I’ve read a lot of articles on here and have heard many varying opinions. I’ve watched workouts of ifbb guys and have seen differences too.
So the question is, what’s the optimal number of sets (or even reps per set?) per workout? I’ve always heard 6-8 reps for building mass and that it’s not good to go past around 15 sets per workout. What do you think about that?
I always find myself wanting to do more but stop because I’ve heard not to go past the mid teens in terms of sets.
What do you guys think?
I’m trying to bulk right now if that makes a difference.
Straight from the American College of Sports Medicine
Hypertrophy training
* 1-12 RM in periodized fashion
o emphasis on the 6-12 RM zone
* 1- to 2-min rest periods between sets
* moderate contraction velocity
* higher volume, multiple-set programs
Certainly no one answer, surely not telling you anything you don’t already know there, for several reasons, including at least:
One set is not necessarily or even usually equal to another. One sort of set might “count” as twice or one-third that of another. E.g. if you get the idea of doing including German Volume Training on your forearms, 10 sets of 10, supersetting behind-back barbell wrist curls with reverse wrist curls, you are not going to need to deduct 20 sets of squats to compensate to yield similar total effect with regards to recovery or volume limitations.
Also a number of sets performed to one or more reps short of the maximum that could have been performed in that set is not going to require “deducting” the same number of sets as in the case where performance was maximal each set.
And, more total sets should usually be performed at lower ends of the rep range (or higher end of percent RM) than at higher reps.
Also volume should vary rather than always being the same, so a “right” answer for you this week or month is not going to be the right answer for all the weeks or months of the year.
All that said, given a strong emphasis towards “big” exercises in the workout rather than a lot of little ones, and middle-ground rep range, I like about 24 sets per workout.
By the way, Arthur Jones’ original HIT method was 24 sets per workout, both in his personal findings and how he was training athletes back in the Training Bulletins. So that ought to be kept in mind before calling that necessarily overtraining, as I wouldn’t be surprised if at least one person would want to do.
I do not go beyond 10 total sets (excluding abs, lower back and neck) per day, 4 days per week. Many times I will split that up between AM/PM. However, each set is very intense and close to max effort with proper form. Sets within the same bodypart group are giant-setted.
Regardless of the goal I am trying to achieve I am usually between 28-40 sets per workout. I am a big volume guy though and respond better. I backed off to lower sets for a while a few years back and was very disappointed.
I keep seeming to find that the more I do, the better the results, but after ~15 years or so of doing this I have a pretty good idea of what my body needs to achieve what I am after.