Twelve sets a week per muscle group is enough unless you've trained for several years. If you have, you might want to do between 15 and 20 sets to continue getting results. For beginners, 12 is a good number to aim for.
Most people do respond well to it, assuming to they still train hard enough. That means 15 to 25 sets per muscle per week. To make sure recovery doesn't become an issue, you may want to increase volume that high for just 1-2 muscles at a time, while keeping others in the usual range.
Start low to build functional strength
If you're bored with that, upping to 12 to 15 reps will help tone your muscles, as well as enhancing your stability. For the advanced TRX practitioner, Dase recommends 15-20 reps per set, incorporating more challenging variations of the exercises while maintaining form.
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.
You should aim for 200--220reps per week per big muscle group (chest,back,legs) and around 160--200 for small muscle groups (triceps, biceps etc.) This could be 15 sets or even 25 according to the number of reps you do.
This holds that regardless of whether you're trying to build muscle, strength, power, or endurance, performing three sets of 10 reps per exercise is a good place to start. The scheme mostly works, especially if you're just starting out with strength training—because everything works in the beginning.
Volume and Frequency
Research suggests that hitting a muscle group 2-3 times per week yields the best results for muscle growth. Therefore, you should aim for 12-20 sets per week for optimal biceps development.
The research also states the most effective range of sets is 5-10 sets per week per muscle group for muscle growth, and 2 sets per week per muscle group for strength. These can be easily attained in a well-rounded programme.
Junk volume refers to excessive training volume that does not contribute meaningfully to muscle growth or strength gains. It often involves high repetitions, low intensity, and excessive isolation exercises performed with the mistaken belief that more volume equates to better results.
This decreases muscle activation and work capacity. Especially when training to supposed failure on heavy compound exercises, if you have to do 8 sets with a 1-minute rest interval, your last sets won't have many reps or you'll have to majorly cut back on the weight and less weight means less tension on the muscle.
Moving into higher rep ranges like 15+ in a set targets endurance improvement. You'll use lighter weights but do more reps, which helps improve cardiovascular health while toning muscles.
Rest between set durations should be based on sets/exercise (volume), and not load or training goal. General recommendations include moderate (2 min) rest between sets if performing 2 sets/exercise, long rest (3 min) if performing 3 sets/exercise, and very long rest (> 4 min) if performing 4 sets or more/exercise.
Strength-training workouts that employ low weights and high reps are good for your heart and lungs as well as building muscles. This includes high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts, which entail alternating between pushing your body hard and taking short breaks.
If you're trying to build muscle and get bigger, doing sets of 3 or sets of 5 or sets of 10 will ALL help you get bigger, if you're eating enough to get bigger! If you're trying to lose weight, it doesn't matter if you do sets of 15 or sets of 5 if you are consistently overeating by 1,000 calories a day.
According to the results of this review, a range of 12-20 weekly sets per muscle group may be an optimum standard recommendation for increasing muscle hypertrophy in young, trained men.
Maintaining muscle mass at the gym. A recent study looked at 34 regular training male lifters and amazingly discovered that just 1 set per muscle group (with more for back and legs) was enough to maintain muscle mass. And obviously, the researchers noted that for significant muscle gains, a longer duration is better.
As you can see in the graph, up to around six sets per muscle, we see a pretty clear benefit in terms of muscle growth. However, once you go above six sets, you hit a pretty hard plateau and maybe even regress a bit.
A volume of about 10 to 20 sets per muscle per week is generally recommended for building muscle. Advanced lifters might need to do even more sets to maximise muscle growth, possibly toward the higher end of this range. Experimentation is necessary to find out what works best for each individual.
Referring to a more recent systematic review, it found: The best hypertrophy results came from 30-40 sets per muscle per week. A minimum effective dose of 4 sets per muscle group per week. Somewhere around 10-20 sets per week still delivered good hypertrophy results.
Resistance training promotes muscle growth. Examples of resistance training include the use of free weights, weight machines, your own body weight or resistance bands. Suggestions include: Train just two or three times per week to give your muscles time to recover.
Is it better to increase reps or sets? Increasing reps or sets depends on the number of reps and sets you're currently doing and your individual goals. For those already performing sets within the correct rep range for their goals, increasing sets is likely the best option.
Therefore, you must give yourself enough time to recover in between your bicep workouts. Generally, a 24-48 hour resting period is sufficient to avoid any injury. In case you're using heavy weights, make sure to rest at least for two consecutive days.
Biceps can respond to a variety of rep ranges, but research suggests that moderate to high rep ranges (8-12 reps per set) may be most effective for inducing muscle growth in the biceps. This rep range is considered to be in the hypertrophy range, which is effective for building muscle size.