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Fit and Fine by Kamal Singh CSCS: Muscle power
There has been a lot of discussion on the amount of volume required to increase muscle size
There has been a lot of discussion on the amount of volume required to increase muscle size. The maximalists on one side claim that more is always better- do as many sets per body part that you can recover from – local muscle damage through volume is the way to go. On the other hand, minimalists or the High Intensity folks argue, volume is garbage, lift as little as possible to induce muscle damage through high intensity. Some of the High Intensity extremists go as far as to say that only one set is necessary for increasing muscle size!
Three ways to increase muscle size
Let us back up a bit and talk about what are the ways to increase muscle size through training. Essentially there are three methods which can be utilized in the gym:
Mechanical Tension: This is high force or load applied to the muscles. The slogan, “lift heavy or go home” comes from loading as heavy as possible. The heavier you lift; the more muscle fibers are recruited which over time will lead to their growth.
Metabolic Stress: Essentially “pump” training. The more the blood gets pumped into a muscle while training – higher repetitions, constant cadence i.e. no rest between repetitions resulting in high levels of metabolic stress and cell swelling
Muscle Damage: Or, soreness is caused by slowing down the eccentric part of the exercise. Soreness can be also happen if you include a variety of exercises in your training program.
If you notice volume or the number of sets and repetitions is an important if hidden element of the methods I have listed above. None of the three methods would be effective fully if the sets were too low or too high.
Optimal number of sets for muscle hypertrophy
Recent research by Schoenfeld et al tells us that the range for hypertrophy is 10 to 20 sets per week per body part. That is a pretty wide range and gives the trainee a whole lot of wiggle room. I would also interpret it as a range which accommodates beginner to a long term trainee. Initially you could make progress on just 10 sets. I would aver that for the rank beginner, even 3 sets might be good enough.
The 10 to 20 sets range gives the trainee a lot of leeway in using that range in different types of body part splits
Full Body training program – you train the entire body at every session. Every exercise is done for 3-4 sets. Most full body programs have the trainee hitting the gym thrice a week. On this program, you would easily get 10-12 sets per body part per week.
An upper, lower body split program is done over 4 days a week. It can be set up like so: Monday - Lower, Tuesday – Upper, Thursday – Lower, Saturday – Upper. You can comfortably get 12-15 sets per body part per week.
A body part split where you train 1-2 body parts per day is usually very volume heavy. Getting 20 plus sets per body part per week is usually the norm.
As you can see, getting 10-20 sets per body part per week is not hard to do if your focus is muscle hypertrophy. Use the above guidelines and grow. Now go and do it.
Kamal Singh is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist who has been coaching for 15 years
From HT Brunch, December 24, 2022
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