Are you chasing muscle growth but focusing on the wrong priorities?
In today’s algorithm-fed fitness world, it’s easy to get distracted by the noise. That’s why we’ve created this science-based hierarchy of hypertrophy:
1️⃣ Adequate Training Stimulus
Muscle growth starts with effective training. That means sufficient volume, appropriate loading, and high-quality execution.
→ Are you progressively overloading?
→ Are your sets close enough to failure to actually drive adaptation?
→ Are your reps executed in a way that challenges the target muscle, not just moving the weight from A to B?
You can’t out-supplement poor training, and no meal plan can compensate for under-stimulated muscle.
2️⃣ Adequate Nutrition
Once training is in place, nutrition becomes the next pillar. While the details can get complex, the fundamentals remain simple:
🔹 Eat enough calories, ideally in a small surplus (e.g. ~1% bodyweight gain/month)
🔹 Hit sufficient protein, 2–2.5g/kg bodyweight is a solid range for most lifters, especially in a gaining phase or when chasing marginal gains.
Some might need more protein in a deficit (even up to 3g/kg), but obsessing over the “perfect” macro split often distracts from the big picture: are you fuelling performance and recovery?
3️⃣ Adequate Recovery
Recovery isn’t just about foam rollers and ice baths baths, it’s about managing fatigue and enabling adaptation.
If you’re training hard, you need to recover hard. That includes:
✔️ Prioritising sleep
✔️ Taking rest days
✔️ Planning deloads when needed
✔️ Matching your recovery strategy to your training volume and your lifestyle
On the flip side, if you’re barely training or only hitting the gym once or twice a week, recovery likely isn’t your limiting factor.
4️⃣ Supplements (last and least)
Useful? Sometimes. Essential? Rarely.
Creatine, whey protein, and caffeine have some of the best support in the literature, but they only offer marginal returns.
They’re the cherry on top, not the foundation. Spend less time in the supplement aisle and more time in the kitchen or gym.