Research

Hormonal

High responders to resistance exercise training exhibit suppressed mTOR signaling and down-regulation of ribosomal RNA genes, contradicting the canonical view that mTOR activation drives hypertrophy.

While resistance training is essential for muscle growth, the molecular mechanisms driving individual responses vary. The common belief that 'more mTOR activation equals more muscle' is challenged by evidence showing that high responders may actually have suppressed mTOR signaling. This suggests that personalized approaches to training and nutrition may be more effective than one-size-fits-all strategies focused solely on maximizing mTOR activation.

GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
subjects that demonstrated the largest gains in lean tissue mass following 20-wks of RET have suppressed mTOR signaling over the training period, a novel and controversial observation
Bethan E. Phillips et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2013

Why this rating

Strong statistical association (p = 1.4610^-30) in a controlled clinical cohort (n=44), though observational in nature regarding the molecular signature.

Source

Molecular Networks of Human Muscle Adaptation to Exercise and Age

Bethan E. Phillips et al. · PLoS Genetics · 2013

DOI 10.1371/journal.pgen.1003389

cohort · n=141Cited 202×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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