For women just starting weight training, how much they lift (total volume) matters a lot—but only if they also eat enough protein and calories. It’s the combo that makes a difference.

If young women who are new to weightlifting eat enough calories (35–45 per kg of body weight), they get stronger from training—but if they eat too few (15–20 kcal/kg), they might actually lose strength even while training hard.

Doing more sets, reps, and lifting heavier weights doesn’t always mean you’ll grow bigger muscles—some people see big gains with less volume, while others don’t grow much even with more work.

Doing more sets in your weight workouts might actually make you gain less muscle—each extra set could slightly reduce your muscle growth, so more isn’t always better.

Lifting weights more often helps you get stronger, but after a certain point, you don’t get much stronger no matter how much more you lift—plus, this slowdown happens sooner for strength than for muscle growth.

Lifting weights more often each week helps you build bigger muscles and get stronger, but after a certain point, you don’t gain much extra strength—though your muscles can still grow. If you keep the same total amount of lifting, doing it in more frequent, lighter sessions helps strength more than muscle size.