Higher volume may slightly increase muscle growth, but deloading shows no benefit at low volumes; individual responses vary widely.
Original: Optimal volume & deloading: 2 new studies for max gains
Evidence is inconsistent, with some support for marginal gains from higher volume and no benefit from deloading at low volumes, but most findings lack strong confirmation.
Quick Answer
Two new studies show that increasing training volume from 18 to 33 sets per week per muscle group produced a marginal but statistically significant increase in quad muscle growth (10.3% vs. 7.6%), though the difference in pre-to-post change was not significant. A second study found that deloading every four weeks (reducing volume from 7 to 2 sets per week) had no measurable effect on muscle growth or strength in untrained lifters. Deloading is unnecessary at low volumes, and extreme volume does not cause overtraining — gains are driven by total accumulated training stress over time, not weekly distribution.
Claims (10)
1. Taking breaks from intense workouts every few weeks doesn’t reduce your overall training volume or stop you from building muscle in the long run.
2. If you push your muscles until they can't do another rep, you create more force per set—which can help if you're not doing many sets, but might hurt your progress if you're already doing a lot of work.
3. Everyone’s body responds differently to workouts—what works wonders for one person might be too much or too little for another, because of differences in genes, energy use, and how fast they recover.
4. 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.
5. If you lift weights, your muscles grow bigger — but only up to about 45 sets a week per muscle group; after that, you don’t get much extra growth no matter how much more you train.
6. Doing more workout volume doesn’t necessarily make your muscles grow more—your body’s internal muscle-building signals stay about the same no matter how much you train.
7. Your muscles grow bigger not because of just one thing like lifting heavy weights or doing lots of reps, but because of how all the workout factors—like how hard you push, how often you train, and how well you recover—work together.
8. It doesn't matter how you spread out your workouts—what really matters is how much total stress your muscles have been under over weeks or months, just like how your total food intake over time decides if you gain or lose fat.
9. 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.
10. Adding just one or two extra sets of exercise per week probably won’t make your muscles grow any more, because everyone’s body reacts differently and it’s hard to measure tiny changes accurately.
Key Takeaways
- •Problem: People wonder if doing more sets per week builds more muscle and if taking a rest week every few weeks helps recovery and gains.
- •Core methods: Increasing weekly leg training volume from 18 to 33 sets using leg extensions and leg presses; performing a deload week (2 sets per muscle group) every four weeks versus continuous training at 7 sets per week.
- •How methods work: Doing more sets means more total muscle stress over time, which signals growth; deloading reduces weekly stress temporarily, but if total weekly volume is low, the reduction doesn’t help recovery or growth.
- •Expected outcomes: Higher volume (33 sets) led to slightly more muscle growth (10.3% vs. 7.6%) than moderate volume (18 sets); deloading every four weeks at low volume (7 sets) had no effect on muscle or strength gains.
- •Implementation timeframe: Results were measured after eight weeks of consistent training; no immediate changes were seen before that.
Overview
The problem addressed is whether increasing training volume beyond habitual levels (12–20 sets/week) enhances hypertrophy, and whether scheduled deloading improves recovery and gains. The solution preview reveals that extreme volume (33 sets/week) yields a marginal but measurable increase in muscle growth without overtraining, and that deloading every four weeks at low volume (7 sets/week) has no significant effect on outcomes — total accumulated volume over time is the key determinant of adaptation, not weekly distribution or scheduled reductions.
Key Terms
How to Apply
- 1.Perform leg extensions and leg presses for your quadriceps, totaling 33 sets per week if you are already training at 12–20 sets per week, and ensure all sets are performed to momentary muscle failure.
- 2.If you are a beginner training at 6–7 sets per week per muscle group, continue training at that volume every week without scheduled deload weeks.
- 3.Avoid scheduled deload weeks if your weekly volume is below 10 sets per muscle group — they provide no benefit and may reduce total stimulus.
- 4.Track your total weekly sets per muscle group across all exercises (e.g., leg presses + leg extensions) and prioritize consistency over weekly fluctuations.
- 5.If you are training at high volume (20+ sets/week), avoid training to failure on every set to reduce cumulative fatigue and prevent overtraining.
Following these steps will result in slightly greater muscle growth when increasing volume from moderate to high levels (e.g., 18 to 33 sets/week), and no loss of gains when skipping scheduled deloads at low volumes — total weekly volume is the main driver of progress.
Studies from Description (3)
Additional Links (2)
Claims (10)
1. Taking breaks from intense workouts every few weeks doesn’t reduce your overall training volume or stop you from building muscle in the long run.
2. If you push your muscles until they can't do another rep, you create more force per set—which can help if you're not doing many sets, but might hurt your progress if you're already doing a lot of work.
3. Everyone’s body responds differently to workouts—what works wonders for one person might be too much or too little for another, because of differences in genes, energy use, and how fast they recover.
4. 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.
5. If you lift weights, your muscles grow bigger — but only up to about 45 sets a week per muscle group; after that, you don’t get much extra growth no matter how much more you train.
6. Doing more workout volume doesn’t necessarily make your muscles grow more—your body’s internal muscle-building signals stay about the same no matter how much you train.
7. Your muscles grow bigger not because of just one thing like lifting heavy weights or doing lots of reps, but because of how all the workout factors—like how hard you push, how often you train, and how well you recover—work together.
8. It doesn't matter how you spread out your workouts—what really matters is how much total stress your muscles have been under over weeks or months, just like how your total food intake over time decides if you gain or lose fat.
9. 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.
10. Adding just one or two extra sets of exercise per week probably won’t make your muscles grow any more, because everyone’s body reacts differently and it’s hard to measure tiny changes accurately.
Related Content
Claims (10)
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.
Everyone’s body responds differently to workouts—what works wonders for one person might be too much or too little for another, because of differences in genes, energy use, and how fast they recover.
Doing more workout volume doesn’t necessarily make your muscles grow more—your body’s internal muscle-building signals stay about the same no matter how much you train.
It doesn't matter how you spread out your workouts—what really matters is how much total stress your muscles have been under over weeks or months, just like how your total food intake over time decides if you gain or lose fat.
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.