The Revive Stronger Podcast 495: Unlocking Stubborn Muscle Growth - Scott Stevenson
Nov 22, 2025
In this engaging conversation, Scott Stevenson, an experienced strength and bodybuilding coach, shares his insights on stubborn muscle growth. Scott discusses the varied responses to training stimuli and the critical balance of recovery and training volume. He explains why advanced trainees may need to push to failure and emphasizes the importance of the mind-muscle connection. The duo also explores nutrition's role, the significance of skill acquisition in lifting, and how incorporating novelty in training can enhance adaptation and accelerate muscle growth.
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Individual Hypertrophy Is Highly Variable
- Hypertrophy response varies widely by genetics and recovery capacity.
- Some people need sets to failure while others grow with sets leaving reps in reserve.
Recovery Sets Your Volume Ceiling
- Recovery ability limits how much stimulating volume you can use.
- Some lifters must push sets to true failure because they can't recover from higher volume.
Distribute Stimulus With Exercise Variety
- Vary exercises to distribute stimulus across different activation patterns.
- Use multiple exercises rather than many sets of one movement to reduce local overload and recruit different fibers.
