There is no doubt that exercise damages muscles. However, there is little evidence that this damage causes subsequent muscle hypertrophy. Based on the evidence I have reviewed in this article, it seems that damage plays a minimal role in muscle hypertrophyhttps://www.strongerbyscience.com/muscle-damage/
@ZachHomol your case against running.
"noted that downhill running can induce significant damage to muscle tissue... “muscle damage by itself is not sufficient to induce significant muscle growth.”
“it can do so only in the presence of resistance-based mechanical overload.”