How Many Sets Should You Do?

February, 6 2010

One of the most frequently asked questions I get from Natural Bodybuilders is “how many sets should I do?” There is so much conflicting information in the magazines and on the Internet that many bodybuilders have no clue what the right answer is.

If you’re trying to build more muscle mass, I suggest dividing your muscles into groups (chest, back, shoulders, triceps, biceps, thighs, calves abs and forearms). When you train each of these muscles, figure out how to develop all areas of that muscle. For example, when you’re training your chest, include exercises that work the upper chest, the outer chest, the lower chest and the inner chest. So if you’re doing one exercise for each area of your chest, you will have to do a minimum of 3-4 exercises.

The bigger the muscle group, the more sets you’ll have to perform to completely work that muscle. Body parts like the thighs, the back and the chest will need at least 3-4 exercises to completely work the entire muscle group.

Smaller muscles like the calves, abs and arms don’t require nearly as many sets. Your biceps can get an effective workout with as little as two exercises for 3 sets each (6 sets total). In fact, working a small muscle group like the biceps with as many as 15-20 sets would lead to overtraining.

As for the proper amount of sets for each exercise, I like to stick with 3 and sometimes 4 sets for each exercise. If you’re using enough resistance to limit the repetitions to between 6 and 10, then 3 sets should be plenty to fully train that muscle for each exercise. Now that’s for an experienced lifter. Newbies can get by with just 2 sets.

So, doing the math, train bigger muscle groups like the thighs, chest, back and shoulders with a total of 10-12 sets encompassing 3 to 4 different exercises. For smaller muscle groups like the arms, calves and abs, use a total of 6-8 sets. Even if you combine a big muscle group with one or two smaller muscle groups, you will still be performing fewer than 25 total sets and getting a phenomenal workout. Good Luck!

Natural Mr. Olympia
John Hansen