For hypertrophy (building muscle), the sweet spot is 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps. And if your objective is muscular endurance, shoot for 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 20 reps. In each case, the key is to use the heaviest resistance that will allow you to complete all of your reps and sets with good form.
If you're trying to build muscle and get bigger, doing sets of 3 or sets of 5 or sets of 10 will ALL help you get bigger, if you're eating enough to get bigger! If you're trying to lose weight, it doesn't matter if you do sets of 15 or sets of 5 if you are consistently overeating by 1,000 calories a day.
The ideal training volume for building muscle is around 9–18 sets per muscle per week. If you're choosing good lifts, doing 6–20 reps per set, and bringing those sets within 1–2 reps of failure, the bottom end of that range is often enough to maximize muscle growth.
Ultimately, if your immediate goal (or even long-term goal) is maximal strength, you will want more emphasis on 5×5 work than 3×10 work. With all of that said, you can still build muscle even if you're following a 5×5 program to gain strength for powerlifting.
On the other hand, one set to failure is usually not a good way to train: you need more sets than that to make long term progress. 3x10 and 5x5 are both viable schemes, but whether it's best for you depends on many variables. 3x10 will emphasize hypertrophy over strength, and 5x5 is a compromise.
If you've been training properly for less than a year, perform 10-15 sets per muscle group per week. If you've been training properly for one to five years, perform 15-20 sets per week. If you're very advanced and have been training properly for over five years, perform 20-25 sets per week.
The “sweet spot” between a minimalist approach and full-tilt bodybuilding program seems to be at least 10 sets per muscle group, per week. The desired rep range should be between 8-15 reps.
Maintaining muscle mass at the gym. A recent study looked at 34 regular training male lifters and amazingly discovered that just 1 set per muscle group (with more for back and legs) was enough to maintain muscle mass. And obviously, the researchers noted that for significant muscle gains, a longer duration is better.
Therefore, higher volumes of training have been found to yield better results for hypertrophy (Hedrick 1995). Typically, 3-5 sets are recommended for optimal hypertrophy.
If your objective is strength or power (think: heavy lifting), the textbook advice is to perform 3 to 5 sets of 2 to 6 reps per exercise. For hypertrophy (building muscle), the sweet spot is 3 to 4 sets of 6 to 12 reps. And if your objective is muscular endurance, shoot for 2 to 3 sets of 12 to 20 reps.
The American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) recommends 1−3 sets per exercise of 8−12 repetitions with 70−85% of one repetition maximum (1RM) for novice and 3−6 sets of 1−12 repetitions with 70−100% 1RM for advanced individuals [13].
It means you do the exercise 10 times and then rest (for allotted time) and repeat 3 times.
In the final analysis, the 5-set group gained more muscle, endurance, and strength on almost every metric than the 3-set group. There were a few measurements that were similar, but when you look at everything together the people who did 5 sets clearly made better gains across the board.
It all depends on what exercises you pick and how the workout weeks are structured. The 3X3 protocol is also a great prelude to the 5X5 program. Why? The 3X3 program will get you very strong, and the stronger you are the more effective the 5X5 program will be.
Truth is, high-rep sets increase muscular endurance, but not necessarily fat-burning. You can actually get more ripped training in the 8-12-rep range, as this is what's been identified as the best rep count for adding muscular size. Where muscle mass increases, so does metabolism.
4 Sets of 8 Reps
Intermediate lifters with more muscle mass need more volume to keep growing. Four sets of eight reps allows for heavier loads to add mechanical stress, while stopping one rep shy of failure adds a solid amount of metabolic stress to force muscle growth.
If your main goal is to build muscle, you'll want to lift in the 8 to 12 rep range. This is the proven “hypertrophy rep range” according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE), and several scientific studies support this.
To increase strength and power, the best rest period is 2-5 minutes between sets. To increase hypertrophy (muscle growth), the best rest period is 30-90 seconds between sets.
Resistance training for muscle gain
Train just two or three times per week to give your muscles time to recover. If you're tempted to train more often, remember that muscle growth occurs during recovery. Choose compound exercises that work multiple major muscle groups, for example, the squat and bench press.
So, in general, low reps with heavy weight tends to increase muscle mass, while high reps with light weight increases muscle endurance. This doesn't mean that you have to rely on one method exclusively. Alternating between the two may be the best approach for long-term success. Here's why.
Both are good, the 5x5 might actually be better as the overall training volume is slightly higher. The one thing that would make the 3x8 better (debatabley) is if you dropped your rest times significantly so that the metabolic stress would be higher overall with the 3x8.
#8: To feel energized as soon as you get out of bed, try using my 5-5-5-30 Method. When you wake up, do 5 push-ups, 5 squats, 5 lunges, and a 30-second plank. You can do it while you are brewing coffee or right when you get out of bed.
5x5 training is one of the original and most popular muscle mass building programs being used by elite bodybuilders and athletes.