How many sets per muscle group is enough volume to grow muscles.

Ahhh my sweet sweet Training Volume, my favorite topic EVER!

So in this one, we'll analyze training volume through the lens of HYPERTROPHY WORK, building MASSIVE muscles, repetitions are up to your choosing and preference, the weight will be according to your strength level, what we will discuss today, is how many EFFECTIVE SETS we need to maintain, grow a little, grow a lot, and grow our muscles MAXIMALY.

For this, we'll use a super elegant concept designed by the Ph.D. in exercise science Dr. Mike Israetel from Renassaince Periodization (check him out on YouTube to learn more) that determines the thresholds in which your stimulus-to-fatigue ratio (SFR) starts to dip towards more causing more harm than good.

These volume landmarks are WEEKLY, gentlemen— sets a week for each muscle group— and their main usage is to allow you to PERIODIZE YOUR TRAINING— which I’ll provide a basic template for beginners, intermediates, and advanced lifters.

• MINIMUM VOLUME (MV)

Is the amount of effective sets required to keep your size and performance at the level that you're currently.

Keeping what you already have requires just a little effort, a little volume, here you're working at something close to a 20-40% work capacity and you'll hardly experience any fatigue whatsoever.Notice that triceps require 0–6 sets, because if you’re doing a good job with your chest work, you’re probably stimulating triceps as well hence no direct work is required, this idea applies to other muscles in the images.

• MINIMUM EFFECTIVE VOLUME (MEV)

Is the amount of sets required to gain a little bit of size, nothing to write home about but it's gainz nevertheless.

Here you're working at something close to a 40-70% work capacity, the higher the percentage, the more gains, and you'll start to experience some fatigue, maybe a little loss of performance between workouts that emphasize the same systems in a row, but still super low fatigue work hence you can probably work every single one of your muscles at this volume.

Yo, before we thread forward, consider

• MAXIMUM ADAPTIVE VOLUME (MAV)

Is the amount of sets required to OPTIMALLY GAIN SIZE, your best gains are done in this threshold, and here you're going to be strategic about your workouts because now you're scoring high on the fatigue side of the equation.

Here you're working anywhere from 70-85% work capacity, the threshold in which significant gains are made, fatigue ramps up drastically and a structured approach to training, dieting, and sleep will be required for the fatigue side of the scale don't screw your efforts.

Yo, before we thread forward, please, consider a paid subscription to this substack, so I can keep producing content like this one!

• MAXIMUM RECOVERABLE VOLUME (MRV)

Is the amount of sets required to PEAK your size at a given time, you're milking every single little drop of gainz that you can, and you're doing so on the verge of the zone where you're doing more harm than good.

Here you're working anywhere from 85-99% work capacity, this is something that should only be applied a the very end of a structured accumulation phase with proper periodization and only for a couple of muscle groups at a time, you'll experience INSANE fatigue, crippling soreness, and cap off your potential for the current version of yourself.

Anything above MRV, and only anything above MRV, is FUNCTIONAL OVERREACHING, and if sustained for a long period of time it can be turned into the dreaded OVERTRAINING.

Now you might be thinking— WAIT, MR. P, YOU’RE SUGGESTING THAT WE DO 268 SETS A WEEK TO HIT MRV IN ALL MUSCLES!?!?!?

OF COURSE NOT!

Big compound movements, count as sets for all the primary muscles involved in the movement.

1 set of bench press will count as 1 set of chest, front delts, and triceps— 1 set of squats counts as glutes, hamstrings, and quads— you ALSO, don’t need to even try to build everything all at once, a beginner could, but you leverage MV, MEV, MAV, and MRV according to the specific bodyparts you want to emphasize, or correct to create a specific look.

A beginner should manage volume like this:

Intermediates:

Advanced lifters on a 16-week bulk, could do it like this:

That’s it folks, I know this is a TON of nerdiness, and at the end of the day, applying it 100% would be a part-time job— but understanding these concepts will help you intuitively know how to keep things growing consistently and create sustainable progressions so you can keep BANGING IRON & GETTING AWESOME GAINZ!

STAY ON THE IRON PATH, MY BRUDDAHS!

Big KISS

THE POTATO MAN