People who did more sets didn’t lift heavier weights—they just did more reps and sets. The weight stayed the same, but the total work went up.

Doing more sets of leg exercises makes you lift more total weight in one session, but doesn’t make you stronger right after or cause your muscles to swell longer.

To test if rest time matters, researchers made sure both groups did the exact same amount of total lifting—so any differences (or lack of them) must be due to rest time, not how much they lifted.

When lifting heavy weights, doing more total reps and sets (higher volume) makes your muscles grow bigger, even if you rest less between sets.

Whether you take short breaks between reps or not, your body adapts by lifting heavier weights at about the same rate—as long as you’re pushing yourself to near failure each set.

Even though cluster sets let you rest briefly between reps, they don’t actually let you lift more total weight over time than regular sets—if you’re pushing just as hard in both.