If muscle growth is caused by microtears, then what is the biological reason that a strain doesn’t make your muscles grow even stronger?

Question

If muscle growth is caused by microtears, then what is the biological reason that a strain doesn’t make your muscles grow even stronger?

In: 212

Answer 1

Because the “muscle growth is caused by micro tears” thing is massively over simplified if not downright wrong. Your body can tell when a muscle is put under tension and allocate resources to build that muscle. Microtears might be a part of it, but the extent is unclear, and there definitely isn’t a 1:1 translation between muscle damage and muscle growth.

Edit: Since this seems to have ended up the top answer, let me know if you’re interested in a more in depth ELI5 analogy for muscle growth and I’ll write one up.

Edit 2: Ok seems like people want more in depth. I want to put a disclaimer that if you want to know the actual science behind this stuff, I highly recommend finding people like [Jeff Nippard](https://youtube.com/@JeffNippard), [Mike Israetel](https://youtube.com/@RenaissancePeriodization), etc. on YouTube. They provide super digestible and practical tips on muscle growth, and they back their claims up with analysis of actual studies. So if you want the science, go there, and I’ll provide an ELI5 analogy if you just want something surface level. I’ll put it in a reply below since idk if I’m getting close to character limits.