Doing just one set of each exercise can still help build muscle, even if you're already fit — and it saves time.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (3)
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Divergent Strength Gains but Similar Hypertrophy After Low-Load and High-Load Resistance Exercise Training in Trained Individuals: Many Roads Lead to Rome.
The study shows that lifting lighter weights until muscles are tired works just as well as heavy lifting for building muscle in people who already exercise. This supports the idea that quick, simple workouts can still help muscles grow.
The study found that doing just one set of an exercise works about as well as doing three sets for building chest muscle in beginners. But we don’t know if it works the same way for people who are already fit.
Pectoralis Clavicular and Sternocostal Thicknesses Increase Similarly in Response to One and Three Sets of Pec Deck Resistance Training in Untrained Young Men
The study found that doing just one set of an exercise works about as well as doing three sets for building chest muscle in beginners. This supports the idea that short workouts can still build muscle.
Contradicting (2)
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Higher resistance training volume offsets muscle hypertrophy non-responsiveness in older individuals.
The study found that one set of lifting wasn't enough for most older adults to gain muscle, and they needed more sets. This suggests short workouts might not work well for everyone, especially if they're not already fit.
The study looked at older women who aren’t used to lifting weights and found that doing more sets helped them gain more muscle than doing fewer sets. It doesn’t show whether experienced lifters get the same benefit from just one set.
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.