Research

Hormonal

Resistance training in humans and mechanical overload in rodents does not elevate muscle protein lactylation, challenging the hypothesis that lactate promotes skeletal muscle hypertrophy.

You do not need to maximize lactate accumulation (the 'burn') to trigger muscle protein lactylation or hypertrophy. Resistance training increases blood lactate significantly, but this does not translate to increased muscle protein lactylation or drive hypertrophy via this specific mechanism. Focus on mechanical overload rather than chasing lactate as a signaling molecule for growth.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Resistance training in humans and mechanical overload in rodents do not elevate muscle protein lactylation
Madison L. Mattingly et al. · Frontiers in Physiology · 2023

Why this rating

The study uses rigorous human and rodent models with multiple time points and specific molecular assays (Western blotting, mRNA analysis), though sample sizes are moderate.

Source

Resistance training in humans and mechanical overload in rodents do not elevate muscle protein lactylation

Madison L. Mattingly et al. · Frontiers in Physiology · 2023

DOI 10.3389/fphys.2023.1281702

mechanism_only · n=32Cited 9×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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