Research
Hormonal
A specific myostatin gene variant (Lys 153 Arg) may influence muscle hypertrophy in women, but not in men.
Current evidence is too weak to recommend genetic testing for myostatin variants to guide training. The potential link is interesting but unproven.
LimitedQualifiesLOW confidence
When only women were analyzed, those with the less common myostatin allele exhibited a 68% larger increase in muscle volume in response to ST (p = .056).
Why this rating
Very small sample size (5 women with variant), p-value is a trend (.056), requires confirmation.
Source
Effects of Age, Gender, and Myostatin Genotype on the Hypertrophic Response to Heavy Resistance Strength Training
F. M. Ivey et al. · The Journals of Gerontology Series A · 2000
DOI 10.1093/gerona/55.11.m641
crossover · n=45Cited 288×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Heavy resistance strength training produces significant muscle hypertrophy in older adults (65-75 years) comparable to young adults (20-30 years) when using the same relative training stimulus.Good
- Men experience significantly greater absolute muscle hypertrophy than women in response to heavy resistance strength training, regardless of age.Good
- Young men are the only demographic group capable of retaining a significant portion of muscle volume gains after 31 weeks of detraining.Moderate
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