Take-Home Points
1. Strength gains are similar with 1 set per exercise as with 5 sets per exercise, indicating that if your goal is to simply get stronger, this can be achieved with minimal amounts of volume. These findings are specific to training with a moderate rep range (8-12 reps); it seems likely that training in more of a powerlifting range (3-5 reps) would necessitate the performance of more sets to maximize strength.
2.
Volume is a primary driver of muscle growth, with more sets translating into greater gains. Upper body hypertrophy continued to show beneficial effects with 30 sets per muscle per week and continued lower body gains were seen with 45 sets per muscle week. These numbers should not necessarily be considered as definitive recommendations, but rather point to the fact that higher volumes can elicit superior muscle gains over relatively short time frames. Moreover, it seems likely that repeatedly training with high volumes will inevitably lead to non-functional overreaching and thus compromise results. Thus, volume should be manipulated in a wave-like manner so that periods of higher relative volumes are cycled with periods of lower volumes; moreover, regular deloads should be employed to promote proper recovery.
3. It’s essential to remember that studies merely provide the average responses to groups of people. Thus, these findings can only provide general guidelines as to how much volume is beneficial for strength and hypertrophy; the response for a given person will vary based on genetics and lifestyle factors and thus prescription must be determined individually.
A good general recommendation for volume would be to perform ~10-20 sets/muscle/week, as detailed in our
recent paper on the topic; some lifters will do well with volumes lower than this range, while others will thrive with somewhat higher volumes. The findings of our study suggest that specialized, short-term cycles of higher volume training can be employed to bring up lagging muscles groups that respond poorly to training or have reached a plateau in development.
