Body Atlas

Healthy Muscle Habits · Muscles

How does muscle get bigger?

Effort signals the fibre to build — and the first gains aren't muscle at all.

The simple answer

Train hard for three weeks and you'll get noticeably stronger with barely any new muscle. That's not a trick of the light: your first strength gains come from your nervous system learning to recruit and coordinate what you already have.

Go deeper

There's more: effort signals the fibre to build — and the first gains aren't muscle at all. The full explanation — and the interactive version you can tap and quiz yourself on — lives in the app.

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