06/13/2025
« Muscle doesn’t care about your s*x or age—it responds to load. The fluff around the edge isn't worth your time. » 💪
Muscle Growth: Men vs Women, Young vs Old — Who Builds More?
The truth: When it comes to relative muscle growth (% gain from baseline), men and women—and younger and older adults—gain muscle at similar rates when training the same way.
💪 A recent Bayesian meta-analysis of 29 studies found no significant s*x difference in relative hypertrophy—both men and women increased muscle size by ~10% on average with resistance training (RT)
🧓👩🦳 A separate meta-analysis in older adults confirmed the same: men gained more absolute muscle, but relative increases were similar in muscle size and performance
🔬 So what drives muscle growth? The mechanical load from training. And if protein needs are met (≥1.6 g/kg/day), timing or pre-exercise intake doesn't matter much for hypertrophy gains
✨ In short: Muscle doesn’t care about your s*x or age—it responds to load. The fluff around the edge isn't worth your time.
Citations:
Refalo et al., 2025. PeerJ. DOI: 10.7717/peerj.19042
Hawley et al., 2023. Ageing Research Reviews. DOI: 10.1016/j.arr.2023.102023
Roberts et al., 2020. J Strength Cond Res. 32218059
