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Strong Support

If you're an average gym-goer doing one-arm bicep curls, doing more sets than your usual routine won't make your arm muscles bigger or stronger—your gains plateau at your current volume.

55
Pro
0
Against

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

55

Community contributions welcome

55

Increasing set volume relative to baseline does not augment skeletal muscle adaptations when compared to maintenance of baseline training volume in recreationally trained individuals

Randomized Controlled Trial
Human
2025 Apr

The study gave some people more sets of bicep curls than others, but both groups ended up with the same muscle growth and strength gains — so doing more sets didn’t help beyond the usual amount.

Contradicting (0)

0

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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

Increasing set volume relative to baseline does not augment skeletal muscle adaptations when compared to maintenance of baseline training volume in recreationally trained individuals

Score: 55
DOI: 10.1007/s00421-024-05655-4

Similar Assertions

If you're just casually working out, doing a few sets of bicep curls with one arm is just as good for getting stronger as doing a lot more sets—your muscles don't need extra work to keep improving past a certain point.

55
0
90%

If you're someone who works out a little but not super hard, just keeping up your usual routine for 3 months can actually make your biceps bigger and stronger — you don’t need to go all out.

55
0
82%

If you're someone who lifts weights for fun and not professionally, your upper arm muscles grow about the same amount near the shoulder, middle, and elbow—no matter if you do more or the same number of sets and reps.

55
0
78%

If regular gym-goers train their biceps by lifting in a way that stretches the muscle more, they’ll likely gain more muscle size over two months.

47
0
76%

Doing arm exercises that shorten and lengthen the muscles might help build arm size a little, but the evidence isn't super strong—there's only about a 55% chance it's better than just lengthening exercises.

47
0
76%