Research

Hormonal

Resistance exercise is a potent stimulator of muscle protein synthesis (MPS) that acts synergistically with protein feeding to counteract age-related and disuse-induced muscle loss.

To build or maintain muscle, especially as you age, you must combine resistance exercise with adequate protein intake. The exercise stimulates the machinery (MPS), and protein provides the building blocks. You do not necessarily need to lift maximal weights; ensuring you recruit muscle fibers (even via lower loads with higher volume or occlusion) and consuming protein is the key synergy.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Resistance exercise is a potent stimulator of MPS and appears to synergistically enhance the gains stimulated by feeding. As such, resistance exercise is an important countermeasure to disuse atrophy and to age-related declines in skeletal muscle mass.
Stuart M. Phillips · Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism · 2009

Why this rating

The paper is a review of human in vivo data, citing multiple peer-reviewed studies, though it notes gaps in signaling-to-response correlation.

Source

Physiologic and molecular bases of muscle hypertrophy and atrophy: impact of resistance exercise on human skeletal muscle (protein and exercise dose effects)This paper is one of a selection of papers published in this Special Issue, entitled 14th International Biochemistry of Exercise Conference – Muscles as Molecular and Metabolic Machines, and has undergone the Journal’s usual peer review process.

Stuart M. Phillips · Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism · 2009

DOI 10.1139/h09-042

narrative_reviewCited 112×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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