How many sets do you need to build muscle?
More sets build more muscle, up to a point. Here's the weekly range the research supports, and how to fit it into a real schedule.
How much training is enough? Too little and you spin your wheels. Too much and you’re sore, tired and not recovering. The good news is there’s a wide middle ground that works.
What the research says
A 2017 meta-analysis pooled studies that compared different weekly training volumes, measured as the number of sets per muscle group. It found a clear dose response: more weekly sets led to more muscle growth. People doing 10 or more sets per muscle per week grew more than those doing fewer than 5.
Later research suggests the benefits keep coming above that for many people, but each extra set adds less, and recovery becomes the limit.
A practical range for most people:
| Experience | Hard sets per muscle per week |
|---|---|
| New to lifting | 6 to 10 |
| A year or two in | 10 to 15 |
| Experienced | 12 to 20 |
What counts as a set
Only hard sets count: sets taken within about one to three reps of failure. Warm up sets don’t count. Ten easy sets of curls with a weight you could lift 30 times isn’t ten sets of real training.
Count sets for the muscles that do most of the work. A bench press counts for chest. It helps your triceps and front shoulders too, so you need fewer direct sets for those.
Spread them out
Twenty sets of chest in one session is mostly junk volume by the end. Splitting weekly volume across two or more sessions usually works better. See full body or split.
An example week for chest at about 12 sets:
- Monday: bench press, 3 sets; incline dumbbell press, 3 sets
- Thursday: incline bench, 3 sets; dips or push ups, 3 sets
Start low, add slowly
More isn’t automatically better. Start at the lower end of your range. If you’re recovering well and progress slows, add two or three sets per muscle per week. If you’re constantly sore, tired, or your lifts are going backwards, pull it back.
During a fat loss phase, your recovery is lower, so holding volume steady or trimming it a little is smart.
How Logpulse builds it in
The Pro training program starts beginners on two working sets per exercise and builds to three, with each major muscle trained across the week according to how many days you can train. When you log your sets, it tracks your volume and tells you what to lift next time.
This is general information drawn from published research, not personal medical or dietary advice. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, or have a history of disordered eating, speak to your GP or an Accredited Practising Dietitian first. For support with eating concerns, the Butterfly Foundation helpline is 1800 33 4673.
Sources
- Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Sports Sciences. 2017;35(11):1073 to 1082.
- Baz Valle E, Balsalobre Fernández C, Alix Fages C, Santos Concejero J. A systematic review of the effects of different resistance training volumes on muscle hypertrophy. Journal of Human Kinetics. 2022;81:199 to 210.