Confused about what should be the rep range to build muscle? or how many sets and reps for muscle hypertrophy? Don’t worry, this fact-based article about optimizing workout volume for hypertrophy will clear all your doubts.
By being consistent with your training and nutrition, you will definitely achieve your muscle-building goals. But there are some things to optimize by which you can get the maximum from your training and gain the maximum muscle mass possible.
Understanding Muscle Hypertrophy
You must have heard the term “muscle hypertrophy” but you may not know what it actually means.
What is muscle hypertrophy?
An increase in the size of your muscle fibers or muscle cells is called muscle hypertrophy.
You can achieve muscle hypertrophy by providing resistance to your muscles or by lifting weights in the gym.
Lifting weights leads to wear and tear in your muscle fibers. Now during the repair of these damaged muscle fibers, actual muscle growth happens.
Remember that hypertrophy is related to an increase in the size of muscle fibers that your body already contains. It doesn’t mean with the increment in the number of muscle fibers.
Increasing the number of muscle fibers is a different process called hyperplasia. As you can see in the above image.
There are certain ways to maximize muscle hypertrophy. Check out the below article to know them.
Read more: What is Muscle Hypertrophy & How To Maximize it?
Optimizing Hypertrophy Training Volume
Before optimizing the hypertrophy training volume, we have to understand the training volume.
What is training volume?
Training volume is the product of the number of sets, reps, and the amount of weight you are lifting in a set.
Training volume = Sets x Reps x Weight
Now, how you train, impacts your muscle performance. To build endurance, to generate better hypertrophy results, or increase strength and power, you have to train accordingly.
In 2017, a study was done to check the effect of training volume on muscle size and hypertrophy and an increase in muscle mass. That study was done on 34 groups in three different categories ( less than 5, 5-9, and more than 10 sets).
Results show a significantly positive impact of increasing workout volume on muscle hypertrophy.
However, increasing volume is not everything. To build the maximum muscle mass possible, you have to optimize the number of sets and reps per muscle group you are doing in a week.
Sets and Reps for Hypertrophy
Let’s understand how many sets and reps should you do for hypertrophy or to build muscle.
How many Sets for hypertrophy?
A study done to compare the muscle hypertrophy response of the number of sets per exercise shows that:
As the number of sets per exercise increases, the amount of muscle you gain also increases.
2-3 sets per exercise lead to a much greater increment in muscle size than a single set. And 4-6 sets are further better than 2-3 sets.
So, the more the training volume, the better will be the hypertrophy results. But there’s a catch.
Is there any upper limit for hypertrophy training volume?
Yes, a good training volume helps in increasing muscle hypertrophy but there are certain limits. If you overtrain your muscle you may get negative results.
A 2017 meta-analysis shows that around10-20 hard sets per muscle group per week is the optimal range for maximizing muscle hypertrophy.
If you are on an advanced level then you can go beyond that too.
Don’t give it all in a single session
Why?
Let’s say you are doing 5 sets per exercise and doing 4-5 exercises per muscle group per workout session. There would be a total of 20-25 exercises per muscle per workout.
This is a very high volume for a muscle group to do in a single session.
Hence, train each muscle twice a week with more than 10 sets per muscle group per workout.
Rep Range for Hypertrophy
Different rep ranges affect your muscle differently.
Lifting moderate to heavy weights for 6-12 reps is optimal rep range for hypertrophy.
Lifting super heavy weights for low reps focuses on increasing muscle strength and lightweight for high reps builds muscular endurance. Hypertrophy rep range comes in between the two.
Read more: High Reps vs Low Reps: A Research-Based Analysis.
Should you train in hypertrophy rep range only?
No, this would not be a good strategy as lower and higher rep ranges have their own benefits.
Do most of your sets (about 70%) in the hypertrophy rep range and for the rest, focus on strength and endurance.
Sets and Reps for Hypertrophy – Summary
This was the article explaining sets and reps for hypertrophy. I tried to give it in the simplest way possible. Hope you learned something valuable from it.
Here’s the takeaway from the whole article:
Training volume: Increasing training volume up to a certain limit helps in maximizing muscle hypertrophy and muscle growth.
Training frequency: Don’t give that high volume to your muscles in a single session. It may lead to over-training. Hence, training each muscle twice a week is good for hypertrophy.
Sets for hypertrophy: Do around 10 sets per muscle group per workout. You can do more sets if you are an advanced lifter.
Reps range for hypertrophy: The ideal rep range for hypertrophy is 6-12 reps per set. Do most of your exercises in this rep range only.
Thank you for reading this far. I hope you enjoyed and learned something from this article. For any queries, feel free to leave a comment.
