How Many Reps & Sets: A Science-Backed Gym Guide

Straight from the scientific literature: no bro science 🧠

Enhance your gym routine for better muscle building and strength gains by understanding the science of reps and sets. This guide explores what they are, their importance, and how to use them effectively.

What are Reps and Sets?​

Reps gym: reps or repetitions refer to the number of times you perform a specific exercise without stopping. A ‘set’ is a series of consecutive reps. For example, performing 10 reps of bicep curls followed by a rest constitutes one set.

How Many Reps for Building Muscle​

There is a common myth that the 6-12 rep range is the ‘hypertrophy zone’ for maximum muscle growth. The scientific literature DOES NOT support this [1] 

Simple answer: You can build muscle as well performing anywhere from 5 to 30 reps, as long as you train close to failure. The last 5 reps in a set before failure are by far the most important for muscle growth — if you aren’t training close to failure (within 1-2 reps), you are leaving gains on the table. This applies to all exercises (accessory and compounds), as long as your form remains consistent.

Complex answer: Lower rep ranges (about 5-10 reps) are slightly more effective for building muscle than higher rep ranges (10-30 reps). Higher rep sets are more metabolically taxing and place greater strain on the Central Nervous System.

Select a range that you enjoy, that allows you to maximize the number of challenging sets you can perform, and that you can consistently adhere to. Train hard over any rep range between 5-30 and you will put on muscle.

Hypertrophy rep range is a myth gym- reps gym

How Many Reps for Strength

Training for strength is different from training for muscle.

For increasing strength, especially in your one-rep max (1RM) lifts, you need to train with heavy loads that are close to your max. If you want to get better at higher reps, focus on training with lighter weights. 

Choose the rep range you want to strengthen and train specifically in that range.

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Reps Gym: Progression Within Your Chosen Rep Range

Progressing within your selected rep range is key to ongoing muscle growth. Begin with a weight that challenges you but is manageable for the lower end of your rep range. As your strength increases, incrementally add more reps. 

For example, if your range is 8-12 reps, start by lifting a weight you can only do for 8 reps. When you can comfortably do 12 reps with this weight, it’s time to increase the weight slightly and go back to aiming for 8 reps.

How Many Sets for Muscle Growth? ​

Volume, is the number of working sets performed for a muscle group. Every set you do gives a muscle stimulus but it also creates fatigue.

Volume’s effectiveness follows a pattern of diminishing returns. Initially, increasing the number of sets promotes muscle growth. However, there’s a point beyond which additional volume doesn’t contribute to growth and can be counterproductive, leading to ‘junk volume.’

The goal with volume is to do enough sets to create a growth stimulus, but not too many that you can’t recover from it.

Gym Volume Graph

Research indicates an optimal volume range of 3-8 sets per muscle per session, or 4-12 sets per muscle per week. This range is specific to direct sets; for instance, a chest press primarily targets the chest, not the triceps or delts. [2]

Most people do too many sets: if you train hard enough, you need a lot less volume than you think. If you train close to failure, you don’t need to do that many sets to maximise muscle growth. If you train further away from failure, you need to do more volume. 

To identify your ideal training volume, it’s important to start with a consistent routine in exercises, sleep, and diet. Begin at the lower end of the recommended set range above, and adjust based on your progress. If you’re making consistent gains, maintain your current volume. If you hit a plateau and you’re feeling fresh then increase you’re volume. If you hit a plateau and are fatigued, reduce it. 

How Long To Rest to Maximise Muscle Growth

The intensity of your training dictates your rest needs. More intensity requires longer recovery periods. 

To maximise muscle gains, train close to failure and rest for 2 minutes at a minimum, ideally 3 minutes [3]

For warm-up sets, a rest period of 1-2 minutes is adequate. Before any working set, a minimum rest of 3 minutes is recommended.

How Many Times Per Week To Train?

Frequency in training refers to how many times a muscle is trained per week.

Very simply, frequency doesn’t matter that much. Whether a muscle is trained once, twice, or three times a week, you can get the same results as long as the total weekly volume (number of sets) remains the same. [3]

If you’re doing more than 8 sets for a single muscle in a session though, spreading these sets across multiple days is more effective.

Nuances of Frequency

  • Firstly, the idea that frequency doesn’t matter would mean each set in a workout should stimulate the same amount of muscle growth, regardless of its order. But evidence shows that each set provides a different stimulus for hypertrophy based on its position within the workout. Notably, the second and third sets often stimulate considerably less hypertrophy than the initial set.
  • Secondly, this notion would imply that if all your weekly volume is concentrated in one day, your muscles would need to stay in an anabolic state for a full week to prevent atrophy, or muscle loss, between sessions. However, current research suggests that muscles likely revert to a catabolic state within about 72 hours. So, the literature on this topic isn’t entirely straightforward, and training more frequently might offer slight advantages.

Conclusion: While frequency does play a role in training, it’s not as critical as the total volume. The literature indicates that training frequency might offer slight advantages in certain contexts, but the total weekly volume is by far the most important variable.

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FREE Science-Based Exercise Library 🧠

Learn which exercises are best and why, plus form tips and videos to make the most of every rep!
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Josh Neil

Josh Neil

Josh, studying at the University of Oxford, combines a deep interest in hypertrophy science and AI. With seven years of experience, he leverages AI to stay at the forefront of both fields, contributing to Hyperficient.org with his expertise.

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