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How many sets per muscle group per week?
For muscle growth, most lifters do best with 10 to 20 hard sets per muscle each week. Enter your goal, your experience and how many sessions train the muscle, and the calculator splits that week into sets per session and tells you where in the range to start.
Example result
10–20
5–10sets
15sets a week
Count sets that end within about 3 reps of failure. Warm-ups don't count.
| Sessions | Sets per session | Sets a week |
|---|---|---|
| 1× a week | 10–20 | 10–20 |
| 2× a week | 5–10 | 10–20 |
| 3× a week | 4–6 | 10–20 |
| 4× a week | 3–5 | 10–20 |
Weekly sets for four different lifters
Same calculator, different weeks. The goal and the schedule move the answer more than anything else.
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Example 1
A beginner on full-body three times a week
Four months in, training quads on Monday, Wednesday and Friday with squats and leg extensions.
- Goal
- Build muscle
- Experience
- Beginner
- Sessions a week that train it
- 3
- Muscle
- Quads
- Hard sets a week for quads10–20
- Per session, 3 sessions4–6 sets
- Start at10 sets a week
Start at the bottom of the band. Four hard quad sets a session, say 3 squat sets and 1 leg extension set, puts the week at 12, just above the starting point, and leaves room to add sets later.
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Example 2
Glutes as the priority, four days a week
An experienced lifter training four days a week who works glutes in every session, hip thrusts on lower days and a lighter glute lift on upper days.
- Goal
- Build muscle
- Experience
- Advanced
- Sessions a week that train it
- 4
- Muscle
- Glutes
- Hard sets a week for glutes10–20
- Per session, 4 sessions3–5 sets
- Start at20 sets a week
Twenty is the top of the band, where the research sees gains flatten out. Spread over four sessions it is 5 hard sets each, without a 10-set marathon on a single day.
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Example 3
Squatting once a week for strength
A lifter chasing a bigger squat who only has one leg day free.
- Goal
- Get stronger
- Experience
- Intermediate
- Sessions a week that train it
- 1
- Muscle
- Quads
- Heavy sets a week per lift for quads2–3
- In your one session2–3 sets
Two or three heavy sets of the squat is where extra sets stop paying for strength. The bigger lever is a second day: even a short one doubles the week to 4 to 6 sets.
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Example 4
Holding on through a busy month
A lifter with a new baby who can fit in one full-body session a week and wants to keep what he has built.
- Goal
- Maintain
- Experience
- Intermediate
- Sessions a week that train it
- 1
- Hard sets per muscle a week3–9
- In your one session3–9 sets
In a maintenance study, young adults kept their muscle size on a ninth of their usual weekly sets. Do 3 to 9 hard sets per muscle in the one session and pick the full week back up when time allows. Lifters over 60 lost fibre size on these reduced doses, so they should keep their full week.
How many sets per muscle group per week to build muscle?
Ten sets a week is the line most of the research draws. The 2026 American College of Sports Medicine position stand found muscle growth was enhanced by 10 or more sets per muscle group a week, with diminishing returns past about 18 to 20. More sets keep adding a little, but each one adds less than the last.
Experience matters less than most volume charts suggest. The same position stand reports that training experience had a minimal effect on outcomes, which is why the calculator only uses it to pick a starting point in the range, not to change the range itself. Exercises per muscle are a separate choice: how many exercises per muscle group covers it.
| Study | Who | Finding |
|---|---|---|
| Schoenfeld et al. 2017 | 15 studies, pooled | Each extra weekly set added growth; 10 or more sets was the best of the three categories tested |
| Baz-Valle et al. 2022 | Trained young men | 12 to 20 sets per muscle as a standard recommendation; more than 20 helped only the triceps |
| Pelland et al. 2025 | 67 studies, 2,058 people | Size and strength rise with volume, with diminishing returns, sharper for strength |
| ACSM 2026 position stand | Healthy adults | 10 or more sets per muscle a week; diminishing returns past about 18 to 20 |
What counts as a set for a muscle
Count working sets that end close to failure. A set stopped well short of failure, or one that only warms you up, does little and should not inflate the number. Junk volume shows how to spot sets that have stopped counting.
Compound lifts train more than one muscle. In the largest meta-analysis on volume, Pelland and colleagues found that counting a set as half a set for the muscles it trains indirectly predicted results best. A bench press set is one chest set and half a triceps set, which is why arms and shoulders often need fewer direct sets than the chart suggests.
Sets per week to get stronger or to maintain
Strength needs far less volume. The ACSM stand lists 2 to 3 sets per exercise per session, at least twice a week, with heavier loads of 80% of your max or more. Past that, extra sets add little strength, while extra sessions a week keep helping, though less with each one. The sets and reps calculator gives the reps and rest that go with it.
Keeping muscle takes even less. In Bickel and colleagues' study, 20- to 35-year-olds who cut to a ninth of their training volume kept the muscle they had built over 32 weeks. Adults aged 60 to 75 did not, on either reduced dose.
How the weekly sets are worked out
For muscle growth the week is the 10 to 20 band from the research above. It is split across your sessions in whole sets, rounding the low end up so the week still reaches 10 and the high end down so it never passes 20. Experience picks the starting point: the bottom for a beginner, the middle for an intermediate, the top for an advanced lifter. That placement is a programming choice, not a research finding.
For strength the session sets the week: 2 to 3 sets a session, times your sessions. For maintenance it is 3 to 9 sets a week, the reduced doses from the Bickel study.
Sets per session = ceil(10 ÷ sessions) to floor(20 ÷ sessions)
Starting point = 10 (beginner), round((10 + 20) ÷ 2) (intermediate), 20 (advanced)
Intermediate, 2 sessions: ceil(10 ÷ 2) = 5 to floor(20 ÷ 2) = 10 sets a session, start at 15 a weekMake it fit you
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Count compound lifts at half for helpers
Rows give your biceps half a set each, presses give your triceps and front delts half a set. Add those halves before adding direct arm work.
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Coming back from a break
Start at the bottom of the range for the first couple of weeks, even if you were advanced before. Your old volume comes back quickly; sore, flat sessions do not help it.
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Add sets a little at a time
Go up by a set or two per muscle per week, not five. If reps on your existing sets have stopped climbing, more sets is one option; breaking a plateau covers the others.
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Split a long day
If the last sets for a muscle in one session come in far below the first, move them to another day. How many sets per workout works through the per-session math.
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Make sure the week fits your time
Twenty sets for every muscle is a lot of gym time. Check it with the workout duration calculator before you commit to it.
Questions
Is 10 sets per muscle per week enough?
Yes, for most lifters. Ten hard sets a week is where research most consistently finds solid growth, and it is the right place to start unless you have been running more and still progressing.
Is 20 sets per muscle per week too much?
Not for every muscle, but it is where gains start to flatten. If 20 sets leave your reps falling session to session, the extra sets are costing more recovery than they add.
Should beginners do fewer sets per muscle?
They can start lower, because almost any hard training works at first. The 2026 ACSM review found experience had little effect on how much volume worked, so the range is the same; only the starting point differs.
How many sets per muscle should I do in one workout?
Divide your weekly target by the sessions that train the muscle. At 2 to 4 sessions a week that is 3 to 10 sets per session; how many sets per workout shows the full math.
Do warm-up sets count toward weekly sets?
No. Only working sets that finish within a few reps of failure count. Warm-up sets explains how many to do so they prepare you without eating into the working sets.
How often should I train each muscle?
Twice a week is a practical minimum: it keeps each session's sets manageable, and strength responds to frequency. Training frequency for hypertrophy goes deeper.
Related calculators and templates
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Training volume for hypertrophy
The full guide to weekly sets, hard sets and junk volume.
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Session builder
Turn your weekly sets into a session with exercises and loads.
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Sets and reps chart
Reps, reps in reserve and rest for each of those sets.
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How long should a workout be?
How long that many sets takes in the gym.
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Training frequency for hypertrophy
How many days to spread the week over.
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Junk volume
The sets that stopped counting, and how to spot them.
Sources
- Currier et al. (2026), ACSM position stand: resistance training prescription for muscle function, hypertrophy and physical performance
- Pelland et al. (2025), the resistance training dose response: weekly volume and frequency meta-regressions
- Schoenfeld, Ogborn and Krieger (2017), dose-response of weekly training volume and muscle mass
- Baz-Valle et al. (2022), systematic review of training volumes and muscle hypertrophy
- Bickel, Cross and Bamman (2011), exercise dosing to retain resistance training adaptations in young and older adults
See your weekly sets without counting
Log load, reps and RIR on every set and RIRLift totals your hard sets by muscle across the week, so you see whether chest landed at 9 or 15 before the block is over.
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