Just because someone looks great and uses a particular protocol does not mean it will work for you. Today, many people will follow an Instagram celebrity and follow the exact workout thinking; if it works for them, it will work for me. This mentality is not a scientific approach to gaining muscle.
ARE YOU A LEAN MASS RESPONDER SUMMARY
- A lean mass responder is someone who gains muscle very easy compared to other people.
- Muscle growth is highly unique to each individual. A large range of muscle growth responses varies from individual to individual.
- What works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you. Copying someone else’s workout is one of the worst things a lifter can do because of the numerous factors that affect muscle growth, such as the training volume, genetics, and each person’s genetic response to recovery from exercise.
WHAT IS A LEAN MASS RESPONDER?
The most jacked guys will post their latest workout routine on social media and get millions of views. If it works for them, it must work for you. Most of the biggest guys in the gym are genetically gifted and can gain muscle quickly. They may also use massive amounts of performance-enhancing drugs or have extremely gifted genetics, or both. Some people are known as what researchers refer to as hyper-responders or extreme responders. These people grow like crazy in response to resistance exercise.[1] They are genetically gifted to grow muscle faster compared to others.
Contrary to genetically gifted people, some people are known as hard gainers or low-responders; for some reason, these people don’t gain muscle easily because of genetic differences. For example, low responders had either no change or a pathetic ∼4% increase in muscle growth in one training study. In contrast, high responders experienced a 30% increase in muscle growth, despite using the same routine.[2] The research also suggests that high responders lose more muscle mass after detraining (i.e., stop training) than low responders.
LEAN MASS RESPONDERS GAINED MUSCLE FAST BUT LOST IT FAST AS WELL
After detraining, high responders lost 10.5% muscle mass, whereas low responders only lost .6% muscle mass.[3] So, high responders gain muscle faster, but they also lose muscle faster when they stop training. Some studies have found that the range of muscle growth can vary between -2% gains to a 59% increase in muscle growth and strength gains between 0 to +250%. A study of 585 subjects who followed the same training program looked at the differences in muscle growth responses:
· 232 subjects gained increases in muscle size between 15-25%,
· 10 subjects gained 40%, and
· 36 subjects gained less than 5%.[4]
This suggests that everyone gains muscle at a different rate to a resistance training protocol. What works for one person may not work for another. Just because someone has a poor response to an exercise protocol does not mean they are doomed. They have not found the correct training protocol that best fits their genetics. The traditional advice given to those that don’t grow muscle easily or hard gainers is to do fewer sets and take more rest days; however, this is contrary to what research finds.
Hardgainers may need to increase the number of sets or increase training frequency. As you will read later, some people have better muscle growth when they increase their sets, whereas others make better gains when they decrease their sets!
MUSCLE GROWTH IS AN INDIVIDUAL PROCESS
Just because someone looks great and uses a particular protocol does not mean it will work for you. Today, many people will follow an Instagram celebrity and follow the exact workout thinking; if it works for them, it will work for me. This mentality is not a scientific approach to gaining muscle. Unless the workout plan is from an identical twin, what works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you. Treat your body as an experiment and try different training techniques to see what works best for you.
The key to muscle growth is to track your progress. Keeping a training journal, getting body composition regularly assessed, monitoring your psychological state (i.e., Do you feel motivated to go to the gym?), monitoring your physiological symptoms (i.e., Are you feeling fatigued during exercise?), and making sure your diet is meeting caloric needs to support your training are all important for tracking your progress.
NO MAGIC PROGRAM WORKS FOR EVERYONE
Every resistance exercise program needs to be individualized to each person’s genetic potential for recovery. The inter-individual variation in genetics for the improvements in components of aerobic exercise, strength, and power can be explained by genetics up to 44, 72, and 10%, respectively.[5] Therefore, following a person’s exercise program will often not work for two different people because of a strong genetic component for influencing results.
“Every resistance exercise program needs to be individualized to each person’s genetic potential for recovery. ”
LEAN MASS RESPONDERS KEY POINTS
- Muscle growth is highly unique to each individual. A large range of muscle growth responses varies from individual to individual.
- What works for someone else won’t necessarily work for you. Copying someone else’s workout is one of the worst things a lifter can do because of the numerous factors that affect muscle growth, such as the training volume, genetics, and each person’s genetic response to recovery from exercise.
REFERENCES
[5] Henry C. Chung et al., “Do Exercise-Associated Genes Explain Phenotypic Variance in the Three Components of Fitness? A Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis,” PLOS ONE 16, no. 10 (October 14, 2021): e0249501.
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