What is the most important hormone for muscle growth?

Author: Dr. Jaydon Kihn  |  Last update: Monday, July 28, 2025

Testosterone is primarily produced by the testicles (and the ovaries in women). Testosterone regulates muscle mass, strength, fat distribution, libido, and bone mass [3], making it one of the most important hormones for bodybuilding.

What hormone is responsible for muscle growth?

The pituitary gland is a structure in our brain that produces different types of specialised hormones, including growth hormone (also referred to as human growth hormone or HGH). The roles of growth hormone include influencing our height, and helping build our bones and muscles.

What makes muscles grow faster?

Increase the intensity of your workouts instead of working out for long periods of time. Make sure you're getting enough calories and protein in your diet for muscle growth. Get plenty of sleep and give your muscles time for recovery. Try supplements for more strength, energy, and power, like creatine and HMB.

What hormone makes you grow faster?

Human growth hormone, also known as HGH and somatotropin, is a natural hormone your pituitary gland makes and releases that acts on many parts of the body to promote growth in children.

Does IGF-1 cause muscle growth?

In addition to a direct anabolic effect on skeletal muscle—for example, the production of more protein—IGF-I is also capable of stimulating the proliferation and differentiation of muscle stem cells (satellite cells). Results of animal studies suggest that this process is obligatory for muscle hypertrophy to proceed.

3 Most Important Muscle Building Hormones

Which is better, hGH or IGF-1?

Overall, this evidence supports our work and others that strongly propose that reduced GH rather than the secondary reduction of IGF-1 provides beneficial effects on aging and is the key to longevity in mammalian systems perhaps through stress resistance, reduced inflammation, and insulin sensitivity.

Will IGF-1 make you taller?

In addition to bone growth, IGF-1 grows muscle and reduces fat storage. But too much IGF-1 enlarges the face, feet and hands, as we see in acromegaly. It produces extreme height, especially during childhood and adolescence.

What is the number one growth hormone?

Norditropin® is a treatment for children and adults with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and children with other growth-related disorders. It has been used for over 25 years and is the #1 prescribed once-daily growth hormone therapy on the market. Based on Komodo's Healthcare Map as of February 2024.

Can HGH make you taller at 30?

Can HGH increase your height after age 21? Human growth hormone only makes children taller. Once the growth plates in a child's bones have fused, HGH stops working in this way.

What stimulates muscle growth the most?

The five factors that stimulate muscle growth
  • Stretching tension. ...
  • Contraction tension. ...
  • Time under tension. ...
  • Muscle burn. ...
  • Muscle pump.

What is the 6 12 25 rule?

The 6-12-25 Protocol is a powerhouse training protocol that harnesses the intensity of giant sets to pack high-volume work into a short period. By targeting one muscle group or body part per set, this method takes you through three different exercises with minimal rest, hitting 6, 12, and 25 reps in quick succession.

Which supplement is best for muscle gain?

10 Supplements That Promote Muscle Growth
  • Whey Protein. ...
  • Branched-Chain Amino Acids (BCAAs) ...
  • Glutamine. ...
  • Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate (HMB) ...
  • Betaine. ...
  • Coenzyme Q10. ...
  • Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) is a steroid hormone converted into testosterone or estradiol in the body. ...
  • Beta-Alanine.

Why is it harder to build muscle as you get older?

This is when your skeletal muscle gradually loses the ability to make (synthesize) protein. Protein synthesis enables you to build up strength when you exercise. As that ability lessens, it gets that much harder for you to build and maintain muscle mass.

What 3 hormones are necessary for growth?

The main hormones concerned with growth are pituitary growth hormone, thyroid hormone, the sex hormones testosterone and estrogen, and the pituitary gonadotropic (sex-gland-stimulating) hormones.

What is the best peptide for muscle growth?

The top peptides for muscle growth include Sermorelin, Ipamorelin, CJC-1295, BPC-157, and IGF-1 LR3.

Is IGF-1 worth taking?

Because of the links between IGF-1 and diabetes, some studies have looked at whether it can be used as a treatment for those who are low in it. Several studies have found that IGF-1 can improve blood sugar control; however, it also has high rates of adverse side effects (25).

What is the best age to start growth hormone treatment?

A consensus statement on the management of short children born SGA recommends starting GH therapy at a young age (1), and in patients born SGA with Silver–Russell syndrome, initiation of GH treatment at age 2 to 4 years is recommended (10).

Does hGH change your face?

It is believed that GH therapy affects facial bones, especially in regions where cartilage-mediated growth takes place, such as the mandibular head or ramus. In patients with GH deficiency, replacement therapy can accelerate development of craniofacial structures.

Is IGF-1 a steroid?

Unlike anabolic steroids or other more easily detected substances, hormones, growth factors and related substances like hGH and IGF-1, which mimic hormones naturally produced in the body, provide a more difficult challenge to detect.

What happens when you stop taking HGH?

Psychological symptoms of GH withdrawal, reported in interviews at end-point by placebo-treated patients, included decreased energy, and increased tiredness, pain, irritability and depression.

Does IGF-1 increase breast size?

The levels of circulating IGF-1 have also been linked to breast volume. High IGF-1 levels are associated with larger breast volumes in nulliparous women who are not using OCs (Jernström and Olsson, 1997).

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