How Many Sets Should I Do? | Strength Training

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How many sets should I do? Almost everyone has asked this at some point in their lifting career. And justifiably so. The number of sets you do is an incredibly important factor in building muscle and getting stronger.

Here are the recommended ranges for the number of sets you should do. These guidelines all assume each set is sufficiently hard (within 4 reps of failure), uses a weight between 30% and 85% of your 1 rep max, and is between 5 and 30 reps. They also assume your goal is to build muscle and overall strength.

	Per Workout	Per Week
Total Sets	6 - 30	24 - 120
Per Compound Movement	3 - 15	6 - 30
Per Additional Isolation Movement	2 - 10	4 - 20
Per Specific Exercise	1 - 5	2 - 10

• Total Sets - Every set you perform, regardless of the movement pattern or exercise.
• Per Compound Movement - The compound movement patterns are upper body pushing, upper body pulling, and lower body.
• Per Additional Isolation Movement - Additional isolation work for specific muscle groups. May not be needed depending on training level and goals.
• Per Specific Exercise - An individual exercise.

The ranges are fairly large since the number of sets you should do relies on several other factors, namely effort, training level, frequency, and recovery.

Effort

Effort refers to how close to failure you get on each set and is commonly measured in terms of RPE (Rate of Perceived Exertion) and RIR (Reps in Reserve). RIR is how many more reps you could have done in that set and I find it to be the most useful way of measuring effort.

The closer you train to failure on each set (ie the lower your RIR on each set), the less sets you'll need to do.

That being said, training close to failure is generally better than training to failure. Training to failure elicits more muscle building stimulus, but not enough to justify the additional fatigue and recovery cost. Between 1-4 reps from failure is how most of your sets should be completed.

Training Level

Your training level is how far along you are in your development of strength. While this can correspond to how long you've been training, it's best to gauge it based on your rate of progression. Beginners will be able to add weight every session, intermediates every week, and advanced trainees every month.

The lower your training level, the less sets you'll need to do.

In addition, beginners and novices generally don't need isolation work. The compound movement patterns usually provide sufficient stimulus for the indirectly affected muscle groups. As you get further in your training, adding in isolation work is good for increasing stimulus while adding minimal fatigue as well focusing on weak or lagging muscles.

Frequency

Frequency is how often you train each movement pattern or muscle group and is usually measured in times per week. As your muscles need time to recover, most well designed programs will have you train each movement pattern or muscle group 1-3 times per week with around 2 being best for most people.

The more frequently you train, the less sets you'll need to do.

Recovery

Recovery is how well your body adapts to the work that you do and can vary based on things like your nutrition, stress level, and how well you're sleeping. Doing too many sets can leave you tired and not recovered enough to do well in your next workout. On the other hand, doing too few sets can lead to slow or non-existent progress.

The better your recovery, the more sets you can do. However, more isn't necessarily better.

Finding Your Number

Finding your optimal number of sets is a balancing act and the best way to figure it out is to start on the lower end of the range and see how you're progressing. The primary reason for this is that each additional set has diminishing returns, meaning that the first set has the largest effect and each one thereafter is not as effective. Also, there are more risks associated with overtraining, such as injuries and fatigue, compared to undertraining which generally only results in slow progress.

Fortunately, most people can make good progress within a fairly wide range. If you're making good progress with what seems like a low number of sets, there's likely no need to change anything. However, if you're on the lower end of the ranges and not making progress, increasing the number of sets or effort of those sets may be what you need.

Specific Recommendations

If you still aren't sure where to start, here are some specifics numbers that work great for most people. Once again, this assumes each set is sufficiently hard (within 4 reps of failure), uses a weight between 30% and 85% of your 1 rep max, and is between 5 and 30 reps.

1. Pick 2 compound exercises per movement pattern. Ideally each exercise within the pattern works or emphasizes different muscles as in the examples below.
1. Upper Body Pushing: Bench Press, Overhead Press
2. Upper Body Pulling: Yates Row, Pull up/Pull down
3. Lower Body: Back Squat, Romanian Deadlift
2. Do 6 sets of each exercise per week. Ideally, each exercise is done twice a week for 3 sets each time. For example, an Upper/Lower split with each exercise done for 3 sets of 8-12 reps.
1. Monday: Upper
2. Tuesday: Lower
3. Wednesday: Rest
4. Thursday: Upper
5. Friday: Lower
6. Saturday: Rest
7. Sunday: Rest
3. Add in core work if desired (on Lower days if following the example).
4. After a few weeks, evaluate your progress. If you've been able to consistently add weight or do more reps, you're likely in a good spot. If not, as long as your nutrition, stress, and sleep are reasonably good, and you're not excessively tired, you probably need more volume. You can add volume by upping how many sets you do each exercise for or adding in a few sets of a new exercise.