Hormonal
Resistance exercise performed at low intensity (30% 1RM) to volitional fatigue stimulates myofibrillar protein synthesis rates equally to high intensity (90% 1RM) exercise, challenging the necessity of heavy loads for muscle growth.
You do not need to lift heavy weights to build muscle. If you lift a lighter weight (30% of your max) until you physically cannot complete another repetition, your muscles will grow just as effectively as they would with heavy weights. Focus on reaching failure, not just moving heavy loads.
It was demonstrated, in resistance-trained young men, that lower intensity (30% of 1RM) and higher volume (24 ± 3 repetitions, means ± SD) resistance exercise performed until failure was equally effective in stimulating myofibrillar protein synthesis rates during 0–4 h recovery as heavy intensity (90% of 1RM) and lower volume (5 ± 1 repetitions) resistance exercise (Burd et al. 2010b).
Why this rating
Based on acute MPS measurements in young men; strong mechanistic evidence but lacks long-term hypertrophy data in this specific text.
Source
Bigger weights may not beget bigger muscles: evidence from acute muscle protein synthetic responses after resistance exercise
Nicholas A. Burd et al. · Applied Physiology Nutrition and Metabolism · 2012
DOI 10.1139/h2012-022
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