Your Evidence Based Guide to Building Muscle (Part 3)

Part 3: How much do I need to workout to build muscle?

How much and often you need to train depends on a ton of factors, so many of them depend entirely on the individual. In general, the research suggests that doing around 12-20 sets per muscle group is optimal for building muscle, but this recommendation depends on so many different factors. If you are new to training, you will grow muscle from basically anything, and most beginners can get away with far less because their body is so sensitive to the training. As you become more of an intermediate (1-3 years of training), each set becomes less of an overall stimulus, and so you probably need to be closer to that 12-20 range. But as you get into the advanced category (3+ years of training), you might benefit from less than an intermediate, as you can more effectively get the most out of each individual set. 

Keep in mind that the intensity of each set plays a major role in how many sets you need to do. If every set is taken to complete failure, you likely require less sets. If you leave 5 or 6 reps in the tank on every set you do, you would likely never get very good results because you are not hitting the threshold for stimulating high amounts of mechanical tension. For most people, the sweet spot is probably leaving somewhere between 1 and 2 reps in reserve on every set you do. For me personally, I prefer to take every set to failure, because I want to be as time efficient as possible. But if you prefer to leave a couple reps in the tank on each set, the best evidence suggests that you can make up for that by doing an additional set or two of every exercise you do. 

How often should you train? 

You should aim to train each muscle group twice a week. There is a ton of evidence that supports the idea that training a muscle group twice a week is better than once, although the evidence on frequencies higher than twice per week is more conflicting. 

How should I split up my training? 

The quick answer is honestly however you want. You could do a full body split where you hit all the major muscle groups of your body in one day, or a traditional ‘bro’ split with a chest day, a back day, a leg day, and then an arms and shoulders day. Half body splits can be great, where you do lower body on one day and upper on another. Or you could do the front of your body (quads, chest, shoulders, triceps) one day, and back half (calves, hamstrings, glutes, back, biceps) on another. Push/ pull / legs is a great option too. You can do straight sets, where you do all your sets of one exercise before moving on to the next or supersets, where you alternate between sets of exercises of opposing muscle groups. As long as you are getting in the total amount of sets you need to hit each week for each muscle group, and hitting each muscle group twice per week, the research does not differentiate between these different strategies a ton. 

The only other word of caution I would add to this section is this; whatever you train first in the day will get your best effort. If you really want big arms, it does not really make sense to train them last every time you train them, as they are placed in most bodybuilding programs. Similarly, you have to consider how certain exercises might tank your energy for the rest of the session. You may be used to squatting first in your workout, only for the energy you expend in that exercise making it really hard to get much out of your hamstring curls or calf raises. Play with all these variables to decide what you enjoy the most or allows you to get the most amount of stimulus in the time and energy you have to dedicate to the gym. 

The overarching theme for this section is as follows; you are using your training to deliver a stimulus, and we want to deliver the right amount. The analogy of tanning is a great one for this. If you don’t get enough sun exposure, you won’t tan, but if you get too much, you will burn. You have to get the right amount for long enough to develop a good tan, it’s not going to happen overnight. Training for building muscle is exactly the same, and the number of sets is one of the main ways we control for the amount of that stimulus.