why do our muscles stop growing at a certain point, why can’t we constantly workout and keep growing them?
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Humans evolved to have our muscles break down relatively quickly when they are not in use. This is believed to have helped our ancestors survive when food was scarce, since maintaining muscle tissue is calorically expensive. Working out tells our body that we need more muscle by lightly damaging the muscles we do have, so it does its best to repair and build more muscle. Eventually you reach a point where your body is only able to build muscle at a rate equal to the rate it is breaking down, and you can’t gain more muscle. Exactly where this point is is based on how your body is put together; your heart, lungs, digestive systems, etc. are only so big and able to supply your body with so much energy.
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Muscles need a certain amount of hormones to grow to a given size. Testosterone is a hormone that causes muscle growth (among other things), and as a human increases their muscle mass, they’ll eventually reach a point where their bodies don’t supply a big enough amount for continued muscle growth to happen.
Anabolic steroids is a term used for artificial substances that causes tissue growth in humans and other creatures. By injecting steroids that are similar enough to the growth hormones the human body uses, muscles can be made to grow even bigger.
However, this can cause severe adverse effects. Some muscles that shouldn’t grow might start growing again (such as your heart). Your skeleton will not grow if you’re already an adult, and the size of the bigger muscles could easily take up space in your body that is supposed to contain other things, such as intestines, lungs, etc.
Some animals produce way more growth hormones than humans, and can therefore grow much bigger muscles.
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