Effect of resistance training set volume on upper body muscle hypertrophy: are more sets really better than less?

Summary
BackgroundResistance training (RT) for upper body muscle hypertrophy (UBMH) typically entails high volumes of sets per muscle group per training session. The majority of RT regimens does not discriminate between upper and lower body muscle groups, while these groups may respond differently to RT set volumes in terms of maximum skeletal muscle mass gain. Recent studies have examined the effect of different set volumes on the extent of UBMH to formulate optimal RT regimens and to make RT programmes more time‐efficient.
ObjectiveTo analyse the effect of the number of RT sets on the extent of UBMH on the basis of recent literature.
Results and conclusionThe analysis suggests that, statistically, high set volumes (≥3) are not significantly better than low set volumes (<3) in regard to UBMH in untrained subjects. For trained subjects, the literature is lacking in well‐designed studies comparing low and high training volumes, as well as analysing upper and lower body muscles separately. Therefore, it is not possible to conclude that high volume of sets offers better results than low volume of sets for UBMH, and vice versa.

Source: Clinical Physiology and Functional Imaging - September 1, 2017 Category: Radiology Authors: Cau ê V. La Scala Teixeira, Yuri Motoyama, Paulo Henrique Silva Marques Azevedo, Alexandre Lopes Evangelista, James Steele, Danilo Sales Bocalini Tags: Review Article Source Type: research