Are Post-Exercise Anabolic Hormone Elevations Required for Hypertrophy? A 15-Week Within-Subject Trial
West DWD, Burd NA, Tang JE, Moore DR, Staples AW, Holwerda AM, Baker SK, Phillips SM
Evidence is still building up
Summary
Training one arm alone (low-hormone) and the other arm with added leg exercise (high-hormone) in the same men for 15 weeks produced no difference in muscle cross-sectional area or strength gains. Elbow flexors in young men.
Key findings
- 1
GH, IGF-1, and testosterone rose significantly under the high-hormone condition (P<0.001)
- 2
Yet cross-sectional area increased +12% (low-hormone) vs +10% (high-hormone) with no significant difference (P=0.25)
- 3
Strength gains did not differ between conditions either
- 4
Within-subject design controlled for nutrition and genetics; young men, elbow flexors
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Articles featuring this study
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