Can you make a muscle stronger without increasing the size?

[frorider6]

Not talking about adding any drug either. Can you make a muscle stronger without adding to the actual mass of the muscle?

 

[Silent Method]

Absolutely. A good deal of strength development is pure central nervous system coordination. Your muscle fibers fire in little groups called motor units. Through resistance training your nervous system learns to recruit the optimal muscle groups in a coordinated effort. This concept applies within the motor unit, on the individual fiber level as well.

Also, scientists have been able to measure several pathways of strength adaptation at a physiological level that reguire no hypertrophy.

However, in general, in its adaptation to strength training, there will be a physiological push toward increased protein synthesis in muscle tissue.

 

[Nathan]

Good answer from Silent Method. I think the main trick is to gain strength through CNS adaptation. IF you aren't eating enough, then you will not grow, but you can still gain strength provided you aren't eating too little.