Why do some people get much stronger from lifting weights than others?
Physiological Differences Between Low Versus High Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophic Responders to Resistance Exercise Training: Current Perspectives and Future Research Directions
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Pre-training diet and muscle fiber type didn’t differ between high and low responders.
Everyone assumes diet or muscle composition explains differences—but this study says no. Two people could eat, sleep, and train identically and still have wildly different results.
Practical Takeaways
If you’re a low responder, don’t quit—focus on consistency, recovery, and tracking progress over months, not weeks.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Pre-training diet and muscle fiber type didn’t differ between high and low responders.
Everyone assumes diet or muscle composition explains differences—but this study says no. Two people could eat, sleep, and train identically and still have wildly different results.
Practical Takeaways
If you’re a low responder, don’t quit—focus on consistency, recovery, and tracking progress over months, not weeks.
Publication
Journal
Frontiers in Physiology
Year
2018
Authors
M. Roberts, Cody T Haun, C. Mobley, Petey W. Mumford, M. Romero, Paul A. Roberson, C. Vann, J. McCarthy
Related Content
Claims (7)
Some people’s muscles grow way more than others when they lift weights, and this might be because their muscle cells make more of the tiny machines (ribosomes) that help build muscle protein.
Some people’s genes might make them build a little more muscle from weight training than others, but these specific genes don’t explain much of why some people get way stronger than others.
People who get much stronger from weight training tend to make more of the cellular machinery (ribosomes) that helps build muscle, while those who don’t get as strong show little to no change in this machinery.
Some people get much stronger and build more muscle from weight training than others—this might be because their muscle cells grow more new nuclei, but not every study agrees on this.
Some people who lift weights and end up with more of a certain protein in their muscles tend to grow bigger muscles, but not everyone sees this link—some people with lots of the protein don’t grow much, and others with less do.