How many sets per muscle per week should you do?

What does sets per week mean?

You count every set a muscle gets during the week, whichever session it falls in. Three sets of squats on Monday and three on Friday give the front of your thighs six sets. The week, not the single session, shows how much a muscle is trained.

Which sets count?

Only working sets, meaning sets that end close to failure, often with 1 to 3 reps left in the tank. The guide to reps in reserve explains how to judge that.

• Warm-up sets do not count. They prepare you rather than tire you out. See the guide to warming up.
• Easy sets barely count. With five or more reps left, a set does little for your week.

The number of reps matters less: 6 heavy reps and 12 lighter ones count the same, as long as both sets end close to failure. See sets and reps for choosing reps.

Rules of thumb: how many sets do you need?

These are rough guidelines and common practice, not exact limits. People differ, and your log will show what suits you.

• Beginners: around 6 to 10 sets per muscle per week. When everything is new, less is enough, and most progress comes from the weights going up.
• Experienced lifters building muscle: often around 10 to 20. Most start low and move up when needed.

More is not automatically better. Every set costs recovery, and beyond a certain point extra sets mostly make you more tired. Fewer proper sets beat lots of half-hearted ones.

How to spread your sets over the week

Sets usually work better split up. With ten sets of chest in one day, you do the last ones tired, with worse technique and fewer reps. Five on Monday and five on Thursday give every set a proper effort.

A common recommendation is to train each muscle about twice a week. The guide to how often you should train helps you choose the number of sessions and the split.

How to count exercises that train several muscles

Compound exercises train more than one muscle. In the bench press your chest does most of the work, but your triceps and the front of your shoulders help. A simple way to count is one full set for the main muscle and roughly half a set for the helpers.

• Bench press and push-ups: chest, partly triceps and front shoulders.
• Shoulder press: shoulders, partly triceps.
• Rows and lat pulldowns: back, partly biceps.
• Squats: quads, partly glutes.
• Romanian deadlifts: hamstrings and glutes.

Do not fuss over the halves, just count the same way every week so you can compare.

A worked example: one week of full body three days

In full body three days, workout A includes 3 sets each of bench press and barbell rows, and workout B 3 sets each of seated shoulder press and lat pulldowns. The workouts alternate: A, B, A in week one and B, A, B in week two.

Week one (A, B, A):

1. Chest: two sessions with 3 sets of bench press give 6 sets.
2. Back: 6 sets of rows and 3 sets of pulldowns give 9 sets.
3. Triceps: 6 sets of bench press and 3 sets of shoulder press, counted as halves, give roughly 4 to 5 sets.

In week two (B, A, B) your chest only gets 3 sets, while your back still gets 9.

Your back sits comfortably within the beginner range, while your chest falls below it, averaging 4 to 5 sets a week. As long as your bench press keeps going up, leave it. If it stalls for several weeks despite good sleep and food, add 3 sets of dumbbell bench press to workout B, giving your chest 9 sets in both weeks.

Signs of too little and too much

Too little

• Your weights and reps have stalled for weeks, despite good sleep and food.
• Sessions feel easy, and you recover long before the next one.

Too much

• You get fewer reps at the same weight several sessions in a row.
• Your muscles are still tired and sore when they are due again.
• You feel worn out or have lost the urge to train.

Sleep, food and stress play a part too, so check them before changing your sets. If something hurts, rather than just feeling heavy, stop the exercise and have it looked at by a doctor or physiotherapist.

How to increase your volume gradually

The first step is adding weight or reps, which is progressive overload. For most beginners that works for a long time. Once progress levels off, more sets can be the next step:

1. Add one or two weekly sets for the stalled muscle, not for every muscle at once.
2. Give it a few weeks and check your log. If you are moving forward again, keep it.
3. If your performance drops or you get more tired each week, go back to what you had.
4. After a spell of higher volume, a deload week can give your body some breathing room.

How BIP helps

In BIP you log weight and reps for every set in the training log, which is free. Rather not do the maths? BIP builds a weekly programme in the generator around your goal, equipment and days. The programme page shows how many sets the week gives each muscle group, counted on each exercise's main muscle. The first week is free, and with Premium (99 kr a month) BIP builds your next week every week from what you lifted.

Frequently asked questions

Do warm-up sets count towards weekly volume?

No. Your warm-up is light on purpose. Only count the sets that end close to failure.

Is it enough to train a muscle once a week?

It can work, especially when time is short, as long as the weekly total is reasonable. Late sets in a long session tend to suffer, so two sessions help keep the quality up.

Do I need to count sets for every muscle?

No. Count the big groups: chest, back, shoulders, quads, hamstrings and glutes. Your arms get a good deal of work from pressing and pulling, so only give them their own exercises if they fall behind.