Research

Hormonal

High-intensity aerobic exercise stimulates mTOR phosphorylation (Ser2448) early in recovery (0.5h), which correlates with sustained myofibrillar protein synthesis, whereas low-intensity exercise does not.

High-intensity aerobic exercise triggers the mTOR signaling pathway early in recovery, which is linked to sustained muscle protein synthesis. Low-intensity exercise does not trigger this specific early signaling response to the same degree. This suggests that intensity is a key driver of the molecular environment for muscle growth after cardio.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
There was a significant difference at 0.5 h postexercise between the HIGH and LOW trials for phospho-mTORSer2448 (P < 0.005)... Myofibrillar FSR in early and late recovery after HIGH exercise was positively correlated with phospho-mTORSer2448 at 0.5 h postexercise (r > 0.953, P < 0.001 and r > 0.866, P < 0.01, respectively).
Danielle M. Di Donato et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2014

Why this rating

Strong correlation data and clear group differences, but limited by small sample size and single time point for the key signaling event.

Source

Influence of aerobic exercise intensity on myofibrillar and mitochondrial protein synthesis in young men during early and late postexercise recovery

Danielle M. Di Donato et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Endocrinology and Metabolism · 2014

DOI 10.1152/ajpendo.00487.2013

crossover · n=8Cited 142×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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