Thread: What is the Optimum # of sets per each muscle group?

1-3, 3-6, 6-9, 9-12 and 12+ depending on what son of a bitch answers your question

3

6

Originally Posted by TheCurse

3

6

take it 3 for small 6 for large?

Originally Posted by HardTrainer

take it 3 for small 6 for large?

IMO, that's a good place to start. as always quality beats quantity.

personally I don't count warm-up sets, only working sets

Originally Posted by LAM

IMO, that's a good place to start. as always quality beats quantity.

personally I don't count warm-up sets, only working sets

Agreee 100%

I hit chest and back for about 10-12 sets.
Biceps can be anywhere from 3-9 depending on how hard my lat work was.
Shoulders, sometimes I skip them if my bench/flies was super intense, sometimes I hit them for about 6 sets.

just do whatever feels right for you. i use 8-12 for everything. sometimes my last set will only be about 5, but i never go below five, personally. it generates an increased risk of energy which is what you dont want .. especially if youre natural.

guess i was over training, i was doing 15 plus set sometimes for my shoulders and the same for my biceps usually 4 exercises each X 4 sets, thanks for the replies everyone

For me...

Chest, Back, Shoulders, Legs: 6 Sets each
Biceps, Triceps, Calves: 2-4 Sets each
Abs: Rarely any direct work

Guess I'm fucked. Maybe this is why I'm also losing LBM while cutting with no gear.
Quads 13
Hams 4
calves 4
Chest 12
Back 18
Delts and traps 17
Bi's 8
Tri's 15

drew
I'm 24 and have the same exact build 6"1 170 glad to see someone as skinny as can make gains to 205 in bench, i currently put up 150 after 2 months of training and the most i ever put up was 165 in high school

Originally Posted by Bakersfield

drew
I'm 24 and have the same exact build 6"1 170 glad to see someone as skinny as can make gains to 205 in bench, i currently put up 150 after 2 months of training and the most i ever put up was 165 in high school

Yeah man... eat big... I increased to 3900 cals 9 days ago... gained 2-4lbs SINCE THEN. I'm 178.5 as of today's reading, 179.25 last night. I was only 153 at Christmas. So yeah man... you can do it.. I lifted for 3 years without any progress like this... just gotta get it all nailed down.

Originally Posted by Tough Old Man

Guess I'm fucked. Maybe this is why I'm also losing LBM while cutting with no gear.
Quads 13
Hams 4
calves 4
Chest 12
Back 18
Delts and traps 17
Bi's 8
Tri's 15

I admit I am lower volume than MANY guys, but it brings me good progress. You do seem to be pretty high volume, especially while cutting. I especially worry about your muscle groups that are getting those double-digit #s of sets.

i thought it was saying reps. i only do like 3 sets per small muscle group. legs, chest, and lats get around 6 to 10 depending on how i feel

Chest 8, followed by triceps 5
Latts 10-12 followed by biceps 6
Quads 6 calves 3
Hamstrings 6
Traps 4
Deltoids 10

This is my routine, is this good or would there be a better order to do them in

Mon-Chest/tri's
Tues-Bi's/Back
Weds-Legs
Thurs-Shoulder/Traps
Friday through Sunday Rest

Break it up in the middle of the week...2 on, 1 off, 2 on, 2 off.

Mon-Chest/tri's
Tues-Bi's/Back
Weds-OFF
Thurs-Legs
Friday Shoulder/Traps

I went to 6 days a week.
Sun: Legs
Mon: Chest
Tue: Back
Wed: Delt / Traps
Thur: Biceps
Fri: Triceps
I get from 75 - 85 Sets a week Total.

I'm doing this cause of cycling carbs.
Thurs, Fri and Sat Zero carbs except a trace amount found in green veg
Sun load carbs abput 350-400
Mon: low 200 carbs
Tue: load agaun
Wed: Low 200

Originally Posted by Bakersfield

This is my routine, is this good or would there be a better order to do them in

Mon-Chest/tri's
Tues-Bi's/Back
Weds-Legs
Thurs-Shoulder/Traps
Friday through Sunday Rest

i would try and put at least one day between back and legs, as you should be doing deadlifts on leg day, and hopefully back extensions. id put rest on weds and legs on friday in the above routine, then that would be a pretty good weekly schedule, although im in favor of 5-6 day splits myself.

Originally Posted by TheCurse

as you should be doing deadlifts on leg day,

You can do deadlifts on back day.

Originally Posted by Tough Old Man

Guess I'm fucked. Maybe this is why I'm also losing LBM while cutting with no gear.
Quads 13
Hams 4
calves 4
Chest 12
Back 18
Delts and traps 17
Bi's 8
Tri's 15

Your doing 15 primary sets for triceps and 20+ indirect sets for them from chest and delt training? yet you do 4 sets for calves&hams and 12 for chest which get no other indirect work other then hams.

I always said a good mass weight training cycle is a good cutting cycle, its how you manage calorie intake that matter, but thats just me

Originally Posted by HardTrainer

I always said a good mass weight training cycle is a good cutting cycle, its how you manage calorie intake that matter, but thats just me

I'd have to agree that that makes the most sense to me.

Legs 12-15
Calves 2-4
Chest 6-8
Back 10-12
Delts 4-6
Traps 2
Bi's 4-6
Tri's 4-6

the minimum amount you can do to create growth

theres not really a set optimum number of sets for anything.

and yes ihateschool, you can do deads on back day, its just my opinion that its best to do them on leg day. of course that is only my opinion, and if karl was here we'd have a great arguement but i havent seen that git in a while.
i guess my reasoning is there is so much to do on back day, while with legs, if i really hit my squats and deads, that covers a lot of bases. all these auxillary isolations are useful, but imo intensity in the big lifts is what makes big (strong) bodies.

so stop wasting your time with all this curling kids and row!

There are a lot of factors you must consider to come up with the right numbers:

Frequency: How many days per week do you train the muscle?

Intensity: How close to failure do you go? Do you use highly taxing techniques such as supersets, dropsets, rest-pause sets, etc.?

Genetics: How quickly does the target muscle recover from a training session? How quickly does your CNS recover from a training session?

Diet: Do you follow a diet conducive to proper recovery after each training session?

Added recovery: Do you perform activities such as light aerobics, stretching, deep tissue massage, contrast showers, etc. which are likely to aid in recovery?

Muscle: Which muscle is it? Typically, smaller muscles heal quicker for obvious reasons.

Sleep: Do you get enough sleep?

Hormone levels: Does your body naturally produce enough anabolic hormones to allow adequate recovery?

There are probably more reasons. What I am getting at is that you have to discover the proper number of sets through trial and error and adjust if any of the aforementioned factors, or any other factors that might affect recovery, change.

Would it be fine if i did a six day routine

Day 1 chest/triceps
Day2 Back/Biceps
Day3 rest
Day 4 Shoulder
Day5 Legs
Day6 rest
and then start over or do i really need that extra day of rest, i do consume plenty of protein daily, also take creatine, 2-3 shakes of ON whey, L-glutamine, and multi's along with vitamin B-100