We summarize some results reported in [1] on the mechanics of growth of continuum bodies. To focus solely on some fundamental aspects of this problem, we consider single-phase continua, although growth of living matter requires a more comprehensive framework. In our model, all the interactions deemed necessary are accounted for in the Lagrangian density function of the considered growing body and in the definition of non-potential forces [1]. After discussing the motivations for this approach, and the related drawbacks, we review two procedures determining the set of equations that describe the mechanics of a growing tissue [2]. Both are based on the growth tensor, i.e., the anelastic factor of the multiplicative decomposition of the body’s deformation gradient tensor, which represents the kinematics of the growth-induced structural evolution of the body [3]. Within this formulation, the mass balance of the body can be shown to link its mass variation with the growth tensor time rate. To account for sources and sinks of mass observed in experiments on cellular aggregates, we regard the mass balance as a nonholonomic constraint on the rate of the growth tensor, and we study this constraint variationally. For this purpose, we review a work by Llibre et al. [4] in which, for a discrete mechanical system subjected to nonholonomic constraints, the authors append the constraints to the system’s Lagrangian function and determine its dynamic equations by the so-called Hamilton–Suslov variational principle [4]. We adapt the approach by Llibre et al. [4] to the growth of a single-phase continuum, and we find that the equations describing its dynamics are consistent with those obtained by means of the Principle of Virtual Work only under certain hypotheses [1]. However, by suitably reformulating the method of Llibre et al. [4], we prove that the consistency with the Principle of Virtual Work can be recovered also in the case in which such hypotheses are dropped [1]. Finally, we test our method by applying it to some scenarios taken from the literature [5]. REFERENCES [1] A. Grillo, A. Pastore and S. Di Stefano, J. Elast. (2025) 157(3): 1–43. [2] A. Grillo and S. Di Stefano, Math. Mech. Complex Syst. (2023) 1: 57–86. [3] A. DiCarlo and S. Quiligotti, Mech. Res. Communications (2002) 29(6): 449–456. [4] J. Llibre, R. Ramírez, N. Sadovskaia, Nonlinear Dyn. (2014) 78: 2219–2247. [5] A. Tatone and F. Recrosi, Eur. J. Mech. A, Solids (2024) 103: 105154.