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How many sets are “enough” to build strength?
If I asked everyone in the LVLTN community how to get stronger, I think 100% of people would tell me to lift weights – which would be the correct answer.
However, if I were to ask those same people well how many sets should I do to get stronger, the answers would start to vary quickly. And if you are sitting there thinking you don’t really know the correct answer, you aren’t alone!
If you search ChatGPT about common fitness questions, many frequently asked questions range from how many sets are needed for an effective workout to how long do workouts need to be in order to get stronger.
Well good news for you… the answer is pretty simple. And even better news for your schedule, the answer is probably not as many as you think!
What the Research Says About Strength Gains
In general, research shows that even 1 quality, max effort set per week is enough to elicit noticeable strength changes per muscle group.
Now, everything will have that ‘it depends’ qualifier on it but even if you are more trained and might need a little more volume, it is still not as much as most people will try to tell you.
A recent 2024 study from Pelland et al. analyzed 67 studies totaling over 2,000 participants and found that 1 set weekly (per muscle group) was enough to detect strength changes.
Moreover, they reported that increasing to 2-5 (quality) sets per week further increased strength.
So, the more the better right? Nope!
In the highest group, 5+ sets a week, there was not a consistent observable increase in strength.
Now this does not mean 5+ sets don’t or can’t work, but what it does show is that the dose-response relationship between total sets and strength increases begins to be less clear and noticeable as people just keep doing more.
What This Means in Practice
So, what does this mean practically? Does it mean you do a singular set of squats and then you are done for the week? No!
But what it does mean is that to build your squat strength or to improve your deadlift max you don’t need to do 4-5 sets of 8 exercises every single workout to get stronger.
Rather, it means that an effective program likely only needs 4-5 exercises consisting of 3-4 quality sets per week to see improvements in strength.
It also means that those of you with crazy busy schedules who might only be able to lift 2-3 days a week for 30 minutes can still ABSOLUTELY build strength too!
A Simpler Way to Evaluate Your Training
My hope in writing this is that whenever you find yourself questioning your training or you are worried you aren’t “doing enough” simply look at the total number of sets per muscle group or exercise you are doing each week.
And if you are hitting 4-5 quality sets each week and weights are increasing every couple weeks, you are good!
Moreover, if you aren’t solely strength training and you prefer to train a little more hybrid in nature, this hopefully will relieve some stress that doing “less” than normal still likely is very effective at maintaining strength while increasing running volume or other cardio training you are doing.
So stop worrying about doing all the exercises.
Stop worrying about doing all the sets.
Stop thinking more is going to better.
Keep your goals focused.
Keep your workouts efficient.
And go get those gains!
Disclaimer
DISCLAIMER: Now, one final piece to note is that hypertrophy (increasing muscle size) does not follow these same rules. Building muscle takes more time, requires a little different stimulus, and more weekly volume.
Therefore, if you are aiming to build muscle in addition to strength, you will need more exercises and weekly volume to do so.
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