The ULTIMATE Guide to How Many Sets Optimize Muscle Hypertrophy
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- Опубліковано 2 лип 2024
- 0:00 Intro
0:41 What Do We Mean by a “Set”?
1:39 More Sets = More Muscle Hypertrophy?
3:05 Is More Than 12 Weekly Sets Per Muscle Group for Trained Individuals Beneficial?
3:44 Evidence 30-45 Weekly Sets Per Muscle Group Could Be Enhance Muscle Growth
6:18 Evidence More Sets Do Not Always Provide More Muscle Hypertrophy
8:32 What Explains the Conflicting Evidence?
18:07 Increasing Sets for Low Responders or Plateaued Individuals
22:21 Are Their Individuals That Gain More Muscle With Fewer Weekly Sets?
23:50 Takeaway Points
Within the fitness world, there seem to be diverse opinions on how many sets a person should perform to build muscle optimally.
On one end of the spectrum, some believe a low number of sets is sufficient, with some even proposing 1 set of repetitions to failure per exercise is all you need to build muscle.
On the other end of the spectrum, others suggest that so long as you can successfully recover from it, more sets mean more stimulus, thus the higher number of sets you can perform the better for muscle growth.
Music:
1) Lakey Inspired: Reminisce
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/ @lakeyinspired
2) L'Indécis - Soulful chll.to/64a098ba
- / lindecis
3) weird inside - Wrong Way chll.to/caef238c
- / weirdinside
References:
Schoenfeld et al. (meta-analysis)- pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27433...
Brigatto et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31868...
Radaelli et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25546...
Schoenfeld et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30153...
Heaselgrave et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30160...
Ostrowski - et al. - journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Ab...
Aube et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32058...
Longo et al. - journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/Ab...
Ogasawara et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28729...
Damas et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31268...
Scarpelli et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32108...
Hammarström et al. - pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31813... - Спорт
00:05 More sets per week lead to more muscle growth
02:51 9-12 weekly sets may be ideal for beginners, but more may benefit trained individuals
05:38 Performing between 30-45 weekly sets for a muscle group is beneficial for muscle hypertrophy.
08:20 12-18 weekly sets may be sufficient for building muscle
11:05 Rest intervals impact muscle hypertrophy
13:47 Performing 15-16 sets per muscle group each session may be within the potential limit for shorter rest intervals.
16:37 Optimal weekly sets for muscle hypertrophy
19:05 Increasing the number of sets can help enhance muscle growth and may aid low responders.
21:26 Modestly increasing weekly sets by 20% may benefit muscle growth.
24:10 Rest intervals and weekly sets affect muscle hypertrophy.
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Congratulations.
Thank you my friend, that's very kind of you!
i'm baack 💯❤❤ thank u as always for this gold standard content
I started watching your videos a few days. I am loving the analisys you do, it helps guiding my training and understanding hypertrophy science based
Welcome, and thank you so much for your kind words!!!
Just be careful with the search for some optimum garbage. It will change regularly to maintain progression. The science and studies get a lot right, but they also get a lot wrong.
Fantastic video. Subscribed
Man your content is so much quality.
Thank you so much dude, that's very kind of you :)
this is super helping video, thank you
Hey, I appreciate the work in presenting the information in your videos! Great work, new sub.
Welcome, thank you for your kind words :)
Good work, thanks for sharing 💪🏼
Thank you my friend! :)
Perfect timing, was just looking something to listen to.
Haha, awesome to hear. Thank you for the support! :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy thats what you deserve! :)
The problem I see with this study, is "intensity". I assume they all did the same amount of intensity, and anyone who really knows how to train hard, knows you can't train hard (absolute failure or very close) and train long. So it would be interesting to see what 3 sets to failure per week vrs 9 sets to non failure (3-5) reps left, would show. I'm a hard gainer, a lot of volume even if each set was kept 3-5 reps from failure would quickly deplete my CNS, but I have in the past responded well to 1-4 sets to failure or close, using progressive overload, trying to add weight or reps every week.
I definitely see what you're saying!
I agree it is not possible to do 30-40 sets per week to failure or close to failure, maybe only if you decrease a lot the weight after each set… So in those study the subjects have to train with a relatively lower intensity of effort and/or lighter loads. If they really trained very hard on every set they would not see strength increase but loss in performances due to fatigue. So it would be interesting to see something like 3 high intensity sets versus 12 sets with moderate intensity.
@@vvlaunay I've seen a lot of people saying that doing muscle failure, then lowering the weight, and going to muscle failure and, rinse and repeat until you get to no weight and that's when they finish and claim they got massive gains from it. I'm not sure if that's healthy or safe. It doesn't seem that safe because its so extreme, you know? Any weigh ins on this would be appreciated! 🥰
@@poketcg1592 you don't have to go down to literally no weight. you can just go down 3 to 4 increments and call it if you feel like you're overexerting yourself. Just like everything, it depends on how hard you're exerting and how you're feeling.
@@jayfeather2451 Thats true, thank you :)
hoh- this was a great video. it reassures what i have always found in my journey, everyone responds differently, and for me, less is best. frequency beats intensity, but intensity does great if no more than 2x per week. 3x with a lil less intensity works great. i always stayed within the 10-20 sets total per week. if going to concentric failure, i found that no more than 1-2 sets per exercise while keeping the total sets per week no more than 20 and no more than about 5 exercises per 2 sessions, then again, i always stuck with all compound movements. i have always played around with different scenarios, however, the once a week thing isn't good, got to have 2-3 sessions at least, pending on how you slice the pie so to speak. i'm on the ecto side so high volume always killed me no matter the load along with shorter rest intervals. lifting IS subjective to the individual, another note, age has a lot to do with it as well, great job hoh.
Some very interesting and relevant points, thank you for your comment!
LOVE THIS CHANNEL, so much objective knowledge- no fluff
Thank you my friend, your support means a lot to me!
@@HouseofHypertrophy just keep it going man we need you!!
Thank u blessed soul ⚘🌷🌹🌹🙇♀️🙇♀️🙇♀️🙇♀️🙇♀️ infinite health n blessings to 7 n all ur loved ones⚘🌷🌹🌹🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏
Great work
hoh- from my experience, and this study backs it up, i always knew that a longer rest interval worked better, especially for me.
Awesome to hear :)
huh, so interesting, me with my simple thinking, i thought if i take less rest between sets that is more efficient since its more tiring for me. yet it turns out if you want less sets you have to rest more O.o amazing how our body works..
great video dude, at the middle i was so afraid coz i complitely lost, but witht the end every question cleared out! very nice job! :)
Great video! Thanks for sharing all of this to the community, love your channel!
In my experience (I'm 37 y.o. and train since the age of 23) I found more gains in strenght and size with this current routine, hybrid wegihts/calishtenics based with 4-6 sets of compound movements 2 times per week: each set is a drop set and the last two reps of the last set are isometric holds near failure, 2-3 rest minutes.
I experimented routines with high volume and short rest periods but my body did not respond the way it does now.
Science studies give a great general overview but at the end each person is different and respond differently.
Age, level of daily stress, nutrition and sleep quality are huge factors and they are strictly individual.
Thank YOU for the kind words! and I think you make excellent points!
@@HouseofHypertrophy
I have pretty much been binge watching your videos the last few days, really enjoying the channel and the quality of information!
This is the first video I kind of disagree with, actually 2 things in particular;
Evidently, my comment isn't intended as a form of criticism or arrogance, rather to simply share some of my viewpoints and disagreements and hopefully receive feedback from you too as I love to learn.
*My 2 points*
*1*
*"In a compound exercise like the bench press, the chest, deltoids and triceps are prime movers."*
...
The triceps are not stimulated as much during a compound lift such as the bench press as with an isolation exercise for the triceps such as the skull crusher. From what I understand the hypertrophy from the bench press for the triceps brachii is only half the hypertrophy you get from a triceps exercise.
The deltoids are activated a lot but only the anterior head, a lot of men want to grow the medial head of the deltoid. The anterior deltoid gets a lot of work anyway with all the upperbody push exercises.
For these reasons I would not count the bench press as a set for the shoulders and the triceps.
*2*
*"Performing 9 or more weekly sets for a muscle group produced more hypertrophy than fewer than 9 weekly sets."*
...
Performing 9 or even up to 12 sets as a beginner seems quite a lot. That is; if sets are taken close to failure (1-2 RIR).
The real reason, I believe, that this (recommended) volume may be so high is because the relative intensity is perhaps too low, they may be leaving more reps in reserve than they think they are.
*More in depth*
*1*
*Muscle activation with a compound lift*
Any compound lift requires activation of more than one muscle, the question is to which extent and also what the result in hypertrophy is for the primary and secondary movers.
paulogentil.com/pdf/Varying%20the%20Order%20of%20Combinations%20of%20Single-%20and%20MultiJoint%20Exercises%20Differentially%20Affects%20Resistance%20Training%20Adaptations.pdf
One relatively small study looked at the increase in strength and hypertrophy for the pectoralis major and the triceps brachii with 4 different programs:
- lying barbell triceps press (like a skull crusher)
- barbell bench press
- lying barbell triceps press + barbell bench press
- barbell bench press + lying barbell triceps press
Results:
1 - Strength
1RM for the bench significantly increased in all programs which included the barbell bench press, but not the lying barbell triceps press.
1RM for the tricep press significantly increased in all programs which included the lying barbell triceps press , but not the bench press.
2 - Cross sectional area
For the pectoralis major the bench press group had a 9,1% increase whereas the tricep press group saw a 0,8% decrease!
For the triceps brachii the tricep press group had a 9,5% increase whereas the bench press group saw a 4,8% increase.
Meaning the hypertrophy for the triceps brachii with a triceps exercise was double that of the group doing only bench press.
Interestingly; the group doing bench press + tricep press saw even greater hypertrophy for both the triceps brachii and the pectoralis major.
Also; the order of the exercises seemed to matter in favor of the group starting with the bench press (compound) and then doing the tricep press (isolation).
This, to me at least, makes a compelling argument for not counting the triceps activation during a set of bench press (and likely other compund lifts as well) as an entire set for the triceps brachii. It also seems that it's optimal to start with a compound exercise and then perform an isolation exercise, which is what many people intuitively do as well.
*2*
*9 to 12 weekly sets per bodypart (musclegroup?) for beginners.*
Problem 1: what most would call failure is actually far from failure
There's a video of Brad Schoenfeld (the researcher of the meta-analysis) performing a set of lat pulldowns "to failure".
ua-cam.com/video/QUMaaOHQ-rs/v-deo.html
Set starts at 1:38
It doesn't take a well trained eye to spot that this is far from failure, my best estimate is that he could have done at least 2 more reps in that set.
He isn't the first well respected researcher to make this mistake either.
Mike Israetel, from Renaissance Periodization, had a heated 'debate' let's say with Lyle Mcdonnald about training to failure.
Mike Israetel is well known for his reps in reserve strategy and Lyle claimed that Mike was severely underestimating how many reps he had in reserve and that, when Mike claims it's a 0 or 1 RIR set, he actually isn't even close to that, more like 2, 3 or more reps in reserve.
ua-cam.com/video/CXfCY-hqTjQ/v-deo.html
At 1:26 Mike starts a set of leg curls, he claims this is 0-1 RIR, after the set he said "You could have done 80 trillion more! Hey Lyle Mcdonnald Fuck you!"
ua-cam.com/video/Xli6B-Msz_w/v-deo.html
Lyle again called him out on this and honestly, he is absolutely right...
I wonder, if these are the men making reps in reserve recommendations or volume based on a specific RIR intensity...how much less volume should one do if they are actually training close to failure unlike they are?
In another video you reviewed a study in which participants had similar results with sets taken 5 reps from failure but adding 2 or 3 extra sets. Is it reasonable to suggest that;
- If sets are really taken close to failure, 9 to 12 sets is too much to recover from, at least for beginners
- In that case 6 to 10 sets per bodypart per week would be similar for hypertrophy (about 1 set less per bodypart per session).
Problem 2: What even is failure?
It seems to me that, as Brad was unable to fully contract his back muscles and as the range of motion started to decrease, he called this 'failure'.
Some say failure is a synonym for technical failure, some say it is complete failure.
It seems hard to define, let alone program or predict.
Problem 3: Beginners?
As you get more experienced you may be able to spot your 2 RIR for example (eventhough Mike Israetel despite years of lifting clearly is way off).
However beginners do not have this experience I suppose this means they are leaving more reps in the tank even than more experienced individuals.
Also; if we are defining failure as 'technical' failure then this point surely comes quicker for beginners as their technique may break down earlier and they aren't experienced with the fatigue or the sensations from lifting closer to failure.
*Just some of my thoughts, I realize it's a long comment though. If you do read it and agree or disagree with some of the points made, please consider telling me about it!*
Your Videos are Great Man !
Thank you :)
Man, your videos are gold! Are you working in academia? It would be interesting to see academic research testing the hypotheses that you made in this video.
EXCELLENT INFORMATION!!! Thank you!!!
No problem, thank YOU for checking out the video!
We are all different in many ways... the key is to try several methods and over time you will hone in what works best for the type of results you are looking for... there are so many variables when it comes to making gains.. i have been at this for 50 years and i still am always trying to zero in on what produces the best results i want... of coarse being much older now my training etc has to be different than many years ago... the key is love to workout and stay healthy...
Awesome stuff :)
More like the methodology in these studies is just bad and limited. Volume limits are individual but if we could get actual advanced lifters for these studies who rest for 3-5 minutes, we only count a set as an exercise that highly stimulates the muscle, and each set has a similar RIR/RPE then we could see how many is optimal. But of course we don’t need a literal study we can just use ourselves and see what’s optimal over time based on how fast our lifts are going up. I’m thinking about this bc originally I was of the mindset that there’s a fast diminishing return on doing more than 12-15 sets, I based that on watching naturals on this platform not just studies. And that since you have to deload more from too many sets you’d make more progress holding back similar to RIR on sets. But now I’m wondering if we should not be worried about recovery as much and more about stacking up high quality volume. Similar to the stimulus difference between doing a set of 10 at 0 RIR vs set of 10 5 RIR. We like to think of things as progression slows down the further you go but another way of looking at it is we reach a point where progressive overload becomes less practical if that makes sense. It seems to be more the case that whenever you can’t progressively overload that’s when you start to have slow progression
Superb data and commentary.
Thank you dude, I always appreciate your kind words and support!
I wanted to address further technical points here. Specifically around the precise definition of "sets", as well as if both compound and isolation exercises should truly count towards the weekly set count of a muscle group.
Firstly, we defined a "set" as a bout of repetitions between 8-12, performed 3 or fewer repetitions from the point of failure, as this was what all the research we looked at in this video used a set.
However, technically, we could perhaps extend this definition to repetitions between 5 and 35, performed 3 or fewer repetitions from the point of failure. This is because the research indicates repetitions between 5 and 35 (when performed 3 or fewer repetitions from failure) are similarly effective for building muscle, with all other training variables equal.
However, there is a reason why it might not be sensible to include reps as higher than 20 in this definition. Higher repetitions (20+), performed 3 or fewer repetitions from failure, seem to potentially be meaningfully more fatiguing and require longer recovery durations than lower repetitions (
So, that also mean our body can adapt to shorter rest interval as well, thus making the short rest interval as effective as longer rest?
@@frog6054 Goal dependent. 3 Rep sets can build muscle if the rest is short and the weight selection is proper. or you shorten rest to build muscle endurance with higher reps lower weight. All in the goal
There is no optimal set volume anyway. Its only optimal for the moment. Changing around the big three, Intesnsity Frequency and Volume will always change the most effective set volume for the given moment. The science and study for optimum is bs, its fleeting and varied, as it should be if continued progression is the goal.
i absolutely love your channel, most of my time is spend on watching stuff related to the gym and your videos are informative as well aa fun to watch, the animation is lovely. I was planning on starting youtube channel as well , any tips?
Thank you for your kind words, they mean a lot to me!
My advice is to go for it! I'd say make content you're passionate and have fun. Be consistent but patient also (depending on your goals) :)
Amazing video
Great video! I think the best thing is to constantly mix it up and have a balanced workout. Make your body adapt to all kinds of muscle usage. Sometimes do a short rest, sometimes do a long rest. Sometimes lift heavy weights with less reps, sometimes lift lighter weights with more reps. Sometimes lift slowly and steadily, sometimes go explosive and fast. The body needs to be ready for all situations, you don't want to get used to the same workout routine all the time. For example, if you always lift slow and steady with long rests, in real life you may need to use explosive energy without rest but your muscles wouldn't be used to it.
Another good one, keep it up lad.
Thank you, I'll do my best! :)
+@@HouseofHypertrophy
Thanks a lot for the great work
Thank YOU for checking it out :)
What's happening, as demonstrated by the Longo study, is the case for effective reps.
As the study showed, the group with the longer rest intervals showed greater gains than the 3 set 1 minute rest group.
But then comparing the long rest intervals (3 minutes) group to the 1 minute rest interval group but with more sets had equal gains.
What's happening is that there were more effective reps in the long rest group and also by the 4-5 set group.
So long as the effective reps increase there will be an increase in hypertrophy up until a certain point (which seems to be individualistic).
Thank you for your semi-meta analysis :)
Haha, no problem, thank YOU for checking it out! :)
Great video as usual...but my concern with this approach is that most of these (many!) sets are junk volume... How about using a rest-pause approach and being done with it?
Great job breaking all if this down. Most of these studies all include low training age participants, so there’s little to no studies around serious trainees with 10 plus years of experience. I’m highlighting people who know what they’re doing in the gym. The trainees with 1-3 years of experience are still within that stage of rapid growth regardless of training volume. Meaning they have more room for less than ideal training volume, whether too many sets or too few. As long as progressive overload is applied, that’s really all that matters. Less is more when weight training more often than not when ensuring solid form and progressive overload. Every serious trainee must track every set and rep.
Very true :)
12 sets per week is probably around the best. If you look at the old school contest winning pre steroid bodybuilders they did around 9-12
@@coachingconfidant2785 you'd have to go back to Steve Reeves for pre steroid days. The 60's on have been ever escalating doses of steroids and other drugs.
@@stevewise1656 Well i've actually been thinking about Steve Reeves after this video, and interestingly looks like he did very low volume. Almost like Mike mentzer 1 set style because he did 9-12 sets a week which is the lower part of the moderate side, but he only rested 60 seconds making those sets less effective according to the video, so it was more like 3-6 stimulating sets a week per muscle
I’ve been lifting for about 3 years now. I’ve had a lacking chest for quite some time using mainly Dumbell presses. I injured my left wrist a week ago and now I can only really do cable flys with some modified push-ups for my chest.
Since the injury I started doing sets of seated cable flys (15-25 rep range and 1-3 reps from failure along with a 2-3 min rest bt each set) (with different angles) and finishing it with a few sets of modified push-ups to failure. I’m currently doing about 30-35 sets for chest per week across 3 days that are non consecutive. The mind muscle connection has been really good so far and I’m planning on sticking to this and see if my chest will finally grow.
I’ll be updating this comment in the near future cheers 🎉
Very interesting, I wish you continued gains!
Any updates 10 months later?
@@twentytwo138 I broke my knee (patella) while playing basketball. I had surgery on the knee for the second time within a year. I haven’t been to the gym much since but I will be able to soon
I find it very special that advanced athletes with more years of experience still make so much progress in such a short time during the test.
In my world, this means only one thing: they haven't gone out of their way in terms of dedication and consistency over those years. I therefore doubt the reliability of such tests.
I could be an example of an outlier. I am 54 with nearly 6 years of consistent training. If I do 6 to 8 hard sets (0-1 rep away from positive failure) on any body part I am physically very sore for 4 days. I need a minimum of 5 days for the soreness to not affect the following session. This was also true when I trained consistently through my 20s and 30s. I am quite muscular (200 pounds at 5' 7" when fairly lean, 180 pounds shredded) on 6-8 sets per week per muscle group with 3 minute rest. I have tried high frequency and higher weekly sets in the past and my performance was stale, I frequently inflamed tendons, and repeated bout effect did not occur. I seem to be one of the outliers often seen in studies.
Very interesting to hear, and yeah, there are bound to be individuals such as yourself out there! :)
I am 59, and discovered last year that my progress was better (PPL) when at least 5 days lapsed before the same workout was attempted again. (Every few weeks, I throw in an extra rest day, and a reduced volume/reduced intensity week, AKA a deload)
Whats your stack?
@@Andre87191 No stack. I am on Dr. prescribed TRT, 200mg/week. So it is pharmacy test and not "mystery" juice. I am too old for added risk of compounds. Simply having test at the top of the band is adequate with effort, rest, and diet in place. And patience!
Total volume of weight lifted is very important. When comparing different set, rep and rest intervals. Look at the total volume of weight lifted. You generally get more volume with lighter weights. Shorter rest intervals can increase volume per unit of time, an example being number of sets performed in 30 minutes.
Diet, job, sleep and general stress would also be important variables that are often not considered.
Total volume of weight doesnt matter
@@fijifiji1093
studies show volume does matter. It has to matter. You either have to lift heavier or more reps to get a training effect.
This makes the most sense. A constant number of weekly sets leading to optimal growth forever seems unlikely. Since hypertrophy is a form of adaptation, it is only natural that an individual's work capacity go up the more he trains. Therefore, he would need more and more weekly sets, up to a maximum. That maximum would probably be the maximum amount of protein synthesis that you body can produce, and any more adaptation than that would not be possible since the amount of protein synthesis required to maintain the muscle would be equal or higher than the amount to grow new muscle. That would indicate your genetic cap
Agree!
Amazing videos
Thank YOU :)
I tried 6 sets of 10 with on average 4 exorcises per day, for 2 weeks because a phd dude on youtube said it was the best T boosting method.
But in reality it was depleting my T levels and my drive crashed totally, so now I am back on 4 sets with 4-6 repetitions with max load to fail, and my T and drive is back 💪🏼
Interesting to hear that
We’re you training before this schedule? Jumping right into 5-6 sets of 10 is a fair amount volume for those not used to it.
Try one set balls deep
Same thing bro, but I do 6-8 reps with 4-5 sets depending on a muscle group I'm training
I like that idea. And you're still doing an average of 4 exercises? Thanks.
Good advice 👍
Thank you my friend! :)
1:15 Can you make a video of all the different compound lifts that hit multiple muscles? That would be great for organising a workout plan that hits every muscle with 10 - 20 sets per week.
I'm planning to make a series on developing each muscle group, so these videos will contain informatin on exercise selection :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy Nice! I'm looking forward to it!
well done.
Thank you!
How do you do 45 sets per week for a muscle group and recover from that without gear?
I wonder about this too
For bigger muscle bellies (currently chest and upper back/lats) i can specialize on exactly 2 of them consistently, and see great gains doing 8 sets to failure each week With that i found i can work on improving 2 smaller groups of muscles (biceps and shoulders currently) at 4 sets per week to failure and recover well inbetween sessions. I am considering adding in a 5th day of training to increase volume to 10 sets for the larger muscles per week and 5 sets for the smaller mucles per week all to failure. I have to be careful when adding volume because the fatigue from adding in too much forced me into a deload week last time. Fatigue is hard to adequatly predict When adding volume.
i've wanted this channel to exist for so long...
I appreciate that dude, thank you!
When I was doing sets across of 10reps, I'd do 3-5 sets. Now that I do sets across of 20-25reps I only do 2 sets. If I switch to more intensity I do 3-6 reps and just pyramid up till I miss a rep. Usually 4-7 sets. Works out to 30-50 reps. 40-50 reps or 12-42 reps for an exercise respectively and I just rotate through 6 workouts 3×week.
Great video. Many years ago with 1 1/2 year experience i got a schedule from the gym owner for 16 sets per muscle group, twice a week. So 32 weekly sets. I had short rest intervals. Can't remember how long a workout took. I burned out pretty quickly. Regarding the studies, I wonder how many sets the subjects did for other body parts. Did the 32 weekly set group that for all body parts? Otherwise, its more a schedule for bringing up a specific body part.
Interesting to hear, I also think 30+sets will probably be too excessive. In the studies, they did train most of their muscles with 32 weekly sets, not all of them though :)
Awesome video, I lowered my sets over the past year and have seen some good gains. Not sure if they were better or worse than when I did more. I do wonder how to count sets for the upper back vs LATS as I have come to learn different movements work each area better. I usually split them up into 2 separate muscle groups.
Interesting! and yep, counting sets for any muscle group can be a bit tricky at times, but I definitely think seperating the upper back and lats can be perfectly justified.
Be sure your back and chest (push/pull) sets are even or a few more for the back to keep your posture.
working the lats will work the upper back and its the same for the upper back it works lats with it sou cant really seperat them .. correct meif i'm wrong plz ❤
@@aymenazouz9065 You will probably get better results with some form of pull down for the lats and some form of row for the rhomboids, but yes there is overlap
As a published researcher, these videos are very well-done - very well researched and you're putting in your own analysis. Very impressive, and I can see a ton of work went into this. Thanks for this! These are so helpful, but they look incredibly painstaking to make.
Insane
I love the way you say however
Also never asked for a like or a sub - what a beast, I give you both
I'm most interested about when diminishing returns start to kick in. I suppose I'll just keep aiming for 10 to 12 for the time being.
The point of diminishing returns has more to do with how well you rest than anything else. If you get plenty of quality sleep, you'll be capable of more volume
As always, thanks for the great video. I would contest that these studies demonstrate a preferred rep range for a muscle group. Instead, it sounds like the studies had participants finding the ideal sets for a given exercise. So, yes, it's probably unnecessary to exceed 18 sets of flat bench press in a week, but does it follow that flat bench, flies, incline barbell, decline dumbell, dips, push-ups, etc should all be limited to a combined 18 sets, since they target the same muscle group? Given how these exercises work different parts of the muscle, I would be surprised if that was the case. This seems to be the more interesting question, since most of us don't just repeat the same exercise 9 times in a session twice a week.
This is a point I've been thinking about over the previous month, I plan to make an updated video with this info in it at some point. Great stuff dude!
Super cool Channel🎉
Thank you :)
the problem is a longer period of rest (3 minutes ) will make the muscle recover .. which decrease the pressure on that muscle and thats not optimal for muscle growth .. and i know there is other studies conflict with what i just said .. i m talking abou to build muscles in general .. to put get the muscle out of its comforte zone so it will have to grow to keep up with pace ..
Do them all!
too many variables and uncertainties.. Wish I could teleport to 50yrs in the future when we hopefully have a the data, studies, and information we need to know all we need to know about growing muscle effectively
A very well put together video. I still got a question, are only working sets considered in these studies or are the warm up sets also part of the set amount?
Thank YOU, warming up sets are not included. Just working sets which largely comprised of 8-12 reps to or close to failure in these specific papers :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy sweet I'm going to do 10 warm up sets then!
How big is the bicep involvement in training the brachialis with hammer curls? Do hammer curls count as bicep sets?
My problem with all these studies is, as far as i can tell, none of them compare volume when rest periods are kept at >3 mins. Perhaps some combination of
1) Increasing rest period between sets and
2) Lowering proximity to failure
we can get away with siginificantly fewer weekly sets?
Additioning More sets or frequency for natural lifters gradually results in fatigue. I found bro split with max 15 sets per body part works good. Training quads and hams separately is good to add muscle. Arms doesn't need much so train them once
I can still your small asf and weak asf
First sentence... Sometimes, not always, depends on recovery first. For continued progression manipulation of the big three will HAVE to happen Volume Frequency Intensity, for all natural speaking. There is no set optimal way that stays that way...natural.
Not as if arms are not getting work during bench, dips, military presses, pull-ups, etc..
I'd like to know what happen for the first 2 research if instead of performing both compound and isolation exercises, only isolation exercises was done.
Strengthening muscles before muscle hypertrophy also relies on the fact that ligaments have to be strengthened first to avoid injury.
Is there research on the best ways of strengthening ligaments prior to muscle strength or concurrently?
Unfortunately I'm not aware of any research on that matter
High intensity!
I do 5 sets for each body part per week. All beyond the failure and outcome is superb. Much better than 24 sets.
I cracked it. There is one underlying factor.
What do you mean ?
There is only a certain amount of sets per session I can do before neurological fatigue sets in. Longer rest will alow one to lift more. The overall load shouldn't matter if muscle is growing based on a stress adaption. Most believe only the last most difficult reps matter. By resting longer it will possibility take longer to get to those last reps. Doing a higher number of sets per exercise doesn't necessarily mean they are quality. With compounds it could be harder to stress the muscle because many muscles are being used. This is why Heavier loads could be better or increasing volume. Isolation are directly targeting a muscle with max effectiveness. My dig. 😀
Very interesting, I see what you're saying :)
The science may be a bit murky on all this, however, if you take a shot every time the word--however--is used in the video, I guarantee that you're likely to get at least a little tipsy. However, probably less so if you're Irish or Scottish.
Joking aside, another interesting and well done video, thank you. I don't subscribe to channels often, but I did to yours a little while ago.
Haha, thank you so much for your kind words. However, I have nothing further to add :)
Drinking game: take a shot of Jack whenever he says, “moreover “!
Understanding abt the set range, but how about the number of repetition mate? Is it ok if I'm just do a variety range of rep range? maybe this week w/ 50% mx load, this week w/ 80% mx load, and the other wk w/ 30% mx load?
Technically, what you've described (50%1RM one week, 80% the next, and 30% after) could work, as after all, loads betwewen 30% to 85% one-rep max likely produce similar hypertrophy. However, most people tend to vary their rep ranges within a weekly schedule (for example, 80%1RM on monday, 50%1RM on wedneday, and 30%1RM on Friday), doing this probably makes tracking workouts a little simpler and easier. Overall though, you don't neccessarily have to vary rep ranges if you don't want to. The current research seems to show that sticking with one rep range is similarly effective to varying rep ranges. I have a playlist around rep ranges on the channel, check it out if you like (this includes a video detailing the research on varying rep ranges for hypertrophy): ua-cam.com/video/jQ-JcDrztj8/v-deo.html
How should I count the rest time if I superset chest and back for example? If my bench press set lasts 1 minute does that count as rest time between my lat pulldowns sets and vice-versa?
Yes
I'm currently doing an upper/lower body routine, both routines include 6 exercises (3 sets per exercise), I've seen some results but....would it be better if I do 4 exercises for both routines (5 or 6 sets per exercise)? Nice video btw =)
Depends on what the exercises are. In general, a good degree of exercise variety is helpful for maximizing the growth across the regions of a muscle, so performing 3 sets of 6 different exercises is probably better than performing 5-6 sets of 4 exercises. Of course, there likely comes a point where too much exercise variety is bad. For instance, performing 10 different exercises with 1 set each might be excessive variation that comprises that amount of training volume (sets) you can achieve with each exercise. Hopefully this makes sense, let me know if there are any problems or midunderstandings :)
@@HouseofHypertrophy Thank you for your reply, I appreciate!. When it comes to the exercises, I do the overhead press, bench press (sometimes I do an additional set but instead of bench press, I do push ups), Biceps curl, Triceps dip, barbell row and barbell shrugs.
Lower body: back squat, Bulgarian squats (using 10lb plates in both hands), deadlift, plank (I do 1:10) and barbell calf raises
Last not but least, I'm currently lifting 20KG in all barbell exercises
That sounds totally fine :) I probably would not reduce the number of exercises you perform, as those exercises all collectively do a good job at stimulating most of regions of your muscle groups. A few things though, you could potentially see addition benefit if you add in some vertical pulling exercise (pull-up, chin-up, or lat pulldown), this will more highly train the lats (although the barbell row does hit the lats, vertical pulling exercises likely do a better job, barbell rows are mainly great at hitting the mid back region). Also, you could add in a leg extension or reverse nordic curl, either of these exercises will train the rectus femoris (squats or bulgarian split squats do not highly train this muscle). Hope this helps!
@@HouseofHypertrophy I forgot to mention that I work out at home 😅I've been saving up money to buy a pull up bar, that's why meanwhile I'm doing the barbell row, I'm aware of the great benefits of doing pull ups and chin ups, I hope I can get it for the next month so that I can switch exercises. For the lower body routine, I'm gonna add the reverse Nordic curl c:
Once again, thank you for helping me, I was a bit confused about the whole thing, I appreciate it, hope you have a good day! :)
Great to hear! Have an awesome day as well :)
Can you do bulgarian split squat vs back squat (science based). Like results after 12 week something like that.
Yep, at some point, I should make a video on this :)
Great, concise videos, for all naturals out there remember that regardless of how optimal your training is, you will basically hit a 3 year wall. From then on you will basically be fighting against your natural genetic limit to eek out "ounces" of muscle per year for the rest of your life. And thats with everything dimed (nutrition, rest, exercise). Just enjoy the process folks. Don't stress over it.
At that point you will already look better than 99% of people.
İ am doing minimalist workouts i wonder which one takes less time in gym
2-3 min rest ,1 or less min workout with some supersets or not 12-18 weekly set
Or
1 min rest 1 or less min workout with some superset or not 30-45 sets
You know all this stuff. I have to chuckle. Many many moon's ago my training partner and I used a 4 day split. Monday shoulders, back and biceps, Tuesday chest, legs and triceps. Of course, calves and a little abs were a given. Now the chuckle. We honestly did at least 20+ sets YES! 20 + sets per body part per session! Truly. We walked from the gym trembling and if we didn't ache the following day we felt cheated. With no steroids or enhancements ( apart from some basic protein powder ) results were amazing. I was in my late teens then around the late sixties. My training partner and big brother from another mother was 10 years my senior and his gains and strength although really good were not as great. ( Genetics? ) Probably. My point? No internet no studies no talk of overtraining or central nervous system. See, we were ignorant to scientific studies etc. There was no one to tell us we couldn't or shouldn't do it. We just lived and breathed it and soldiered on. Then Steroids made their ugly appearance, making ridiculously over sized and equally ugly bodies, only impressed by the gullible. I kinda lost interest after a while. Comparing these drug fuelled monsters with the likes of the great Steve Reeves left me deflated. I could have gone the steroid route I had the potential but did I really want to be like I was wearing a space suit. Anyway, just shows one what one is capable of with a little ignorance but a burning desire. love, peace and best wishes to all.
and yet the great Steve Reeves Achieved his physique with only 12 sets per week per muscle. Ahead of his time
What’s really sad is Steve reeves was most likely on some sort of steroids. Unless it’s just a coincidence that he died from the no 1 cancer that steroids give you.
If each additional weekly set is associated with 0.37% increase in muscle size, does is it means that performing 10 weekly sets per muscle group will only provide additional 3% growth over 2 weekly sets?
Please add pounds of weight also for each body part region.
Just now finding my sets are way different then everything in this study. 18 sets!? I'm in for 2 warm ups, 4-5 working sets, and 3 alternate sets.
Bench for example: 2 warm up sets flay bench. 4-5 working sets, 3 sets incline. 10 total lol.
Trained individual, 25 yeas. Per week
So actualy doing less sets (8-12 sets) and rest longer (2-3 minutes) actually help more muscle growth but same result as doing more sets but rest shorter?
Considering the fact that humans all have different body types with different percentages of fast and slow twitch fibers, would muscle optimization and sets quantity vary b/t different body types or are the results indicated across the board for all body types?
There almost certainly are going to be individual differences in what's optimal :)
sorry I have a question actually.. from these findings,
WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT OF SHORT REST INTERVALS?
Would you not want to preserve your joints, use less volume, and longer rest intervals, achieve the same results...?
Haha, yeah. It's certainly more efficient to use longer rests. However, for individuals wanting to perhaps weight train in a way to build endurance, shorter rests could be more favorable with higher volumes :)
I'm trying to understand how this all works.
For reps in each set, if hypertrophy is reached by getting to or close to failure with each set; will I not be reaching hypertrophy on days when I'm doing 50-70% of my 1rep max, leaving 5-3 reps in the tank as I work up to the end of my 4 week cycle?
I've been digging deep into the science of muscle building and that's where I'm getting lost.
From what it seems, I am only to be going to failure or 1 rep from failure on my last week of the month cycle. Starting week one with 50% rpe, then 60, then 70, then 80-100.
If hypertrophy is only reached when sets are taken to or near failure, what would the other weeks be doing? Is it just a buildup to the last week of the month being what gives me the true muscle building hypertrophy?
I have a lot to learn and I think I could've shortened this, but maybe someone will read it and understand where my confusion is and how to help me understand
You still will build muscle training more than 3 reps away from failure, it's just the research tends to show it might not be optimal (you will get more gains going closer to failure). You could redesign your routine so more or your training sessions are closer to failure (for example, 50% rpe might be a little too far from failure, 70 and onwards is probably better)
Having said this, if you are experiencing good gains with what you're already doing, I'd say that's fine! :)
It's all about time spent.
If you have 10 minutes to do an exercise you could do 10 sets, 3 sets, 20 sets, doesn't matter, it's really about how long were you doing the exercise from the first rep to the last.
So you might do 3 sets of 10, or 10 sets of 3. As long as the time between the first and last reps is the same then these 10 sets and 3 sets would be pretty much exactly the same.
The studies with long rest and lots of sets they will have been training way too long to the point of under recovery and therefore losing gains
Yep, crystal clear ... so long as one stays at "beginner" :P ... thanks for the presentation. Food for thought!
:)
The best would be to cycle 1 rep to 5 to 10 to 15 to 20 maybe even 30+ at the appropriate intensites
1-4 reps sets widely believed to be of questionable usefulness from purely a hypertrophy perspective…
@@mdd1963 it really just depends what's going on I think honesty in the future our work outs will be designed to fit our own genictics
I do 3 sets, twice a week, of bench press and I have more progress than doing more sets, but I rest longer between sets and I train to or very close to failure
Great stuff, wish you continued gainz!
could we do 30-45 weekly sets with longer rest intervals (2-4 mins)?
So what I gathered is that 10 sets per muscle with 3 minute rests between per workout spread across 3-4 days per week giving you around 35 sets per week is optimal.
One thing I've always debated with myself on is how much of a difference 3x5 vs 5x5 truly makes. Am still torn to this day. LOL
**Sometimes I'll be loving 5x5 and then other times I think that three sets causes adequate stimulus with the extra two sets being redundant junk volume. 🤔
Haha, yeah I know what you're saying. Both will probably work well, it's possible the extra 2 sets help (particularly in more trained folks), but if you're getting good gains with 3x5, that's fine. You can always increase to 5x5 in the future if you plateau :)
i find that to do more than 10-12 sets i have to bring the intensity down too much to endure the higher volume, feels more like cardio than lifting weights 🤣 but i understand the value of spiking some volume when plateau is reached.
I have also found that when my growth stalls that I can get things moving again if I change a variable in my training - more/less weight, more/less reps, more/less rest time between sets or days, etc.
So in a trained person, who has never done much outside the 3-5×3-5 set/reps range where is a good place to start? Being trained should I start with 12-18 sets per week or start with lower sets and work up to 12-18 sets per week?
It's up to you, I'd say start with lower sets and if you're making progress, stay there. Once you plateau, then increase sets :)
Look up German Volume Training. It's a 10x10 protocol that according to some of the articles I read is good for someone in your position or an off season powerlifter.
OK I get what it's saying here. I understand the differences between more rest time between sets means less weekly sets can be done to get similar hypertrophy as one using a less rest time and more sets. I get what the studies are saying. The only thing I still don't understand is how many reps are being done for each set being done.
In most of these studies, 8-12 repetitions were performed to or close to failure per set
@@HouseofHypertrophy right on and thank you. I usually do more reps like 15 to 20 but usually do a 3 to 4 minute break in between each set. Been working out for about a year now. Since I'm disabled and have been working to better myself physically at home, most of my training is body weight with home made weights made out of 2 liter coke a cola bottles resulting in each one weighing 5 pounds. It may not sound like much but I'm up to lifting 25 lbs bags of these bottles and do most of my workouts with them. So this information is actually helping me out. Thanks once again for these videos and information.
Should I do 14ish sets total of abs or 14 sets for upper and lower abs = 28?
it all depends...if you are out of shape as can be like I was, I was tired after like 2 sets per muscle per workout so I could only do about 4 sets per week per muscle. A few months later I needed 9-12. I also depends on the intensity of those sets, more specifically, how much you are working each muscle. Even though benching works the triceps do you really think I'm only going to do compound pushing exercises for my triceps? No. I'm going to include 6-9 additional sets for my triceps, same for delts. This applies to back and bis and legs as well. Overall, IMO, its impractical for the average person to do more than 20 sets per week. If it takes more than that they are clearly not lifting with enough intensity or are on PED's, it's just not necessary.
This is what i am doing after watching many videos for years.
week 1(hit workout)- one set of exercise per muscle group. try to lift something you can do really slow movement of 5 reps at least. no more than 8 reps.
week 2 (heavy lift) - one set of exercise per muscle group. but heavy. no more than 5 reps. minimum 3 reps.
week 3(pumping)- one set of exercise per muscle group. 12 reps minimum with fast tempo. no more than 16 reps.
workout 2 times a week. split into upper and lower body.
and rest for all the other days in the week.
I bet you that you will get results. I just shared for what people may charge for hundreds of pounds...
Wait bro does this actually work?
@Pierce Hardcastle of course. it works. but diet plays a massive role. what you really want depends on that. you can go on high calories to bulk up or defict to cut down. Also, you will get a good, natural transformation within two years. But you want to speed it up. go for supplements and inject yourself then. This is the reality, bro..
The main take away is to constantly try different things....long rest...short rest....drop sets....high volume....HIT....low weight.....high weight......try different things...the main thing is to just go and be consistent
Absolutely, to many these days think you get it all set up "optimal" and just go...and it stays that way. Not for naturals anyway.
There’s a thing that you didn’t cover or include in this video and its about how many sets per muscle group? Like you said that 12-18 sets with 2-3 min rest is good but is that for all muscle groups ?
All the numbers were sets per muscle group. 12-18 sets per muscle group each week :)
I have two training days for all muscles.For example mondays is chest focus push day..i go about 20 heavy sets to failure and i mix reps especially isolation movements.My other push day is on friday and i go only 4sets chest and 8-15reps i usually dont go failure.My training split designed about 25sets for any muscles and %80of this i go failure.It works for me and i love this split.I dont calculate some isolation movements for my volume plan sometimes,cause i dont think cable pullover and heavy db row or lat pull down is same effects my body.Some isolation exercises are as a massage or pump after heavy sets for me:) sorry for my bad english :)☺️
Very interesting, thank you for sharing! :)
Your english is very good by the way !
@@HouseofHypertrophy i just wonder ur training plan?:)
I currently do three full body workouts a week
20 sets in one day? I though that would be too much.