This study only looked at the front and side of the thigh—so we don’t know if doing more sets helps your front thigh or hamstrings grow more.

Scientific Claim

Progressive resistance training volume increases over 12 weeks do not lead to greater hypertrophy in the rectus femoris or posterior chain muscles in resistance-trained males, as the study only assessed lateral thigh muscles.

Original Statement

“Fifth, we only assessed hypertrophy in the lateral aspects of the thigh (i.e., vastus lateralis and vastus intermedius). It is unknown if similar hypertrophic adaptations would occur in other muscles, such as the rectus femoris or upper-limb muscles.”

From study:Effects of Different Weekly Set Progressions on Muscular Adaptations in Trained Males: Is There a Dose–Response Effect?

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

definitive

Can make definitive causal claims

Assessment Explanation

The authors explicitly state the limitation. The claim is descriptive and accurately reflects the study’s measurement scope.

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (0)

No supporting evidence found

Contradicting (1)

Effects of Different Weekly Set Progressions on Muscular Adaptations in Trained Males: Is There a Dose–Response Effect?

Randomized Controlled Trial

Human

2024 Mar 1

The study only looked at the outer thigh muscles, not the front or back of the thigh, so it can't say whether training volume affects those other muscles—meaning the claim wrongly uses this study to prove something it didn't test.

Source Study

Effects of Different Weekly Set Progressions on Muscular Adaptations in Trained Males: Is There a Dose–Response Effect?

Score: 52

DOI: 10.1249/mss.0000000000003317

Similar Assertions

You don’t need to train every day—just twice a week for two months can make your upper and middle thighs bigger, as long as you do enough total work.

83%

Even though the guys doing the most workouts looked like they might have grown a little more, the difference wasn’t big enough to say for sure that more sets = more muscle.

82%

Even if you do a lot of leg workouts, your thigh muscles grow about the same amount whether you do 20 or 50 sets a week—just doing any consistent training makes them bigger.

81%

When people who’ve never lifted weights before do leg exercises with either 20-second or 2-minute breaks between sets—while doing the same total amount of work—their thigh muscles grow about the same amount.

80%

Doing a lot more leg workouts—over 50 sets a week—doesn’t make your thigh muscles grow bigger than doing 20–40 sets a week, even if you train for 12 weeks.

79%