# Bio Majors: Building Muscles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861 "2003-01-31T14:28:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/1 "2003-01-31T14:28:39Z")
My Advanced Bio teacher once made a statement that we do not really build muscles. But, he never bothered to explain further. Just wondering if he’s correct, and what he’s not saying. He was a very sharp man, and often kept us guessing by only telling half the story. So, what’s the straight dope with our muscles? What do you think he meant by this statement? 😕 Of course, he was the kind of guy who loved to watch people walk on the beach and, unknowingly, get stung by dead hydra (IIRC) jellyfish laying on the beach. I guess bio majors have a sense of fun all to themselves? - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![brainchild876](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@brainchild876](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainchild876)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/2 "2003-01-31T14:35:13Z")
If he meant we don’t make anymore new muscles than we already have then he would be right. The only thing that happens is out muscles that we currently have get bigger. He might have also meant that we don’t build muscles but we do re-build muscles. After an intense workout your muscles will be “torn” for lack of a better word, and when they reform they will be bigger than they were before, causing you to be stronger. ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/3 "2003-01-31T14:49:46Z")
It’s semantics. We destroy muscles and our body rebuilds them, as brainchild876 mentions. But, our body IS us, so we build muscle. If a building is there, and you add a few stories, you don’t “build buildings”, per se. Muscle = building We knock off two stories and add three. Did we build the building? Not really. But, when we were developing in womb, WE did the building, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Nametag](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nametag/32/406_2.png) [@Nametag](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nametag)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/4 "2003-01-31T15:10:30Z")
What he meant, I’m guessing, is that we do not create new muscle cells. Once past a certain age, “muscle building” involves adding fibrils to existing muscle cells. ---
**Author:** ![rhinostylee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bc79bd/32.png) [@rhinostylee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhinostylee)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/5 "2003-01-31T15:43:02Z")
Oh, but many of you are mistaken! You can build new muscle cells. I quote the master himself: “. . . tests have shown that weight training can add new muscle cells, a process called hyperplasia. This is a lot more work than simply strengthening existing muscle cells, admittedly, but you can take some comfort in the fact that the new muscle cells stay with you all your life, even if you knock off weight training later on.” This was found in the archives, subject: “I can’t gain weight! Is my metabolism too fast?” ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/6 "2003-01-31T16:05:58Z")
Cecil’s [article](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_275c.html). ---
**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/7 "2003-01-31T16:07:14Z")
how long ago did your teacher tell you this? it was common knowledge years ago that no new cells were made, but we know. i have always wondered, being a bodybuilder, how often hyperplasia takes place in the normal lifter… i think i’ll do a search on that. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/8 "2003-01-31T16:11:12Z")
Hyperplasia, btw, is the growth of the tissue that provides energy for the muscle. It is not the growth of new contractile tissue, which provides all of a muscle’s strength and roughly 80% of its size. ---
**Author:** ![Fuel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/df705f/32.png) [@Fuel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuel)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/9 "2003-01-31T16:28:41Z")
hyperplasia looks like it only happens in extreme cases, such as using GH. does not happen to average lifter. where did you find out about that 80% figure, ultrafilter? ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bio-majors-building-muscles/151861/10 "2003-01-31T16:36:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fuel \* > \*\*hyperplasia looks like it only happens in extreme cases, such as using GH. does not happen to average lifter. > > where did you find out about that 80% figure, ultrafilter? \*\* It was from a link posted in an earlier GQ thread. IIRC, it was part of a discussion between **Epimetheus** and **Kid Charlemagne**. I’ll search later, if you don’t get to it first.