Meta-analysis — 2017 — Training volume · Hypertrophy
Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis
What did the researchers investigate?
How total weekly sets per muscle relate to gains in muscle size, using meta-regression of 34 treatment groups from 15 studies.
What did they find?
Weekly sets had a significant effect on muscle growth: each extra weekly set was associated with a small additional gain, and higher-volume groups grew more than lower-volume groups within the same studies. Grouped as fewer than 5, 5-9 and 10+ sets per muscle, the effect was a trend rather than significant.
What does this mean for training?
Weekly sets per muscle are a useful way to plan training for muscle growth: within the ranges studied, more sets tended to give more growth.
How does FitX AI use this evidence?
FitX AI plans and counts training as weekly sets per muscle, and shows you where each muscle stands against its target.
Where FitX AI's own choices go beyond this paper
Weekly sets per muscle. The bands (8-12, 12-16 or 16-20 sets) and the half-set counting are FitX AI choices; the research gives trends, not individual prescriptions.
Limitations
A meta-analysis of 15 studies with different designs. It shows a relationship across the volumes studied, not an upper limit, and later work suggests returns diminish at higher volumes.