The Study
Gross measures of exercise-induced muscular hypertrophy.
This study is like comparing two groups doing different exercises and seeing who got bigger muscles. It shows exercise is linked to muscle growth, but can't prove the exercise caused it because we don't know if the groups were chosen fairly.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Young men did squats with different numbers of reps, and scientists measured their thigh muscles.
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 528 / 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, doing more reps in squats might make thigh muscles bigger in some ways.
- 2All squat groups had thicker thigh muscles than no training.
- 3Higher rep groups (13-15 and 23-25 reps) had bigger thigh measurements than lower reps or no training.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy
Year
2000
Authors
Lawrence W. Weiss, Harvey D. Coney, F. C. Clark
Related Content
Videos (2)
Claims (3)
When young men do heavy squat training with different numbers of reps, all rep ranges make their thigh muscles bigger, but higher rep ranges (like 13-15 or 23-25 reps) make their thigh size grow more than lower rep ranges.
When people lift weights to build muscle, how much muscle they seem to gain depends on how you measure it—different ways of measuring show different results.
When young men did squat workouts with different numbers of reps, their body weight and hamstring muscle size changed about the same as each other and no different from guys who didn't train at all.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.