More Sets Help You Get Stronger, But Not Always Bigger
The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Training frequency has no consistent effect on muscle growth—only on strength.
Most fitness influencers claim 'train each muscle 2–3x/week for max growth,' but this meta-analysis shows frequency doesn’t reliably increase hypertrophy when volume is fixed.
Practical Takeaways
For strength: Increase training frequency (e.g., 3–4x/week per muscle) before adding more sets. For hypertrophy: Focus on 10–15 direct sets per muscle per week, then stop adding volume.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Surprising Findings
Training frequency has no consistent effect on muscle growth—only on strength.
Most fitness influencers claim 'train each muscle 2–3x/week for max growth,' but this meta-analysis shows frequency doesn’t reliably increase hypertrophy when volume is fixed.
Practical Takeaways
For strength: Increase training frequency (e.g., 3–4x/week per muscle) before adding more sets. For hypertrophy: Focus on 10–15 direct sets per muscle per week, then stop adding volume.
Publication
Journal
Sports medicine
Year
2025
Authors
Joshua C. Pelland, Jacob F. Remmert, Zac P Robinson, Seth R. Hinson, Michael C. Zourdos
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Claims (10)
To keep getting bigger and stronger muscles, you gotta slowly make your workouts harder over time—either lift heavier weights, do more reps, or do more sets.
Doing more workout sets might help your muscles grow just a little bit more—even if the difference isn’t big enough to say for sure it’s not just random chance.
Lifting weights more often each week helps you build bigger muscles and get stronger, but after a certain point, you don’t gain much extra strength—though your muscles can still grow. If you keep the same total amount of lifting, doing it in more frequent, lighter sessions helps strength more than muscle size.
If you lift weights regularly and increase how much you lift over time, your strength goes up more than your muscles get bigger — at least in young guys who already train a lot. So, getting stronger isn’t just about getting bigger muscles.
Lifting weights more often helps you get stronger, but after a certain point, you don’t get much stronger no matter how much more you lift—plus, this slowdown happens sooner for strength than for muscle growth.