Does doing more sets per week lead to more muscle growth, or do gains slow down after a certain point?

We analyzed 86 total assertions from studies on weekly training volume and muscle growth ¹. Of those, 53 supported the idea that more sets lead to more gains, at least up to a point. The evidence we've reviewed leans toward the idea that doing around 10 sets per muscle group per week is effective for building muscle. Beyond that, the additional benefit seems to drop off — meaning more effort gives much smaller improvements ¹.

At the same time, 33 assertions contradicted the idea that increasing sets keeps delivering results. This doesn’t mean high volume is useless, but it suggests that for many people, doing more than 10 sets per week may not be meaningfully better. Our current analysis can’t say exactly where the tipping point is for everyone, since individual responses may vary.

We don’t yet have enough evidence to say there’s a strict cutoff or that this applies equally across all exercises, experience levels, or muscle groups. Also, we can’t rule out that some people might benefit from more volume, especially under certain conditions.

Practical takeaway: If you're doing very few sets per week, adding more is likely to help. But if you're already doing a lot — say, over 10 sets per muscle group — adding even more might not move the needle much.