In Get Buffed, Ian says that the average trainee can only do about 12 sets per workout and still progress. From what I read in this forum, it seems like most people here do more than that. How many sets do you do per workout on average, and what do you think is an effective range for the most part?
I average 25 sets in about a 1 1/2 hour session. I do about 12 sets per major bodypart. Fewer sets for legs, arms, and abs.
I keep my sets around 15 per workout. Sometimes I do more and sometimes I do less, but I usually keep it at 15 most of the time.
I used to do close to 16-20 sets per session. Now I have cut back to anywhere from 8-14 per workout and am making better progress.
Keep in mind ian means 12 work sets per workout, not warmup sets. I’ve found for non pharmaceutically enhanced trainees 4-5 work sets per body part with no more than 3 body parts per workout is fine(12-15total work sets) is terrific.
When clean, 12 work sets per workout, 3.5
workouts per week works well for me. (3.5
workouts per week is 4 workouts per 8 days.)
Sometimes though sets don't count in such a simple manner. For example, sometimes I might do five sets of two (with a weight that allows 6 or 8 reps), using quick negatives and the easiest speed for the positives, with 40 seconds rest; then take three minutes rest, and then do one set for the maximum number of reps possible with negatives being at the chosen speed. I count this as being two sets although techincally 6 sets are performed.
I think 12 sets is about right for for most
people training “naturally.” I train Mon,
Tues, Thurs, Fri with 10-14 sets per workout -
depending on the volume and intensity of each
set. That is, if I’m doing higher reps, I’ll
do fewer total sets. (This works quite well
for me.)
However, I think it's more useful to think in terms of "total work effort" for a workout to determine how much to do. This would not only include sets, but rep volume, intensity and TUT as well. It is just as easy to overtrain by always training to neurological failure as it is to do so by doing too many sets or too much total volume. In my observation, people who do more than 15 sets per wkot are either: A. overtraining, B. genetically gifted, C. using AAS, or D. not training with very great "total work effort." It's not too hard to do 25 sets of 10 reps if you're only lifting 10 lbs and moving the weight really fast.
I hardly ever do more than 12 sets per workout and sometimes do as few as 7 on leg days. I train 4 days a week and am mainly interested in strength. Because my intesity is high, I don’t feel the need to do very many sets. I am making better gains with the lower volume higher intesity approach. Maybe I could do better with more sets, but right now my gains are awesome.