Among men who regularly lift weights and train their legs twice a week for 8 weeks, doing about 12 sets per week leads to the same gains in muscle size and lean mass as doing 30% or 60% more sets,...
Mechanism
Synthesis from 1 study
Once your muscles are used to lifting weights, they can only grow so fast — adding more sets doesn’t help because your body’s muscle-building system is already working at full speed. It’s like filling a cup that’s already full: pouring more water in won’t make it hold more.
Most probable mechanism
When muscles are trained regularly, they reach a point where making new muscle proteins can't go any faster, no matter how much more you train. Adding more workouts or sets doesn’t make the muscles grow any bigger because the body’s ability to build new muscle tissue has hit its limit.
Muscle protein synthesis rates increase in response to resistance training but plateau after repeated stimuli within a moderate volume range.
In trained individuals, mTORC1 signaling and ribosomal biogenesis are already elevated at baseline and show diminished responsiveness to additional mechanical load beyond a moderate volume.
The rate of myofibrillar protein accretion reaches a ceiling, limiting further hypertrophy despite increased training volume.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
Community contributions welcome
Training Volume Increases Or Maintenance Based On Previous Volume: The Effects On Muscular Adaptations In Trained Males.
Contradicting (0)
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