Higher training volumes may increase muscle size, but strength gains plateau earlier and swelling does not reliably confound long-term results.
Original: How Many Sets for Muscle Growth? (New Study)
Evidence is mixed: higher volumes correlate with more muscle growth, but key claims about swelling and strength are inconsistently supported by available studies.
Quick Answer
The new study and meta-analysis show that higher weekly set volumes lead to greater muscle hypertrophy, with no evidence of a plateau up to 52 sets per muscle group per week. Muscle swelling, a common counter-argument, was found to subside within 24 hours after training and does not meaningfully confound long-term hypertrophy measurements. The strongest evidence comes from a meta-regression of 35 studies showing a dose-response relationship: more sets = more growth, even in trained individuals.
Claims (10)
1. When you lift more, your muscles get bigger and stronger — and both keep improving together.
2. More lifting makes you bigger and stronger, but after a while, extra sets help less for strength than for muscle size.
3. Lifting more weights over time makes your muscles grow bigger.
4. After a hard workout, your muscles swell up temporarily because they get slightly damaged.
5. Muscle swelling from a workout can still be seen 3 days later, so measuring size then might not show real growth.
6. One workout’s swelling doesn’t tell you what swelling looks like after months of training.
7. The more you do the same workout, the less sore and swollen your muscles get.
8. Even after doing a lot of sets, muscle swelling goes away within a day.
9. Even strong people get sore if they try a new workout, because their body hasn’t adapted to it yet.
10. The more you do the same workout each week, the faster you recover and the less sore you get.
Key Takeaways
- •Problem: People thought doing a lot of sets (like 40–52 per week) only made muscles look bigger temporarily due to swelling, not because they actually grew.
- •Core methods: Training with 7, 14, or 21 sets per muscle group in a single workout; tracking weekly set volumes from 5 to 52 sets per muscle group across multiple studies.
- •How methods work: Doing more sets stresses muscles more, which triggers long-term growth; swelling after a workout is temporary fluid buildup that goes away within 24 hours and doesn’t add real muscle.
- •Expected outcomes: More sets led to more real muscle growth over weeks and months, with no sign that growth stopped even at 52 sets per week; strength also increased more with higher volumes when measured properly.
- •Implementation timeframe: Swelling fades within 24 hours after a workout; real muscle growth becomes clear after 8–12 weeks of consistent training with progressively higher volumes.
Overview
The central problem in resistance training is determining the optimal weekly set volume for maximizing muscle hypertrophy, with conflicting claims that high volumes produce only temporary swelling rather than true growth. The solution presented in this video is based on a new crossover study measuring swelling across 7, 14, and 21 sets, and a meta-regression of 35 studies showing a linear dose-response relationship between sets and hypertrophy, with no plateau up to 52 sets/week. The evidence refutes swelling as a confounder and supports progressive volume as a key driver of growth.
Key Terms
How to Apply
- 1.Perform 10–40 weekly sets per muscle group, split across 2–3 training sessions, using 6–12 rep ranges with 2 minutes rest between sets and 3 minutes between exercises.
- 2.Start with a moderate volume (e.g., 15–20 sets/week per muscle group) and gradually increase by 2–4 sets every 2 weeks if recovery allows, mimicking the progressive overload method used in the 4-set and 6-set groups of the study.
- 3.Measure muscle thickness or take progress photos every 4 weeks and track strength gains on key lifts (e.g., back squat, leg press) to confirm hypertrophy is occurring beyond temporary swelling.
- 4.Focus high-volume training (30+ sets/week) on 1–2 muscle groups at a time (muscle group specialization) to avoid overtraining, and reduce volume on other groups.
- 5.Ensure all working sets are performed within 2 reps of failure, with the final set taken to volitional concentric failure, and maintain consistent training frequency (2–3x/week per muscle group).
Over 8–12 weeks, you will experience measurable increases in muscle size and strength that are sustained beyond temporary swelling, with the highest gains occurring at 30–52 weekly sets per muscle group, provided recovery and effort are maintained.
Additional Links
Claims (10)
1. When you lift more, your muscles get bigger and stronger — and both keep improving together.
2. More lifting makes you bigger and stronger, but after a while, extra sets help less for strength than for muscle size.
3. Lifting more weights over time makes your muscles grow bigger.
4. After a hard workout, your muscles swell up temporarily because they get slightly damaged.
5. Muscle swelling from a workout can still be seen 3 days later, so measuring size then might not show real growth.
6. One workout’s swelling doesn’t tell you what swelling looks like after months of training.
7. The more you do the same workout, the less sore and swollen your muscles get.
8. Even after doing a lot of sets, muscle swelling goes away within a day.
9. Even strong people get sore if they try a new workout, because their body hasn’t adapted to it yet.
10. The more you do the same workout each week, the faster you recover and the less sore you get.
Related Content
Claims (10)
Higher weekly resistance training volume leads to greater muscle hypertrophy in trained individuals.
Muscle swelling following resistance training returns to baseline within 24 hours, regardless of training volume (7–21 sets per session).
Acute muscle swelling responses following a single resistance training session are not representative of swelling responses observed after prolonged, repeated training programs.
Muscle swelling induced by resistance training may persist for up to 72 hours post-exercise, potentially confounding hypertrophy measurements if assessed within this window.
Repeated exposure to resistance training induces the repeated bout effect, leading to reduced muscle damage, inflammation, and swelling over time.