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

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 found that whether people did more or fewer sets of arm curls, their upper arms grew about the same amount at the top, middle, and bottom — so doing more sets doesn’t make one part grow more than another.

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

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