“How many reps and sets should I do?” is one of the most often asked questions regarding any workout exercise. Despite this question’s simplicity, there isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to it.
The optimal number of sets and reps you should do differs significantly based on your experience level, fitness objectives, and the specific workouts you’re doing. Understanding repetitions and set ranges is essential regardless of your expertise level as an individual seeking to optimize your fitness routine.
These figures aren’t just statistics; they’re founded on the principles of exercise physiology and can hugely impact your results, whether your goal is to increase endurance, build muscle, or develop strength.
In this article, we’ll break down the meaning of sets and reps and help you understand how to determine the number of sets and reps you should do per workout session.
Table of Contents
What Are Reps?
Reps mean repetition. But for the sake of the gym, it’s usually called “reps” for short. It is the execution of one exercise in a single go.
Completing one push-up, for instance, counts as one “rep” of a push-up. At the same time, completing 10 chest presses equals 10 reps of the chest press exercise.
Your knowledge about repetitions can also help you comprehend one rep maximum (or 1RM or one rep max), another fundamental term in weightlifting. The maximum weight you can lift to finish one repetition is your one rep max or 1RM.
Further, trainers in the gym can assist you in figuring out your one rep max, which tells you how much weight to lift when doing many repetitions in your program. Your 1RM may vary for various muscles or muscle groups in your body.
Meanwhile, testing your 1RM is crucial, particularly if you’re new to weight training. And you can do this with the assistance of a qualified personal trainer. While testing, you will push your muscle to its maximum load.
So, there are chances of injury and failure. If you’re a beginner, prioritize warming up and getting some help to do so. Your trainer might occasionally estimate one rep maximum using a formula to minimize these risks.
What Are Sets?
Sets refer to a group of reps. But how many sets should you do per workout session? Depending on the specific exercise, you could do a single set of reps or multiple sets.
However, multiple sets are more common, particularly if you’re looking to build muscular strength or muscular endurance. Let’s assume you want to build your chest muscle, doing 3 sets of 10 reps of the chest press workout is a great start.
This will require you to do 10 repetitions of the chest press workout and rest. Afterward, you go again for the next round of 10 reps and take a break. Then, you do the final set of 10 repetitions and rest.
Altogether, you’ve completed 3 sets of 10 reps per workout session. You can now move on to your next exercise.
How Many Sets And Reps Should You Do Per Workout Session?
Whether you want to build muscle, lose weight, or build muscle group, how many sets and reps you should do per workout session depends on your training goal. Generally, resistance training has the following categories of goals:
- General fitness: These goals are typically for beginners in weight lifting who want to enhance their general health and daily performance. Weight lifting in this category may also be referred to as “toning.”
- Muscular endurance: The ability of the muscle to generate and maintain force over a prolonged period. Generally, you can use a routine consisting of somewhat lower weights and higher repetitions to achieve this goal.
- Hypertrophy: The term, muscle hypertrophy, means building muscle mass. During your hypertrophy workout, you should aim for larger volumes of work at moderate-to-high intensity levels (one rep max) with little to no rest in between sets if you want to have optimal muscle growth or “bulk up.”
- Muscular strength: Maximum strength is the ability to generate the greatest amount of muscle force during a specific workout. If you’re training towards this purpose, you’ll often minimize your number of repetitions while improving the intensity by lifting near your one rep max.
- Power: Being able to exert a sizable amount of force in the smallest amount of time is known as powerlifting.
While various training organizations have diverse models for each training objective, they adhere to the same general guidelines. The table below shows an example of how many sets and reps you should do per workout session.
| Training goal | Sets | Reps | Rest period | Intensity |
| General fitness | 1-3 | 12-15 | 30-90 seconds | Varies |
| Endurance | 3-4 | >12 | Up to 30 seconds | <67% of 1RM |
| Hypertrophy | 3-6 | 6-12 | 30-90 seconds | 67%-85% of 1RM |
| Muscle strength | 4-6 | <6 | 2-5 minutes | >85% of 1RM |
| Power: single rep | 3-5 | 1-2 | 2-5 minutes | 80%-90% of 1RM |
| Power: multiple reps | 3-5 | 3-5 | 2-5 minutes | 75%-85% of 1RM |
How Many Sets Should You Do Per Workout?
Twice a week, you should do 3 to 12 sets per muscle per workout to train your muscles. Training your muscles frequently means you’ll only need fewer sets per exercise session.
Let’s assume you want to do 12 sets per muscle per week, you can split your volume this way:
- 6 sets of biceps curls 2x per week
- 4 sets of biceps curls 3x per week
- 3 sets of biceps curls 4x per week
How Many Sets Per Workout Should You Do To Build Muscle?
As a general guideline, you should do 0-5 repetitions from failure per workout session with some sets appropriate for your experience level. According to research by the Journal of Sports Science, 10 or more sets per week triggered higher hypertrophy compared to fewer than 10 sets.
It could be something like this:
Suppose you train 3 times per week, perform 3 to 4 sets near failure for a specific muscle group per workout session. This can be a good start, while you progressively raise the number of weekly sets as you become stronger and get more used to the workload.
However, the most essential factor here is to consistently train with intensity. You won’t have to skip the stairs to enhance your muscle gains if you use this new research and follow a customized approach to your routine.
How Many Sets Per Workout Should You Do For Hypertrophy?
You should do 9 to 22 sets per muscle per workout (per week) for hypertrophy. This is for a great hypertrophy training routine and will help to expand your muscle growth rate.
Ultimately, it depends on the exercises/workouts you’re doing, the muscles you’re training, and how seriously you’re training them. In most hypertrophy training workout programs, each muscle is trained twice a week.
This holds for practically all 6-day splits, most 4-day and 5-day splits, and all full-body workout programs. Additionally, most splits allow you to properly distribute your volume, which makes them excellent for promoting muscle growth.
As a beginner, you can begin with 3 full-body hypertrophy workouts per week, performing 3 to 6 sets of workout for each muscle. For intermediates, you may choose to follow a split training routine that involves 6–8 sets of training per muscle twice per week.
How Many Sets Per Workout Should You Do Per Muscle Group?
This generally depends on your fitness goals and level. However, people commonly do 10-20 sets per muscle group per week.
You can stick with 15-20 sets if you’ve trained for many years or want to keep getting results. But beginners should go for 12 sets per muscle group per week.
Note that doing several sets can result in fatigued muscles or injury, which is not good for your next exercise. So, follow the process gradually and ensure you take breaks in between.
Conclusion
Whether you’re looking to build muscle, for strength, to lose weight, for hypertrophy, or to build your muscle group, the number of reps and sets you should do per workout session depends on your specific fitness goals.
For strength, you can target 3-5 sets of 3-6 reps. Try 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps for muscle growth. Then do 3-4 sets of 1-12 reps for endurance.
Always remember to listen to your body and make the necessary adjustments according to your experience level. Meanwhile, consistency is another thing you shouldn’t neglect.