Strength training is important for you. A strength training program can increase muscle mass and strengthen bones, manage weight, and improve balance. To build muscle, is there a type of set that you need to do per muscle group per week?
It may be possible to maximize your muscle growth with as few as nine sets per week when you train efficiently. But if your training goal is to build strength, power, fitness, and endurance, then you might be gaining less muscle per set.
How many sets and reps should you do to build your muscle strength? What are the common mistakes that beginners usually make? In this blog, I will give you all the information related to building muscle strength.
Table of Content
5 Common Mistakes for Beginner
Here are common blunders that beginners do when they build their muscle strength.
1. Don’t Make a Workout Plan
Most beginners did not make their workout plan, and it is a big mistake that beginners make. If you don’t make your workout plan, you don’t know what you are doing on a full week.
So, before starting any workout, you need to make a proper workout plan. Trainers want to help out the beginners, but if you don’t like it, you can also watch the videos on YouTube.
2. Not Increasing Weight
Many people mostly do three sets of three repetitions in the same weight, and they don’t increase the weight even after a month. That is a big mistake that beginners make because if you don’t increase the weight, you can’t build your muscles strong.
So, you need to increase the weight after a week that may help you to build strength gain.
3. Consistency is the Key
Consistency is the important thing, many people start a gym, and after one month or two months, they left that behavior is not good for your muscle strength. You need to give one hour in the gym, and 24 hours, it is not difficult for you.
If you do the gym consistently and take the diet plan as the trainer recommends, you quickly hit your goal. And if you don’t manage the diet plan but workout in the gym with consistency, you must build your muscle 40-50%.
4. Skip Warm-Up
Beginners usually skip their warm-up and start the proper exercise that includes in their workout plan. A solid warm-up is essential to prevent injuries and ensure a smooth workout. If you’re short on time and want to get through your workout, you may skip it. That is not good for you.
You should warm up dynamically before exercise to prepare your joints, tissues, and muscles and avoid injury. An effective warm-up gets your blood pumping and leaves you lightly sweating- it goes far beyond a few static stretches.
5. Post Workout Stretch
A stretch is another part of a workout that beginners overlook or skip, but establishing the habit as a beginner will ensure you always cool down after exercising.
After your workout, stretching is an essential part of your routine. This exercise promotes faster recovery from workouts, improves your posture and balance, and even relieves stress.
How Many Sets Should I Do to Build Muscle?
Before discussing how many sets you should do to build muscle, you need to know the training volume.
What is Training Volume?
An activity’s volume is measured by how much you do. In aerobic training, you measure your progress in terms of distance and time. Here are the two most common definitions.
- Exercise volume is calculated by multiplying the number of sets, reps, and weight lifted for each exercise. Suppose we did ten sets for five reps each of front squats, with 225 pounds as our load; that’s 11,250 pounds of squats.
- The volume of training equals the number of challenging sets performed each week. For example, if we do five challenging front squats on Monday and five more on Friday, our quads have ten sets per week.
They are both correct definitions, and both are useful.
How Many Sets Affects Muscle Growth?
It’s technically true that no statistically significant differences between the groups. Muscle gain was notably higher in the groups that performed more sets. These are the results:
- Five sets: 7.3 pounds muscle gain
- Three sets: 6.3 pounds muscle gain
- One set: 1 pound of muscle gain
All group increased their size of bicep and triceps more than the group that did five sets. You should remember that none of the above groups gained as much muscle as they probably should have.
The first six months after starting your workout routine, you should usually gain 10 pounds or more muscle, but the study showed that everyone fell short of that goal.
How Many Sets Affect Strength Gain?
A common misconception is that getting strong only requires you to add weight to the bar during a workout. Add a set or two if you are getting at least one per workout and using progressive overload.
But adding more sets won’t help you. Strength gains are also influenced by the number of sets performed. People who performed the most sets gained strength on most exercises, too. These exercises are:
For Leg Press
- Body Weight: 2% decrease
- 1 Set: 16% increase
- 3 Sets: 15% increase
- 5 Sets: 18% increase
For Bench Press
- Body Weight: 6% decrease
- 1 Set: 12 % increase
- 3 Sets: 17% increase
- 5 Sets: 11% increase
For Overhead Press
- Body Weight: 13% increase
- 1 Set: 22 % increase
- 3 Sets: 24% increase
- 5 Sets: 35% increase
For Lat Pulldown
- Body Weight: 3% increase
- 1 Set: 19% increase
- 3 Sets: 12% increase
- 5 Sets: 17% increase
There are not many changes in the numbers, as you can see. The people in the 5-set group started much stronger than those in the 1- and 3-set group. This indicates that they were probably closer to their genetic limit in terms of strength gains.
How Many Sets Affect Muscle Endurance?
Regarding the amount of weight, people could lift for 20 reps, 5-set groups put up the best results. Researchers, in this case, measured bench press and leg press endurance only (presumably because doing 20 repetitions of each exercise would have been tedious).
For Bench Press
- Body Weight: 5%
- 1 Set: 5% increase
- 3 Sets: 17% increase
- 5 Sets: 24% increase
For Leg Press
- Body Weight: 5%
- 1 set: 12% increase
- 3 Sets: 7% increase
- 5 Sets: 36% increase
It is evident that in a five-set group, the muscular endurance was 18% higher than in the 3-set group, and the three-set group generally did better than the one-set group.
Overall, the 5-set group gained muscle, endurance, and strength on nearly every metric, while the 3-set group loses strength and endurance. There were some comparable measurements, but the people who did five sets made more progress when you combine everything.
FAQs
How many sets should I do in a workout?
You should only do three sets when doing eight reps or more. When you are doing less than three repetitions, you should be doing at least six sets.
Are three sets enough to build muscle?
It is not enough to lift three sets. Muscle growth and strength come from extra strength. Another way to increase your workout volume is to increase the reps to 12, 15, or even 20 if you will still perform three sets.
How long should a set be to build muscle?
To maximize muscle growth, timing your sets between 30 and 40 seconds is the best method. Your muscles will receive sufficient stimulation for them to grow. It is vital to have a lot of time, but it is just as important how you get it.
Conclusion:
To figure up what exercises you should do for each muscle group, you’ll need to determine your fitness goals. There’s no need to make it complicated. Research shows you can grow muscle with fewer than five sets per week of exercise. You’ll need to fine-tune your approach to your specific situation as you go!
