their muscles growing larger, and some people's muscles grow larger without gaining strength.
If older people who didn’t get stronger from doing just one set of weight exercises start doing four sets instead, they’ll likely grow bigger muscles in their thighs after 10 weeks of working out twice a week.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.