In other words, the type of load – or, how heavy the weight is – is the primary driving force behind the building of muscle mass. Here’s how the researchers sum up their findings: “These results suggest that (a) a moderate progression of 20% in the number of sets is more beneficial than a vigorous one, and (b) sharp increases in weekly volume may not always result in greater increases in muscle mass due to a likely training volume ceiling effect, beyond which increases in volume are not followed by hypertrophic gains.”. So, what’s going on? As Brad Schoenfeld, one of the study authors, points out: “[T]he study duration was relatively short, comprising eight weeks of regimented training. Lat pulldown The other 15% can be made up of … Training your legs is hard work. A follow-up study, this time in humans, also found no additional muscle growth with 12 versus 6 sets per workout [8]. Ever since, debates have raged about the number of sets required to maximize gains in both size and strength. Set one: Warm up – 1 set of 20 repetitions; 135 pounds; Set two: Warm up – 1 set of 12 repetitions; 185 pounds; Set three: Warm up – 1 x 8 repetitions; 225 pounds; Set four: Work set – 1 x 6 repetitions; 250 pounds. As an example, let’s say that doing 6 sets rather than 3 sets per muscle group speeds up growth by 25%. A practical way to do so is with the use of short specialization cycles, where you bump up the amount of work you do for certain muscles to make them grow faster. This is something that’s shown up in animal studies. People targeting muscular endurance will aim for a range from 12 to 20+ reps. Obviously you won’t be able to lift heavy amounts of weight for 20+ reps, so you’ll be lifting lighter loads. If regular training programs always seem to leave you with nagging aches and pains in your knees, shoulders, elbows or back, I’ve put together a complete training program that shows you how to put on muscle without wrecking your joints. For example, your routine might vary in intensity and look something like this: 5 sets at 50% 1RM on Monday; 3 sets at 70% 1RM on Wednesday; 2 sets … Keep in mind that our bodies become accustomed pretty quickly to the same routines, so it’s a good idea to continue advancing often by adding a bit more weight. I’m not saying you should be doing 45 sets per muscle group per week. What little research there is on the subject of high volume training and muscle growth shows that gains in muscle size tend to flatten out at around 10-20 sets per muscle group per week [3, 4]. The benefit of any increase in training volume has to be weighed against the potential negative effect it can have on connective tissue. 3 x 20 repetitions – Rest 30 seconds in between each set. Subjects in all three groups did 8-12 reps per set, with all the sets carried out to (or at least close to) muscular failure. And the way to do it is by starting out with a lower training volume and gradually work your way up. Some exercises, such as deadlifts, are better suited to lower reps for example. That’s because non-training stressors have the potential to slow the rate at which you recover from and adapt to your workouts. FREE: Download my simple 3-Day Full Body Hypertrophy Workout, with links to video demos of each exercise. one of the most common mistakes athletes make is to discount the stress that their jobs and busy lives place on their bodies. When I first heard about the study, I was expecting to see such a high volume of training lead to stagnation or even regression. But not for your whole body. Blitzing your muscles with lots of sets gives you much more of a pump, as well as generating a high level of post-exercise muscle soreness. Nor can anyone else. Each workout can consist of a total of around 15-25 sets, but the number of sets for a specific muscle group in that workout should be at around 10 or below. I’m glad i ran into your article. But if your results in the gym have dried up, and you’re just winging it with no real plan to follow, MX4 is well worth looking into. In one study, subjects trained one of their legs with 20% more sets than they were used to (individualized volume), while the other was trained with a fixed set volume of 22 sets per week (nonindividualized volume) [10]. A training program can involve a large number of sets, but if each set is cut short with a large number of reps in the tank, the strength of the “make me bigger” signal being sent to your muscles will be relatively small. How Many Sets Per Muscle Group: Here Is The Schedule. Chances are you’re going to see better results with at least 10 sets per muscle group per week than you will with 5-9 sets. In other words, the gains become progressively smaller as the number of sets increases. If you want moderate hypertrophy and great endurance (rather than explosive strength) you need to work out with a weight that is 60% of RM. You can’t come to a strong conclusion about anything based on the results of one study. Most ideal for strength related goals. Very few people can tolerate such a high volume of training for extended periods of time. In fact, you could probably tolerate three sessions of 8 sets. It reports, amongst other things, that a whopping 45 sets per muscle group per week led to muscle being built more quickly than 9 sets or 27 sets. Biceps super set with Triceps. If you want to lose your gut, without having to follow a set of confusing diet rules, cut out entire food groups, or eat foods that you don’t like or have never heard of, the Gutless nutrition manual will show you how it’s done. Starting at lower volumes and then gradually ramping it up over time will let you see if the increase in sets makes enough of a difference to justify the time and effort involved in doing so. Monday, Wednesday and Friday). If you tried to do it for all muscles at the same time, the overall training stress would be too much. If your goal is strong hypertrophy and muscle strength you need to work out with a weight that is 80% of RM. You can also switch up your exercises. However, there are still reasons to use other rep ranges. Ideally, you want to find a training volume where your repetition strength is increasing, you don’t feel tired and worn out all the time, and the program is one you can stick to. Also, because you’re targeting endurance improvements, you want to decrease the amount of rest between sets: 30 seconds to a minute. So, how many sets and reps you need to do for muscle mass (hypertrophy)?