The most effective range for muscle growth is noted to be around 5-10 sets per week per muscle group. The minimum effective dose for hypertrophy was found to be around 4 sets per muscle group per week, which delivered detectable improvements in muscle growth.
To maintain muscle mass, you need about 5 sets per week, ranging from 80--30% of your 1 rep max. So if you get in 4 sets of the same muscle group twice a week (giving you 8 sets in total), you should be able to build muscle mass (more may be required as you become more experienced with hypertrophy training).
The Minimum Effective Volume (MEV) for biceps requires you to perform at least eight sets of direct bicep workouts per week. It means that you need to complete eight sets of biceps throughout the week.
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.
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.
Low Reps For Building Muscle Mass. If your main fitness goal is to build more muscle mass (aka hypertrophy), you'll want to do moderate to high rep ranges with moderate weights, Adrian says. Stick to 8 to 12 repetitions per set with a load 60 percent to 80 percent of your 1RM.
The research indicates that the ideal movement volume for stimulating muscle growth is between 42 and 66 reps / session. How you break those reps up into sets is totally up to you: 5 x 10, 8 x 6, 42 x 1, etc. – all of these fall between 42 & 66.
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.
The National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) will break this down, suggesting the following set ranges: 2-3 will help build muscular endurance (12 to 20+ reps) 3-6 build muscular hypertrophy (6 to 12 reps) 3-5 build muscular power (3 to 5 reps)
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.
No body part grows by trashing it every day—you need to rest to let your arms recover. In the hours after a workout, your muscles lose strength and power as they heal; after 36 to 48 hours, the muscle actually gets stronger, a process called "supercompensation." Bottom line: give yourself rest.
Doing push ups every day is good for building upper body muscles and even strengthening your core, back, and lower extremities. You can start with 10 push ups a day and then work up to doing 50 or 100 push ups everyday. Breaking them up into smaller sets throughout the day can make it easier to start as well.
The Ideal Ab Workout Frequency
For someone who is new to working out (or at least working out their abs), a goal of completing 12-16 challenging sets (of 8-12 repetitions) in their ab workouts per week may be sufficient to produce gains in strength and muscle volume.
The right answer depends on you, your goals, and your current fitness level. Perform multiple sets if you're going for strength gains, muscle endurance, and muscle growth. Single-set training where you perform one set to failure works for fitness enthusiasts.
Downtime between workouts (whether you're lifting, doing cardio or training for a sport) is when our bodies have a chance to actually build muscle. Strenuous workouts cause muscle breakdown, while rest allows our bodies to build it back up.
Eggs are one of the best foods for muscle recovery, according to all three dietitians we spoke with. That's because they're a high-quality complete protein source, meaning they deliver all nine of the essential amino acids the body needs to support health and growth.
4 to 8 sets per muscle per week is now your minimum. If that's what you were doing as a beginner, you'll want to aim for 8 to 15 sets per muscle per week. At this point, your weekly volume will be much more manageable if you train three to five days a week, working each muscle at least twice.
How Many Reps You Should Do to Build Muscle. If your goal is to build muscle, workouts with reps as low as five and as high as 30 will do the job. We suggest you stick to five to seven reps per set for heavier, compound movement and between eight and 12 reps per set for smaller muscles and single-joint exercises.
Three studies demonstrate that high-volume and very high-volume routines are likely to result in similar increases in strength and hypertrophy. Specifically, these studies suggest that 3 - 12 sets/muscle group/session (3-27 sets/muscle group/week) may result in similar increases in strength, hypertrophy, and power .
“We used to think that doing low reps of a very high weight was the best way to build muscle,” he says. “But increasingly we are learning that it may be more efficient to do a high number of repetitions with less weight.”
Can You Build Strength With Light Weights? Relying on lighter weights and higher reps can help you build muscle and strength, but your progress won't be as rapid as it would be with heavier loads and fewer reps, Sam says. Heavy weights stimulate muscle growth through fatigue and time under tension.
High-repetition low-set routines improve muscular endurance, while lower-repetition high-set routines help develop raw strength. A higher number of repetitions with lighter weights will work on improving muscle tone and endurance. Fewer repetitions with heavier weights will aim at increasing muscle size and power.