Research

Hormonal

Recombinant human growth hormone (rhGH) supplementation does not augment muscle strength gains in elderly men undergoing resistance training, despite increasing lean body mass and decreasing fat mass.

If you are an older man looking to get stronger, resistance training is the most effective strategy. Taking growth hormone will not give you extra strength gains compared to training alone, even though it might change your body composition slightly. Do not rely on GH for strength; focus on progressive resistance exercise.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Supplementation with rhGH does not augment the response to strength training in elderly men. These results suggest that deficits in GH secretion do not underlie the time-dependent leveling off of muscle strength seen with training in the elderly and provide no support in the popular view of GH as an ergogenic aid.
Dennis R. Taaffe et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 1994

Why this rating

Double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with healthy elderly men, though limited by sample size (n=18) and duration (24 weeks).

Source

Effect of recombinant human growth hormone on the muscle strength response to resistance exercise in elderly men.

Dennis R. Taaffe et al. · The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism · 1994

DOI 10.1210/jcem.79.5.7525633

rct · n=18Cited 251×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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