How many sets per muscle per week?

Illustration for the guide: How many sets per muscle per week?

Short answer

About 10 hard sets per muscle per week is a good start. More usually adds a little more, but each extra set adds less. The effect becomes detectable from about 4 sets.

Figures

More weekly sets: diminishing returns in the model
  • 6 Extra fractional weekly sets for 2.05% more muscle size in the model: from 5–10 weekly sets
  • 8.5 Extra fractional weekly sets for 2.05% more muscle size in the model: from 11–18
  • 10.75 Extra fractional weekly sets for 2.05% more muscle size in the model: from 19–29
  • 12.5 Extra fractional weekly sets for 2.05% more muscle size in the model: from 30–42

What counts as a set

Count working sets that end with roughly 0–3 reps in reserve. Warm-up sets do not count. The rep count matters less as long as the set is hard.

Direct and indirect

Bench press trains the chest directly and the triceps indirectly. Pelland and colleagues found that counting half a set for indirectly involved muscles fits the data best. SetCtl therefore uses 0.5.

More sets, smaller returns

The meta-regression by Pelland and colleagues (35 studies on muscle growth) shows that at average volume each extra weekly set adds about 0.24% muscle size, and less as volume rises. The authors found no clear plateau. Above about 30 sets the data are too thin for a firm statement.

What if 5 and 30 sets give the same result?

The meta-analyses do not support that: on average, muscle keeps growing with more sets. It is true that single studies in trained people often find no difference between moderate and high volume. In Baz-Valle and colleagues, 12–20 and more than 20 weekly sets were equal for quadriceps and biceps; only the triceps grew more with more sets. For strength the idea holds better: beyond about 5 sets a week, extra sets add no reliably detectable gain.

The often-quoted 9.8%

Schoenfeld and colleagues found more growth with more sets in 2017. The values 5.4%, 6.6% and 9.8% for under 5, 5–9 and 10+ sets are total gains over each study's duration, not growth rates. The difference between these three groups was only a trend (p = 0.074) and did not hold up in a sensitivity analysis.

When to add sets

Add sets when load or reps have stalled for three to four weeks and you recover well. Then add 1–2 sets per muscle per week. Baz-Valle and colleagues name 12–20 sets as a sensible default for young trained men.

Sources

  • The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains · Pelland · 2026 · Sports Medicine PubMed DOI Study note
  • Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis · Schoenfeld; Brad J; Ogborn; Dan; Krieger; James W · 2017 · Journal of Sports Sciences PubMed DOI
  • A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy · Baz-Valle · 2022 · Journal of Human Kinetics PubMed DOI Study note
  • Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. · Schoenfeld · 2019 · Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise PubMed DOI

    34 trained men, 1, 3 or 5 sets per exercise over 8 weeks.

  • The Effect of Weekly Set Volume on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis · Ralston · 2017 · Sports Medicine PubMed DOI

Summaries by SetCtl, not medical advice.