- Strength coaches and bodybuilding enthusiast have long debated where the line is crossed in terms of overtraining a muscle, but finally a new study has been able to put a number on how many sets you should probably stop at, to avoid diminishing returns.
The report, published in the Journal of Applied Physiology sought to discover whether there’s a point in which increasing your weekly set volume becomes counter-productive — an important piece of info for elite athletes and regular gym goers alike. Historically, for the most part, the number of sets executed in a week are based on how an individual feels and how they balance their recovery, but new data could determine future exercise protocols.
How was the study carried out?
Initially, 53 individuals were selected to take part but only 29 completed. During the eight-week course, those participants were placed into three different groups:
- Group 1: 12 Sets Per Week, Per Muscle Group
- Group 2: Increased the set volume further by 30% each week
- Group 3: Increased the set volume further by 60% each week
What were the results?
All three groups improved their one-rep-max by the end of the eight week study, but the group that stuck with twelve sets per muscle group, per week, increased their 1RM by the biggest margin. On top of this, this group also built approximately the same amount of muscle as those who were increasing their sets by 60% each week.
While the group who added 30% to their sets each week did edge the others out in terms of how many reps they could execute, this number didn’t result in greater strength levels or more muscle mass. “These findings suggest that more is not always better for muscle adaptations in a trained cohort,” concluded the study authors in what is thought to be one of the clearest experiments of its kind.
Granted, the project relied on a relatively low sample size, but these results warrant further attention. One reason that increasing the set volume had diminishing returns when compared against the twelve sets per week group is thought to be the effect of overtraining. When a muscle is not given adequate time to recover, it becomes unable to grow back bigger and stronger.
Still, the results seriously surprised the scientists who’d thought that a moderate set increase would improve both strength and muscle mass. “We have not confirmed our hypothesis that individualized volume increases would elicit superior hypertrophic adaptations than the control group,” read the results. “Therefore, our data do not support the hypothesis that a 30% individualized increase would elicit superior maximum strength adaptation.”
The take home (or take to the gym) message here is that a moderate weekly exercise protocol of around 12 sets per week appears to be the sweet spot so long as you train to failure, and this regime could also prevent injuries from overtraining.