More often than not, the question that kicks off an individual’s weightlifting onquest is, What is the optimal number of sets per workout for maximum results?. Everything had been fine up until now. But that all changes when you hear that this number changes to accommodate a person’s personal goals, experience level, and even their ability to recover. Whichever your case might be, learning how to arrange your sets in order is one of the great advantages you may easily get.
What is a Set and Its Relevance to Training
A set is the completion of specific movements of an exercise grouped over a period without stopping, also known as exercises with repetitions. For example, counting 10 bicep curls translates to one set. Set is the most basic aspect that goes into calculating training volume as Sets is equal to “sets x reps x weight”. If you are hitting the gym with a goal, say building muscles- which is also referred to as Hypertrophy, working out volume is dominantly vital. Through the proper management of training volume increments, the optimal stress is placed on muscle fibers, prompting growth, strength, and increased size over time.
The Connection of Sets and Muscle Growth
Muscle Hypertrophy is driven by progressive overload. It supports adaptation because over time, volume or intensity must be increased on muscles to maintain the level of challenge. Sets provide the means to achieve the level of mechanical tension and metabolic fatigue necessary for this form of evolution. Importantly, there is a sweet spot. Too few will not provide enough stimulus, while performing too many will greatly increase the chance of overtraining and insufficient recovery. Therefore, somewhere in between these two extremes lies the number of sets that optimally promotes muscle growth while enabling sufficient recovery between sessions.
Optimally sets per week For Hypertrophy
With most fitness scholars and practitioners alike, multi workout split training for hypertrophy, suggests within a week to target 10 to 20 sets per muscle group. For muscle groups trained twice a week, on average, 5 to 10 sets per session is sufficient. On the other hand, if a muscle is trained once a week, all 10-20 sets need to be done in that one workout.
New Age Lifters: Start Simple and Build Smart
As a beginner to resistance training exercises, you do not need ‘hyper-volume’ work to get results, so a workout volume of 10-15 sets should suffice. Generally, try to cover a full-body workout 2-3 times a week. For each of the major muscle groups, do around 2-3 sets of each exercise and include compound movements like squats, push-ups or rows. In the early stages, it is better to prioritize complete recovery and rest. An example of a beginner level workout is 3 sets of squats, 3 sets of push-ups, 2 sets of bent-over rows, 2 sets of shoulder presses with dumbbells, and 2 sets of planks which sums up to 12 sets in a single session.
Intermediate Lifters: Maintain Balance While Zoning in on a Target Volume
As you progress with your workouts, you start to notice, over time, the workouts get easier; this light feeling indicates that you have become stronger. As for intermediate lifters, the goal would be to hit somewhere near 15-25 sets for every workout, especially if you are utilizing a split routine like push/pull/legs or upper/lower body. It is possible that you lift three to four sets per exercise with four to five exercises. Working with this amount of volume for each individual muscle group helps in training that muscle with optimal intensity without face burnout. Following exercises: Chest, shoulder and triceps, a typical push day might include: 4 sets of bench press, 3 sets of incline dumbbell press, 3 sets of overhead shoulder press, 3 sets of lateral raises, and 3 sets of tricep dips bringing the total to 16 sets for the day.
Advanced Lifters: Additional Volume Completion
More advanced lifters tend to fall in the range of 20 to 30 total sets for a workout session for efficiency reasons, as well as training recovery capacity. This might focus on one or two muscle groups for maximally training specificity. Such athletes also tend to use time augmenting techniques like supersets, drop sets, as well as rest-pause training, to further enhance lifting time and growth. Emphasis is made on effective sets with the appropriate rest used, intensity, progressive overload, and volume. A chest workout may look like this: four sets flat barbell bench press, four sets incline bench press, four sets chest fly machine, three sets cross cable, three sets dips, and finish off with burn-out pushups. Altogether that gives 21 sets.
Training and Recovery
The volume of sets changes depending on the frequency of training for a specific muscle group. For instance, while training the chest twice a week, six to ten sets per session might be sufficient. If it’s once a week, you’ll need more sets to reach the goal for weekly volume. Recovery depends on sleep, diet, chronologic age, and the amount of stress one has. If you struggle recovering, doing more sets will work against you. It will help to do fewer, but high-quality sets that guarantee consistency and avoid injury.
The Effect of Exercise Selection and Intensity
Exercises like bench press, deadlift, and squat are more challenging than isolation exercises per muscle region. Compound exercises also tend to require less overall sets in the workout. One case that illustrates this principle is leg extensions; it takes 5 sets of leg extensions to achieve the same results as heavy squats which only requires 3 sets. For hypertrophy goals aimed at muscle building, optimal volume would be around 10-20 sets per week per muscle group and combined with moderate weight in the 8-12 rep range. For endurance, the opposite formula holds true: lighter weights with increased reps per set while adjusting the number of sets accordingly, and for strength: higher weight, fewer sets.
Final Thoughts: Once Again, Strategy Will Outlast Any Substitute
When it comes to hypertrophy, mindlessly performing additional sets won’t always ensure the best results. How well those sets are performed as well as how much rest is taken will influence progress. Instead of mindlessly increasing volume, considering progress and listening to your body is important. As a general heuristic, it is prudent to begin from a set per workout and slowly increase them until the demands from training sessions outstrip supply. These guidelines allow muscle growth while avoiding the all-too-common problem of overtraining. The next time you step into a gym, resist the urge to bring intensity – this time focus the energy on executing a targeted plan.
Recommended Reading：How Many Exercises Per Workout(Per Muscle Group) is Ideal?
