One common question in the fitness community is how many sets should you do each week for a given muscle group in order to maximize muscle growth.
Some people tend to spend hours in the gym each day doing crazy amounts of volume. Others tend to do shorter workouts.
Which one is most effective?
In this article, we will discuss that very question. I will present science-based information on how many sets each muscle group to maximize muscle growth.
Before we begin, let’s discuss what training volume and sets are.
Training Volume and Sets
Training volume is considered the amount of “work” you are doing each week. It is typically considered Sets x Reps x Weight. In other words, provided you are doing a normal rep range of 5-12 reps, it is the amount of challenging sets you are doing each week (leaving no more than 2-3 reps in the tank).
For the sake of this article, we will consider 1 set to be each time you perform 5-12 repetitions of a given exercise. If you do 4 sets of squats, you are doing 5-12 repetitions of squats, resting a couple minutes, and then repeating that 3 more times. Again, for it to be considered a set, it must be challenging, leaving no more than 2-3 reps in the tank.
The Research on Training Volume
While everyone will have different requirements due to many factors, there has been plenty of research on training volume that provides us with a solid foundation.
In a 2017 meta analysis, researcher Dr. Brad Schoenfeld reviewed 15 studies and concluded that 10+ sets per muscle group per week was more effective than 5-9 sets, which was more effective than <5 sets.
Based on the meta analysis mentioned above, it seems to be as though the more volume you do each week, the better results you will see.
However, that is not actually the case. While we do know that too many sets each week can harm your results, we unfortunately, don’t know where that exactly is. There needs to be more research on the topic that addresses what the upper limit of training volume is per week.
That being said, based on the current literature as of now, it seems to be around 20-30 sets per muscle group per week.
So given everything we’ve discussed so far, the research suggests that you should likely be doing between 10-20 sets each week per muscle group to maximize muscle growth.
Now that you know what the research says about training volume, it is time to discuss how many sets you personally should do each week.
How Many Sets Should You Do Each Week?
In short, the number of sets you should do each week depends on a few different factors, which we will discuss now.
Beginner vs Advanced
If you are a beginner working out, you can likely reap the benefits of only performing around 10 sets per muscle group per week. At this stage, just focus on progressive overload, getting stronger each week on your main, compound exercises (Bench press, Pull-ups, overhead shoulder press, squats, deadlifts etc.).
While this might not seem like many sets to you, if you focus on progressive overload of the main compound movements you do, you will get stronger and see great gains.
In fact, you can see incredible strength and muscle gains by doing just 10 sets per muscle group per week for years – it does not just apply to your first 6 months or year of lifting.
If you are a more advanced lifter and have been consistently lifting for several years, you may need more than 10 sets per week. How do you know exactly how many sets you should be doing? Let’s get into it!
When To Increase Training Volume
The most important consideration when trying to gain muscle is progressive overload.
While there are many ways to achieve progressive overload, arguably the most important factor is increasing the weight you are using or performing more repetitions using the same weight.
In other words, in order to gain more muscle, you should primarily be concerned with increasing the weight you are using week-to-week, not necessarily increasing training volume. If you are getting stronger each week doing 10 sets per muscle group, then stick with that. If you are not getting stronger, you should consider the following factors before increasing your training volume.
- Recovery
- Nutrition
- Are you fueling your body with foods that will encourage your body to recover? If you are only eating highly processed foods, this will drastically affect your body’s ability to recover in the necessary ways to promote muscle growth.
- Sleep
- Are you sleeping 7-8 hours per night? If you are not, you are probably not sleeping enough to promote muscle growth. After all, your muscles develop when you are resting outside of the gym.
- Stress
- How are your stress levels? If you are constantly stressed out, your body can’t focus as much on recovering from your gym sessions, which will negatively affect muscle growth.
- Nutrition
- Intensity
Are you pushing yourself when you are training? The average person tends to overestimate how hard they workout.
For a set to count, you should be pushing yourself to the point where you stop within a few reps of failure. In other words, if you are performing a bench press for 8 repetitions, you should choose a weight that you couldn’t do more than 10-11 reps if you wanted to.
I recommend working out with someone who will push you and keep you accountable so you can make the progress you are looking for.
If all of these factors are in check, then you can consider increasing your total training volume. I would start by adding in a few additional sets and do that for a period of time. That being said, you might also want to consider dropping back on the number of sets you are doing for each muscle group per week.
Should I Increase or Decrease My Training Volume?
Let me tell you a quick story about my own past history with training.
When I started working out years ago, I was in the gym 6 days each week doing 25+ sets per muscle group each week, saw minimal results, and I really wasn’t getting much stronger.
It wasn’t until I realized I was doing far too much volume each week where I started seeing drastically different results.
Dropping back my training to 3-4 days per week, focusing on getting stronger on key compound exercises, made the biggest difference. Not only was I spending far less time in the gym, the results I began to see were incredible.
So, if you are a beginner, I would recommend staying closer to 10-15 sets per large muscle group per week.
This might not seem like a lot, but if you take the saying “less is more” and apply it appropriately, you might be surprised at how well it works.
Focus on progressive overload, increasing the weight or reps on your main lifts each workout. If you do this, you will get stronger and gain more muscle.
If you are more advanced and have been lifting for more than a few years, and all of the factors listed above are in check, you can consider raising the number of sets you do each week.
If you currently do around 10 sets per large muscle group per week, consider raising this number closer to 15 and see how that works for a while.
10-20 Sets For All Muscle Groups?
The answer to this question depends on the individual, but for the most part, aim to complete 10-20 sets per large muscle group per week, with fewer sets needed for smaller muscle groups.
What constitutes a large vs small muscle group?
In the table below, I will provide you with the answer:
While 10-20 sets for large muscle groups per week seems adequate based on the current literature, you don’t quite need that many sets for smaller muscle groups because they are indirectly targeted when completing large compound movements.
For example, when you perform a bench press, your triceps need to work in order to push the weight. Likewise, when you perform a pull up, your biceps are working as well.
For this reason, I recommend performing 4-8 additional sets for smaller muscle groups.
So for the biceps, for example, performing an additional 4-8 sets of curls each week will likely be adequate to optimize their growth.
Another consideration is that some movements target more than one large muscle group. For example, a sumo deadlift targets both the hamstrings and glutes, in which case you can count each set as one for both the hamstrings and glutes (additionally, squats target quads and glutes).
The last consideration is if you have a “lagging” muscle group that you want to target more often (such as calves for many people), you can perform more than 4-8 sets per week.
Summary:
In summary, research shows that doing between 10-20 sets for large muscle groups per week is sufficient to maximize your muscle gains.
While you might be thinking that doesn’t sound like much at all, if you focus on progressive overload (getting stronger on your main lifts), you will gain muscle faster than doing more average sets of a particular muscle group.
I hope you learned something from this article and if you have any questions about the information presented here or your current training program, comment below because I am always happy to help.
One More Thing:
At this point, you might be wondering: if you are supposed to do 10-20 sets per muscle group per week, how many days should you break that up into to maximize muscle growth? In the next blog post, we will discuss that!