For postmenopausal women, doing six sets of resistance exercises per movement instead of three sets over 12 weeks leads to a greater increase in leg muscle mass, with a 6.1% gain compared to 2.3%.

Pro

Against

Mechanism

Synthesis from 1 study

How it works

Doing more sets of leg exercises puts more stress on the muscles, which tells the muscle cells to make more of the proteins that make them strong and thick. Over time, this adds up to bigger, heavier leg muscles — but doesn't necessarily make you stronger faster, because strength gains rely more on...

Most probable mechanism

In Simple Terms

When muscles are worked harder and longer during strength training, the physical stress on the muscle fibers triggers internal signals that tell the cells to build more of the proteins that make muscles contract. Over time, this leads to more of these proteins being added to the muscle fibers, making them thicker and increasing the overall muscle mass in the legs.

Causal chain

Mechanical tension from repeated concentric and eccentric muscle contractions activates mechanosensitive structures within muscle fibers, such as integrins and focal adhesion complexes.

Supported by evidence

which leads to

This mechanical signaling activates intracellular pathways, including mTORC1, that enhance the cell's capacity to produce new proteins by increasing ribosome production and translation efficiency.

Supported by evidence

which leads to

The rate of synthesis of contractile proteins, such as actin and myosin, exceeds the rate of their breakdown, resulting in a net accumulation of these proteins within muscle fibers.

Supported by evidence

which leads to

The accumulation of contractile proteins increases the cross-sectional area of individual muscle fibers, leading to measurable growth in leg lean mass.

Verified by multiple studies

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Community contributions welcome

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy, but Not Strength in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2022 May 1

Contradicting (0)

Community contributions welcome

No contradicting evidence found

Gold Standard Evidence Needed

According to GRADE and EBM methodology, here is what ideal scientific evidence would look like to definitively prove or disprove this specific claim, ordered from strongest to weakest evidence.

Source Study

Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy, but Not Strength in Postmenopausal Women: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Score: 61

DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000003601

Similar Assertions

For postmenopausal women, doing three sets or six sets of leg exercises during strength training leads to about the same improvement in leg strength after 12 weeks.

89%

For postmenopausal women, doing three sets of supervised leg exercises twice a week for 12 weeks can increase muscle mass and strength in the legs compared to not exercising at all, but it does not produce the maximum possible muscle growth.

89%

If women who already work out do too many sets each week, they might gain less muscle and strength than if they did fewer sets.

83%

For postmenopausal women doing strength training, doing more than three sets of each exercise does not lead to noticeably greater increases in strength over 12 weeks compared to doing three sets.

83%

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, suggesting that increasing volume beyond this point does not result in greater muscle growth.

82%