Research
Energy balance
Faster rates of body mass gain may slightly enhance hypertrophy in muscles receiving the greatest training stimulus (e.g., biceps brachii), although the evidence is weak.
While larger surpluses generally lead to more fat gain, if you are heavily training a specific muscle (like biceps), a slightly faster weight gain might offer a marginal hypertrophy benefit. However, this effect is weak and likely outweighed by the fat gain.
ModerateQualifiesLOW confidence
However, biceps brachii, the muscle which received the greatest stimulus in this study, may have been positively impacted by greater BM gain, albeit slightly.
Why this rating
Weak evidence (BF10 = 1.4, R2 = 0.24) for biceps MT change prediction by BM change.
Source
Effect of Small and Large Energy Surpluses on Strength, Muscle, and Skinfold Thickness in Resistance-Trained Individuals: A Parallel Groups Design
Eric R. Helms et al. · Sports Medicine - Open · 2023
DOI 10.1186/s40798-023-00651-y
rct · n=17Cited 7×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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