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What Drives Muscle Growth & What Doesn't | Dr. Mike Roberts

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In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Mike Roberts, Professor in the School of Kinesiology at Auburn University, and one of the most respected muscle physiologists, to explain how muscle actually grows. Mike shares that mechanical tension—not hormones, metabolic byproducts, or muscle damage—is the primary driver of hypertrophy. We cover why testosterone and androgen receptors don't necessarily predict muscle growth, what separates high responders from low responders, and how these “low responders” should train to best get results. We also work through training volume, load versus reps, lengthened partials, aging and anabolic resistance, and the interference effect between strength and endurance training. If you want to understand the real science of building muscle, this conversation is for you.

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People Mentioned

  • Brad Schoenfeld: exercise scientist at Lehman College (CUNY) and one of the most-published researchers on resistance training, hypertrophy, and program design
  • Troy Hornberger: professor of comparative biosciences at the University of Wisconsin–Madison studying mTOR signaling and the mechanics of muscle growth
  • Karyn Esser: professor of physiology and aging at the University of Florida and a foundational skeletal-muscle researcher (circadian biology, hypertrophy); co-author of the 2023 mechanisms review
  • Gustavo Nader: muscle-biology researcher at Penn State focused on ribosome biogenesis and the molecular control of muscle growth
  • John McCarthy: muscle physiologist at the University of Kentucky’s Center for Muscle Biology, known for satellite-cell and Pax7 (Pax7-DTA) research
  • Charlotte Peterson: professor at the University of Kentucky (Center for Muscle Biology) studying muscle regeneration, satellite cells, and aging
  • Marcas Bamman: exercise physiologist at the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition and founder of the UAB Center for Exercise Medicine, who pioneered molecular research on responders vs. non-responders
  • Priscilla Clarkson: late exercise physiologist and dean at the University of Massachusetts Amherst; a pioneer of research on muscle damage and inter-individual variability in training response
  • Monica Hubal: exercise physiologist and genomics researcher at Indiana University Indianapolis; co-author of foundational work on variability in the training response
  • Jeong-Su Kim: exercise physiologist (Florida State University) and former Bamman postdoc; co-author of the landmark cluster-analysis study of hypertrophy responders
  • John Petrella: kinesiology professor at Samford University who completed his PhD with Bamman on myostatin and hypertrophy responders
  • Bradley Ruple: muscle physiologist trained in the Roberts lab at Auburn who led the 2021 study on mitochondrial expansion with resistance training
  • C. Brooks Mobley: muscle physiologist at Auburn University studying ribosome biogenesis and resistance-training adaptations
  • Shalender Bhasin: endocrinologist and professor at Harvard Medical School / Brigham and Women’s Hospital, known for landmark testosterone dose-response trials
  • Stuart Phillips: professor of kinesiology at McMaster University and a leading authority on muscle protein synthesis and protein nutrition
  • Philip Atherton: professor of muscle and metabolic physiology at the University of Nottingham studying protein turnover and anabolic signaling
  • Brandon Roberts: exercise scientist at the US Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine and Stronger by Science contributor; co-authored a meta-analysis on sex differences in resistance training
  • Greg Nuckols: strength researcher and founder of Stronger by Science, known for evidence-based training analysis and meta-analyses
  • Cody Haun: muscle physiologist (Roberts lab PhD, master’s under Mike Stone at ETSU), now founder of a sports-science company in Alabama; studied training volume and responders
  • Cleiton Libardi: professor at the Federal University of São Carlos (Brazil) who directs MUSCULAB, studying resistance-training volume and hypertrophy
  • Juha Ahtiainen: exercise physiologist at the University of Jyväskylä (Finland) studying androgen receptors and response heterogeneity to resistance training
  • Christopher Vann: muscle physiologist (Roberts lab PhD, Duke postdoc) who led the first genome-wide association study of resistance-training hypertrophy
  • Joshua Godwin: muscle physiologist in the Roberts lab at Auburn who led the cell-membrane proteomics and vimentin work
  • Marni Boppart: professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying integrins, stem cells, and mechanotransduction in muscle
  • Mason McIntosh: muscle physiologist in the Roberts lab at Auburn who led the 2023 myostatin/follistatin and load-comparison papers
  • Abigail Mackey: muscle researcher at the University of Copenhagen / Bispebjerg Hospital (Denmark), known for satellite-cell and connective-tissue work
  • Michael H. Stone: sport scientist at East Tennessee State University and a foundational figure in strength-and-conditioning research and periodization
  • Eduardo De Souza: exercise scientist at the University of Tampa studying resistance-training volume and hypertrophy
  • Casey Sexton: muscle physiologist trained in the Roberts lab at Auburn who led the acute 30% vs. 80% load-signaling study
  • Kevin Murach: muscle physiologist at the University of Arkansas studying satellite cells, hyperplasia/fiber splitting, and muscle memory
  • Kent Jorgenson: researcher in Troy Hornberger’s lab at the University of Wisconsin–Madison studying fiber length and load-induced growth
  • Cory Dungan: muscle physiologist at Baylor University (formerly University of Kentucky) studying muscle memory and the myonuclear domain
  • Lex Verdijk: associate professor at Maastricht University (Netherlands) studying myonuclei, satellite cells, and muscle aging
  • Adam Sharples: professor at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences and a leader in the epigenetics of muscle memory
  • Robert Seaborne: epigenetics researcher at King’s College London who co-authored the foundational muscle-memory methylation studies
  • Riki Ogasawara: exercise physiologist (AIST; formerly Nagoya Institute of Technology, Japan) known for periodic-vs-continuous training and blood-flow-restriction research
  • J. Max Michel: muscle physiologist in Marcas Bamman’s group studying disuse atrophy, immobilization, and retraining
  • Scott Trappe: professor and director of the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University; a leading researcher on aging, spaceflight, and single-fiber physiology
  • Michael Snyder: professor and chair of genetics at Stanford University, known for multi-omics profiling and the nonlinear “ageotypes” aging work
  • Dustyn Lewis: muscle physiologist in the Roberts lab at Auburn leading proteomic analyses of aging muscle
  • Daniel Plotkin: muscle physiologist in the Roberts lab at Auburn (trained under Brad Schoenfeld) studying lengthened-partial training
  • Jordan Moon: exercise physiologist and academic administrator specializing in body composition and bioelectrical-impedance methods
  • Darren Candow: professor at the University of Regina (Canada) and a leading creatine-supplementation and muscle/bone-aging researcher
  • Arny Ferrando: professor at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences studying amino acids, muscle protein metabolism, and disuse
  • Matt Stock: neuromuscular physiologist at the University of Central Florida (distinct from ETSU’s Michael Stone) studying strength, muscle imaging, and rehabilitation
  • Neil Schwarz: exercise physiologist at the University of South Alabama studying supplementation, antioxidants, and performance
  • Paulo Mesquita: muscle physiologist trained in the Roberts lab at Auburn who led the concurrent-training study and the ribosome/mitochondria review
  • Andreas Kavazis: exercise physiologist at Auburn University studying mitochondria, oxidative stress, and muscle
  • Martin Gibala: professor of kinesiology at McMaster University, a leading interval-training (SIT/HIIT) researcher and author of The One-Minute Workout
  • Jacob Wilson: exercise physiologist known as “The Muscle PhD” and CEO of the Applied Science and Performance Institute; lead author of the 2012 concurrent-training meta-analysis
  • Nicholas Kontos: graduate researcher in the Roberts lab at Auburn studying cardiomyocytes and mitochondrial transplantation
  • Frank Booth: professor at the University of Missouri and a pioneering researcher on physical inactivity and chronic-disease physiology; Roberts’s postdoctoral mentor
  • James Carson: muscle physiologist at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center studying muscle wasting/cachexia and stretch-overload models

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