# Do some people have more muscle cells than others? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 6, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183 "2018-08-06T17:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Contemplation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Contemplation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contemplation)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/1 "2018-08-06T17:55:47Z")
It seems like some people have more muscles cells than others because they gain and retain mass more easily. You don’t grow new muscles after you are born, but it seems like some people are born with more of them. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/2 "2018-08-06T18:22:51Z")
_Of course_ you grow more muscle cells after you are born. You might notice this through adults being larger than children. The only type of cells I can think of where the number is fixed at birth is primary oocites in frmales. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/3 "2018-08-06T18:35:14Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > _Of course_ you grow more muscle cells after you are born. You might notice this through adults being larger than children. > [@](#): > > Growth of muscle can occur in three ways: (1) by an increase in muscle cell numbers, (2) by an increase in muscle fiber diameter, and (3) by an increase in fiber length. All three of these mechanisms are involved in muscle growth. However, growth in cell numbers is limited to the prenatal and immediately postnatal period, with the animals and man being born with or soon reaching their full complement of muscle cells. Thus, growth occurs by either hypertrophy of the existing muscle fibers by adding additional myofibrils to increase the muscle mass or by adding new sarcomeres to the ends of the existing muscle fibers to increase their length. > **[Muscle growth and exercise - PubMed](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2222798/)** > > This paper first reviews muscle growth and then considers the influence of exercise in growth. Knowledge about how muscle cells grow and some factors that may influence the growth pattern are discussed first since these effects must be considered... OP, there are numerous reasons some people get faster results from resistance traing. It’s a pretty long list. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/4 "2018-08-06T18:42:24Z")
Too late to edit and add: It may be the case that muscle hyperplasia occurs in certain conditions, but it’s not an “of course” issue; we get bigger muscles without it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/5 "2018-08-06T18:46:45Z")
Okay, so color me suprised. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/6 "2018-08-06T19:08:15Z")
There is one genetic factor that may be of interest. Myostatin is a protein that inhibits muscle growth and fat deposition. Some animals have a genetic mutation that limits myostatin production, and so they tend to be more lean and muscular than their peers. [Belgian Blue cattle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgian_Blue) have been bred for this trait, along with “bully whippets,” of which [Wendy the Whippet](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22wendy+the+whippet%22&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi7l9_ZjtncAhVMq1kKHaGcDVkQ_AUICigB&biw=1280&bih=891) was probably the most famous. This mutation happens in people too. [Liam Hoekstra](https://abcnews.go.com/Health/MedicineCuttingEdge/story?id=7231487&page=1) comes to mind. ---
**Author:** ![x-ray\_vision](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/x-ray_vision/32/351_2.png) [@x-ray\_vision](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x-ray_vision)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-some-people-have-more-muscle-cells-than-others/819183/7 "2018-08-06T19:20:16Z")
Machine Elf, I was actually going to use myostatin deficiency as an example of one of the more rare reasons some gain muscle more easily. Flex Wheeler is said to have it. > **[Flex Wheeler: Greatest Genetics in the History of Bodybuilding?](https://gymtalk.com/flex-wheeler/)** > > Flex Wheeler had one of the greatest physiques in this history of bodybuilding, due in part to his genetics and myostatin deficiency.