The Study
Evidence of a Ceiling Effect for Training Volume in Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength in Trained Men - Less is More?
This study saw that guys who lifted weights a little bit got stronger and bigger, and those who lifted a lot didn’t get much more — but we don’t know if the groups were picked fairly or if something else caused the results. So we can’t say doing less definitely causes better results — just that it seemed to happen.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study said doing 5 to 10 sets of weight training per muscle group a week was just as good for building muscle and strength as doing 15 to 20 sets — and doing more actually made strength gains worse.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 532 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — doing less training may be just as good or even better for trained people, saving time without losing results.
- 25-10 sets: best strength gains.
- 315-20 sets: weaker gains.
- 4Muscle size increased the same no matter how many sets.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
International journal of sports physiology and performance
Year
2020
Authors
Matheus Barbalho, V. Coswig, J. Steele, J. Fisher, Jürgen Giessing, P. Gentil
Related Content
Claims (10)
If you're already used to lifting weights, doing more sets and reps over time will help you build bigger muscles and get stronger — but only if you keep training consistently.
The more you work each muscle group per week—with the right exercises that really engage the muscle—the more your muscles will grow, and this is the #1 thing that matters for building muscle.
If you're already fit and lift weights, doing 5 to 10 sets per muscle group each week will make you stronger—but doing more than that (like 15 to 20 sets) won't make you any stronger, no matter how hard you push.
Doing more sets at the gym than you're used to—like going from 18 to 33 sets a week per muscle group—doesn’t make your muscles grow significantly more, even though you might see a little more growth overall.
If you're already fit and lift weights, doing 5 to 10 sets per muscle group each week builds just as much muscle and strength as doing 15 to 20 sets—so going overboard doesn't help you get bigger or stronger faster.
If you're already fit and lift weights, doing way more sets (15–20 per muscle group per week) doesn't make you stronger faster—in fact, you might even gain less strength than if you stick to just 5–10 sets.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.