If women who already work out increase their leg training gradually over 12 weeks, they might build more muscle in their quads than if they stick to the same number of sets the whole time—especially...

If women who already lift weights increase their workout volume every couple of weeks, they’ll get stronger on the leg press faster than if they stick to the same number of sets the whole time.

In women with about two years of weight training experience, gradually increasing the number of sets per week over 12 weeks leads to bigger gains in leg strength and muscle thickness in the front thigh muscle, but not in the overall thickness of the side thigh muscles, compared to doing the same number of sets every week.

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.

Over 12 weeks, adding more sets to weekly resistance training sessions leads to larger gains in leg strength and muscle size in the vastus lateralis of trained women, but does not significantly change the overall thickness of the lateral thigh muscles.

If women who already work out do too many sets each week, they might gain less muscle and strength than if they did fewer sets.