Research

Hormonal

While IL15RA genetic variation (PstI polymorphism) is associated with greater muscle hypertrophy, it is also associated with reduced muscle quality (strength relative to muscle size) gains.

If you have genetic variants associated with high hypertrophy but low muscle quality, you may gain size without a proportional increase in strength. To counter this, prioritize strength-focused training (lower reps, higher load) alongside hypertrophy work to ensure neuromuscular adaptations keep pace with muscle growth.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Arm and leg muscle quality changes... were significantly reduced with the addition of each A allele (P < 0.05)... The PstI AA group demonstrated the greatest hypertrophic response to RET yet the lowest increase in strength.
Steven E. Riechman et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2004

Why this rating

Consistent findings across multiple muscle groups (arm and leg) in a controlled trial.

Source

Association of interleukin-15 protein and interleukin-15 receptor genetic variation with resistance exercise training responses

Steven E. Riechman et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2004

DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00491.2004

cohort · n=153Cited 230×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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