Anabolic hormone

Anabolic hormones are those whose net effect is construction: promoting protein synthesis, glycogen storage, bone formation and growth. Testosterone, insulin, growth hormone and IGF-1 are the principal ones.

It matters as a category because it is the framing behind an enormous amount of training folklore — the idea that a workout should be designed to maximise an acute hormonal response. That idea has been tested repeatedly and has not held up: post-exercise hormone spikes correlate poorly with actual muscle growth, which tracks mechanical loading and total volume far better.

In practice the hormonal factors that do matter are chronic rather than acute: adequate sleep, sufficient energy availability and managed stress. Clinically low testosterone is a genuine issue with genuine treatment; a slightly larger post-squat spike is not.