News Finding: In other words, it isn't testosterone levels that predict muscle gains, but how sensitive your muscles are to that testosterone.
Paper Finding: Acute hormonal responses were correlated with gains in lean body mass (LBM), muscle fibre cross-sectional area (CSA) and leg press strength.
News Context: This meant their bodies were able to make better use of the testosterone that was available. In other words, it isn't testosterone levels that predict muscle gains, but how sensitive your muscles are to that testosterone. If you've got a powerful V8 engine but cheap tires, you're not going to be able to make full use of that power.
Paper Context: Acute hormonal responses were correlated with gains in lean body mass (LBM), muscle fibre cross-sectional area (CSA) and leg press strength. There were no significant correlations between the exercise-induced elevations (area under the curve-AUC) of GH, fT and IGF-1 and gains in LBM or leg press strength. Significant correlations were found for cortisol, usually assumed to be a hormone indicative of catabolic drive, AUC with change in LBM (r = 0.29, P \ 0.05) and type II fibre CSA (r = 0.35, P \ 0.01) as well as GH AUC and gain in fibre area (type I: r = 0.36, P = 0.006; type II: r = 0.28, P = 0.04, but not lean mass).