The Science of Muscle Growth: How Faster Contractions, Hydration, and Targeted Nutrition Build a Leaner, Stronger Body
If you’ve ever wondered why some people seem to build muscle faster than others, the answer isn’t just in their workout routine. It’s also in what’s happening inside their muscles and cells—and how well their bodies are supported with key nutrients and hydration. Two groundbreaking studies published in Nutrients shine a light on these inner workings. One shows how the speed of your muscle contractions can influence strength and performance, while the other highlights the surprising role that water intake plays in shaping your body composition.
You can create a powerful strategy for building lean muscle by understanding these studies and combining them with well-established nutrition science. And with Healthmasters’ Muscle Blast BCAA Formula and Forever Fit Whey Protein, it becomes easier than ever to put these insights into practice.
Faster Muscle Contractions: Why They Matter for Growth
A 2021 study explored how caffeine affects muscle behavior at a microscopic level [1]. Researchers worked with 40 professional handball players and gave them a caffeine dose relative to their body weight. Using a laser-based tool called tensiomyography, they measured how quickly their muscles responded to electrical signals from the nervous system.
Here’s what they found: after caffeine, the muscles contracted more quickly and moved a shorter distance during each twitch. While these changes were measured in milliseconds, they make a big difference. A faster muscle contraction means the nervous system is more efficiently activating the fibers responsible for powerful, explosive movements.
So what does that mean for the average lifter? When you do a squat, deadlift, or push-up, your nervous system sends signals to your muscles to contract. The quicker those signals reach the muscle, the faster you can generate force. This is especially important for recruiting the high-threshold muscle fibers—the ones most likely to grow in response to strength training. Faster recruitment of these fibers means you’re not just going through the motions; you’re creating a stronger growth stimulus with every rep.
But here’s the key: faster contractions from caffeine create the opportunity for growth. To actually repair and grow new muscle tissue, your body needs to be flooded with the right amino acids—especially leucine—to switch on its muscle-building machinery.
Leucine: The Muscle-Building “On” Switch
Every time you lift weights, your muscles experience tiny tears in the fibers. To rebuild them stronger, your body uses a process called muscle protein synthesis. The master controller of this process is a cellular pathway called mTOR (mechanistic target of rapamycin). Think of mTOR as the “light switch” for muscle growth: flip it on, and your cells start turning dietary protein into new muscle fibers.
The amino acid leucine, found in high concentrations in branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs), is the key to flipping that switch. Studies show that just 2 grams of leucine is enough to fully activate mTOR—even in the absence of a full meal [3]. This makes leucine an ideal nutrient to take before, during, or right after training, when your muscles are most sensitive to growth signals.
Healthmasters’ Muscle Blast BCAA Formula delivers 1.639 grams of leucine per scoop, which gets you nearly to that activation threshold. It also includes the other two BCAAs—isoleucine and valine—plus all six remaining essential amino acids to provide a complete building block profile for your muscles. Taken pre-workout, it helps ensure that the fibers you’re activating during those fast, caffeine-boosted contractions have all the raw materials they need to repair and grow.
Hydration and Body Composition: The Overlooked Connection
While amino acids trigger growth, hydration quietly sets the stage for a leaner, healthier body. A 2019 Spanish study followed 358 healthy young adults and discovered something surprising: those who drank more water relative to their body weight had less body fat, smaller waistlines, and lower total body weight [2].
This wasn’t just because they were eating fewer calories or exercising more. Even after controlling for diet and activity, hydration showed a clear link to improved body composition.
Why does water make such a difference? There are a few reasons:
- Thermogenesis Boost – Drinking water slightly increases your resting energy expenditure, meaning your body burns more calories just maintaining its temperature.
- Appetite Regulation – Proper hydration helps curb unnecessary hunger, reducing the risk of overeating.
- Nutrient Transport – Water helps deliver amino acids, glucose, and electrolytes to your muscles during and after exercise. Without enough water, these nutrients can’t reach your muscle cells efficiently, slowing recovery and growth.
This makes hydration a critical, though often overlooked, part of muscle building and fat loss. For an active person, a good target is about 35 milliliters of water per kilogram of body weight daily—which equals roughly 90 ounces for a 180-pound individual. And when you’re training hard or sweating heavily, you may need even more.
Whole Proteins: The Foundation of Muscle Recovery
While leucine acts as the spark plug for muscle growth, your body also needs a full tank of amino acids to complete the process. That’s why complete proteins like whey are so important. Whey protein is rapidly digested and naturally rich in leucine, making it one of the best choices for post-workout recovery.
In a landmark study, researchers found that 20 grams of whey protein stimulated nearly 50% more muscle protein synthesis than the same amount of soy protein after exercise [4]. This is because whey not only provides leucine but also all nine essential amino acids your body needs to rebuild muscle tissue.
Healthmasters’ Forever Fit Whey Protein offers 21 grams of grass-fed New Zealand whey in each serving, along with digestive enzymes (Aminogen®) that help your body absorb it more effectively. The formula also includes prebiotic fiber for gut health and medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) for clean energy—making it an ideal recovery shake or meal replacement.
Turning Science Into Results
Imagine walking into your next workout with a nervous system that’s firing on all cylinders, muscles primed with leucine, and a body fully hydrated to transport nutrients where they’re needed most. Then picture flooding those muscles with a complete protein source in the critical window after training. Over weeks and months, these small habits compound into big changes: faster recovery, improved strength, and a physique that looks leaner and more defined.
Within the first two weeks of applying this strategy, you may notice better focus during workouts and less post-training soreness. By weeks three to six, consistent amino acid and protein intake starts translating into measurable strength gains and early lean mass increases. Over two to three months, the combination of leucine-rich pre-workout support, high-quality post-workout protein, and proper hydration sets you up for a noticeable transformation in both muscle and body fat.
The Bottom Line
Muscle growth isn’t just about what happens in the gym—it’s about setting the right conditions inside your body for growth and repair. Recent studies show that faster muscle contractions, proper hydration, and targeted nutrition work together to create the perfect environment for building lean mass. Healthmasters’ Muscle Blast and Forever Fit Whey Protein are designed to make these insights practical, giving your body exactly what it needs to perform, recover, and grow.
When you combine these supplements with a solid workout routine and hydration habits, you’re not just working harder—you’re working smarter.
References
[1] Domaszewski, P., et al. (2021). Caffeine-induced effects on human skeletal muscle contraction time and maximal displacement measured by tensiomyography. Nutrients, 13(3), 815. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu13030815
[2] Laja García, A. I., et al. (2019). Influence of water intake and balance on body composition in healthy young adults from Spain. Nutrients, 11(8), 1923. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu11081923
[3] Norton, L. E., & Layman, D. K. (2006). Leucine regulates translation initiation of protein synthesis in skeletal muscle after exercise. Journal of Nutrition, 136(2), 533S–537S. https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/136.2.533S
[4] Tang, J. E., et al. (2009). Ingestion of whey hydrolysate, casein, or soy protein isolate: Effects on mixed muscle protein synthesis at rest and following resistance exercise in young men. Journal of Applied Physiology, 107(3), 987–992. https://doi.org/10.1152/japplphysiol.00076.2009
*The matters discussed in this article are for informational purposes only and not medical advice. Please consult your healthcare practitioner on the matters discussed herein.
*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Healthmasters' products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
