GAIN MUSCLE: HOW MANY SETS FOR MUSCLE GROWTH? BODYBUILDING TIPS FOR YOUR FITNESS PLAN

GAIN MUSCLE: HOW MANY SETS FOR MUSCLE GROWTH - TRAINED SUBJECTS?

I know I know, I can hear you screaming from here, "what about trained subjects?"

Research divided 35 trained males into 3 groups - the 1 set, 2 set or 4 set group (5).

This meant they did 3, 6 or 12 sets per muscle group. They did 4 different sessions a week for 10 weeks; legs, back, chest and shoulders, back and calves, and biceps and triceps. 

An ultrasound determined muscle gains in the rectus femoris (legs) and the triceps (arms).

And was there any significant difference between muscle growth for the groups?

No.

Now this is a well designed piece of research - mirroring what most of us at the gym are doing - agreed?

Another study into untrained subjects compared 3 sets of leg extensions and 1 set of elbow flexion, to 1 set of leg extensions 3 sets of elbow flexion (6). 

Now that's a good design!

And what did the authors conclude?

No significant differences in either group for the leg extensions, and would you believe - no increases in muscle mass for them at all!

So maybe volume for legs is important?

It certainly seems that way, and might explain why cyclists, who obviously subject their quads to large amounts of volume have such thick quadriceps!

However, this hypothesis is obviously beyond the scope of this article and one that I haven't yet investigated. 

But back to the study, and how did the elbow extensions go?

Well, there was a 7.2% increase for the 1 set group, and a 5.9% increase for the 3 set group, which led the authors to conclude:

"Single-set training protocols might be sufficient for increasing strength and muscle thickness of the elbow flexors..."

BODYBUILDING TIPS FOR YOUR FITNESS PLAN: HOW MANY SETS FOR MUSCLE GROWTH THEN?

Obviously the results are conflicting and there's no absolute final decision here unfortunetly.

But for trained subjects, which is most of us, there does seem to be some solid evidence that 1 set for the exercises you chose might be enough (5).

But it does seem in some cases that more is not more. 

Again looking at untrained subjects, research has found that when a group did either bench press and lat pull downs, or bench press, lat pulldowns together with tricep extensions and elbow flexion exercises, there was no difference.

They performed for 3 sets of 8-12 reps twice a week for 10 weeks - but obviously in the second group - they isolated the biceps and triceps, so the volume was greater.

And amazingly there was no difference in muscle growth between the groups, suggesting that when you work the biceps during a back workout and the triceps during a chest workout when you're untrained - that's suffice for growth in both those muscle groups, and you might not need to add on isolated exercises at the end.

BODYBUILDING TIPS FOR YOUR FITNESS PLAN: WHAT YOU SHOULD TAKE-AWAY

It seems that to be safe, multiple sets could still be recommended. 

However, we cannot ignore the evidence into trained and untrained subjects, that 1 set alone may be suffice for optimal muscle hypertrophy. 

Maybe we could walk away with this - when you're strapped for time, push to absolute muscle failure for a chosen muscle group for just the ONE set for 4-5 exercises.

When your gym pals wonder why the hell you were so quick, you can kindly point them to this article, as you bolt out the door with just possibly the same amount of muscle growth as them, despite their seemingly endless number of sets!