Research

Hormonal

Resistance exercise combined with protein-carbohydrate feeding induces a sustained translocation of mTORC1 to the cell periphery (sarcolemma) in human skeletal muscle, which is associated with prolonged S6K1 kinase activity compared to feeding alone.

To maximize the duration of muscle-building signals, combine resistance training with protein intake. While eating protein alone triggers some signals, adding resistance exercise keeps the key growth machinery (mTORC1) active at the muscle cell membrane for longer (up to 3 hours post-workout), potentially supporting better muscle growth over time.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Collectively these data suggest that mTORC1 redistribution within the cell is a fundamental response to resistance exercise and feeding... mTOR/WGA colocalization continued to increase in EXFED at 3 h (48% above baseline) whereas colocalization decreased in FED (21% above baseline)... alterations in mTORC1 cellular location coincided with elevated S6K1 kinase activity, which rose to a greater extent in EXFED compared with FED at 1 h post-exercise/feeding... and only remained elevated in EXFED at the 3 h time point.
Nathan Hodson et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology · 2017

Why this rating

The study uses a rigorous within-subject design with antibody validation and kinase assays, but the sample size is small (n=8) and the population is young, healthy males.

Source

Differential localization and anabolic responsiveness of mTOR complexes in human skeletal muscle in response to feeding and exercise

Nathan Hodson et al. · American Journal of Physiology-Cell Physiology · 2017

DOI 10.1152/ajpcell.00176.2017

mechanism_only · n=8Cited 52×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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