On the subject of muscle hypertrophy, Brad Schoenfeld writes, “Progressively increasing from lower (e.g. 10 sets per muscle per week) to higher (e.g. 20 sets per muscle per week) RT volumes over a period of several months may help to promote state of functional overreaching, which would, in turn, result in a supercompensation of muscle proteins while reducing the potential for overtraining. When approaching such high volumes of training, individuals might consider distributing the total volume into two separate daily training sessions. There is some evidence to suggest that this strategy might produce superior results in comparison to training only once per day (12).”
If you’re an experienced weightlifter, you’ll eventually need to increase training volume to actualize your hypertrophy potential. I’ve found this is especially true for me, and that simply increasing weight is not enough to get my peanut-sized muscles to grow. Only boosting volume is what causes any noticeable difference.
So, the advice for building muscle is simple and science-backed. Start around 10 sets per muscle group per week (focus on the big lifts, but don’t ignore the auxiliary stuff), gradually working your way up to 20 sets per muscle group per week, and dividing your sessions in two as you get into the higher volume training routines.
EP 448: Why Principles >”Fine Details” When It Comes to Fitness