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Oct 14, 2023 · 10-20 sets seem to be the sweet spot for how many sets per muscle group per week to do. That said, how many sets you should do depends on 5 factors: 1) individuality, 2) exercise execution, 3) rest times duration, 4) how you count sets, and 5) whether you’re over-prioritizing “optimal” over consistency.
Mar 1, 2021 · Resistance training (also known as strength training) is regarded as one of the best ways to slow and even reverse age-related muscle loss, known as sarcopenia. To find that happy medium between doing too little and too much new guidelines suggest people should focus on five categories: type of exercise, reps, weight, sets, and frequency.
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- Overview
- What’s the short answer?
- Per workout vs. per week
- Workout sets vs. reps
- Weekly volume vs. frequency
- Choosing your split
- How to maximize your routine
- Sample routine for size
- Sample routine for strength
- Sample routine for endurance
How many exercises you should do per muscle group depends on several factors, including your fitness level and goals. Here are healthy tips.
We know that strength training is good for you — great, actually.
From increased muscle mass and stronger bones to better balance and weight management, incorporating strength training into your exercise routine is a no-brainer.
What’s infinitely more confusing is figuring out the logistics of it all. Is there a magic number of days per week you should work out? Should you split upper and lower body? How many reps and sets?
It varies depending on several factors, including your fitness level and goals.
For example, research is clear that the more weekly sets you perform, the more muscle hypertrophy — or size increase — you’ll see. But what about if you’re interested in gaining strength? Or muscular endurance?
In general, a range of 1 to 3 sets of an exercise can provide benefits based on your goals, and even just one exercise per muscle group can give you results.
To gain strength, it’s best to stick with a few foundational exercises and concentrate your reps and sets there. If size is your goal, you’ll want to vary your exercises more, spreading your reps and sets between them.
Should you think about exercises per muscle group in a weekly view, or per workout?
To understand this topic better, we should start with addressing training volume.
Training volume = reps x sets x weight.
The correct training volume for you will depend on several factors, including your fitness level and goals.
Training volume is best to approach as a weekly target, as it accounts for how many workouts per week you plan to train a specific muscle group.
Whether you’ll train each muscle group once per week or three times per week, your volume target will stay the same. You’ll just adjust your target number of reps and sets per workout.
It’s also important to think about your workouts in sets versus reps.
When thinking about your weekly training volume, the more reps you complete, the fewer number of sets you’ll need to do. This likely means a lower weight load.
On the flip side, the fewer reps you complete — most likely at a heavier weight — the more sets you’ll need to do.
Your goals come into play here:
•Lower rep ranges of 5 and under are best for strength gains.
•Moderate rep ranges of 6 to 12 are best for a combination of both strength and muscle size (hypertrophy).
Another important consideration: whether you want to knock out your weekly training volume in one workout or spread it out across several.
The frequency of your muscle group training — or the number of sessions per week — can make a difference in your results.
Utilizing three to four sessions per week to hit your training volume will likely provide better results than doing it all at once because of one key factor: recovery.
You’ll be less fatigued and your muscles will be allowed to rest, allowing for better performance even at the end of your sets.
Instead of viewing all of your workouts through a “full body” lens, workout splits target individual muscle groups or regions during different workouts, looking at things from a weekly or even monthly perspective.
For instance, a very basic split routine would be upper body-lower body. Or you could even break it down further with a chest/triceps/abs day, a back/biceps day, a leg day, and a shoulder day each week.
The point of a workout split is to give specific muscle groups time to rest before challenging them again while still hitting the full body every week.
Recovery is an important part of seeing results — especially as your training volume increases — so these breaks are key.
Rest periods
In general, a good rule of thumb is the more you’re lifting, the longer rest you should take between sets. In lower rep ranges, aim for at least 2 minutes between sets. In higher rep ranges, aim for 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Weight
Low-, moderate-, and high-rep ranges are predicated on the fact that you’re challenging yourself to the very last rep. If the last rep isn’t hard to get through, you’re not lifting enough weight.
Recovery
Recovery doesn’t just refer to spacing workouts so you’ll have time to rest. Components like nutrition and sleep are important, too. Make sure the whole package is there, including a well-balanced diet and plenty of Zzz’s to ensure you’re maximizing your results.
Although there are many ways to build muscle size, an upper-lower body split is a foolproof way to start.
Aim for a schedule of 4 days per week. Stick in the moderate rep range of 6 to 12 reps for 3 sets.
To build strength, stick in the range of 1 to 5 reps and 4 to 5 sets. Truly challenge yourself with the load. If you feel as though you could continue, add some more weight in the next set.
A simple, no-frills approach is the best to build strength. Stick with these foundational exercises over 3 days per week to keep the concentration and effort on your load and form.
A full-body approach is great to build muscular endurance.
Scheduling three sessions a week and sticking in the high rep range in 3 sets will have you feeling like a superhero.
Sep 27, 2024 · But some people build more muscle when they do more sets, so we wanted to include a high-volume routine. Some bodybuilders go even higher. The 1960s bodybuilder Steve Reeves was famous for doing a 3-day, full-body routine with 10 exercises in each workout, with 3 sets on each exercise. That’s 30 sets per workout and 90 sets per week.
Mar 29, 2021 · Proven science: Studies show that targeting each muscle group 2-3 times per week with fewer sets results in greater muscle mass than once-per-week workouts that contain many sets.[3] Avoiding burnout: Aside from volume, the amount of intensity you bring to your workouts is important for tearing down muscle tissue and triggering growth.
Oct 11, 2023 · How many sets should a muscle get per week? Research shows that between 10 and 20 sets for an individual muscle group or body part is effective for most individuals who want to build muscle.
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Jul 15, 2024 · For example, if a workout calls for 3 sets of bench press with 12 reps in each set, then you would be expected to do 12 reps three times for a total of 36 repetitions. Determining Sets & Reps. When you are figuring out how many sets and reps you should do per muscle group and workout, there are 3 factors to consider.
