This isn’t to claim that you require supraphysiological levels of testosterone, but you likely do require levels similar to that seen during puberty in males if you want to continue making strength & size gains beyond your first 3-12 months of resistance training.
Testosterone Amplifies Satellite Cell & Myonuclei Counts
Muscle hypertrophy/growth depends on new myonuclei entering muscle fibers, and this in turn depends on satellite cells myogenically differentiating (maturing) into myonuclei.
In a vacuum of resistance training, testosterone is still capable of dose-dependently increasing both myonuclei & satellite cell counts, as demonstrated by Indrani et. al.;
![[1]](https://i0.wp.com/fizeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-26.png?resize=660%2C429&ssl=1)
So while we’ve all heard the phrase before, it may actually be true; sufficiently elevated androgen levels can facilitate muscle hypertrophy even while the individual is sedentary.
Testosterone Determines How Effective your Caloric Surplus Will Be as it pertains to Muscle Hypertrophy
Influencers will tell you to eat more food, explaining that your caloric intake simply isn’t high enough. But without testosterone-based pressure, the calories consumed in excess of the body’s daily metabolic needs will inevitably face some pressure to become incorporated into fat tissue instead of muscle tissue. Testosterone controls the path that pluripotent stem cells take, and it does this by inhibiting adipogenic differentiation, thereby inhibiting the possibility of said stem cells maturing in ways characteristic of the adipose lineage, while concomitantly triggering myogenic differentiation, such that the stem cells mature along pathways beholden to the myogenic lineage.
![[2]](https://i0.wp.com/fizeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/image-25.png?resize=660%2C590&ssl=1)
Based on this explanation, we understand then that a degree of testosterone’s impact on satellite cell & myonuclei number increases is related to testosterone ensuring that pluripotent satellite cells take the train headed towards new muscle growth.
If you’re capable of comprehending the concepts discussed in the above article on a more detailed basis, help yourself to the “Muscle Hypertrophy” or “Biology/Endocrinology/Physiology” Extensive Notes, which can be found in the Shop. Perhaps you’ll connect dots that I couldn’t.
References
- Sinha-Hikim I, Roth SM, Lee MI, Bhasin S. Testosterone-induced muscle hypertrophy is associated with an increase in satellite cell number in healthy, young men. Am J Physiol Endocrinol Metab. 2003 Jul;285(1):E197-205. doi: 10.1152/ajpendo.00370.2002. Epub 2003 Apr 1. PMID: 12670837.
- Yarrow JF, McCoy SC, Borst SE. Tissue selectivity and potential clinical applications of trenbolone (17beta-hydroxyestra-4,9,11-trien-3-one): A potent anabolic steroid with reduced androgenic and estrogenic activity. Steroids. 2010 Jun;75(6):377-89. doi: 10.1016/j.steroids.2010.01.019. Epub 2010 Feb 4. PMID: 20138077.