I hadn't lifted in 10 years and got back into it. So I go on youtube and saw nothing but these "science" channels saying to do a minimum of 10 sets per muscle group per week. I can only train twice a week so of coarse I started doing 5 sets per exercise lol. Seemed like a lot and like you say you end up just going through the motions at the end of it. Out of curiosity I started asking the sort of most jacked dudes at my gym and none of them said more than 8 sets per week, 6 sets was the most common answers and if they did more they would not be able to recover. Multiple dudes told me to do just 2 hard set per session, that's all that was needed. Started doing that, much much better. Great video man.
Can’t agree more. I still follow your ABCD program ( for 2 months now) and I’m slowly bulking. The results are way better than when I was training with high volume. You’ve really helped me. Can’t thank you enough.
@@polarityfitness Do you think there's any benefit of adding french presses if I'm already doing close grip bench press and overhead press? I'm trying to get the most muscle I can since I'm still newer to lifting I want to maximize my gains another example would be upright rows are there additional benefits of adding them with my overhead press?
Facts. When you do too much volume the focus is too spread out as you just want to get through all the exercises as you have to do so much so you end up going through the motions and doing random ass sets. It’s much better to have a lot less exercises and really attack them with intensity. Progressive overload and getting stronger in the compound lifts is much more effective for naturals then high volume mind muscle connection stuff lol
What i learned after watching countless if studies, exercises and lifting weight. Mist advices are for bodybuilders on gear. Yeah, you absolutrly right, i got my gains from progressive overload and HIT training. I'm doing a variation of normal speed and slow speed reps 2-3 sets per muscle group wirh 5 days off between.
Yes. I have followed guys like Layne Norton and volumalization. For me learning at age 17 to lift weights for hypertrophy I learned about progressive overload.
Biggest shortcoming of volume studies is that a lot of them have a very liberal definition of what failure is and what a „trained” lifter is. Thats why they come up with the 10-20 sets per muscle group thing for example
Don't forget also that muscles are hit when doing exercises that people don't necessarily associate with being for that muscle, for example Military press will hit your upper chest real nice (and of course shoulders) believe me, close grip bench could be your exercise for triceps but will also provide decent stimulation for chest. so imagine... a routine like Flat bench 3 sets of 6-8 Military press 3 sets 6-8 ( on your second workout ) close grip bench for tris 3 sets of 8-10( placed on either workout 1 or 2 ) now the lower end of the "recommended" sets per body part per week is 10, you've almost hit that (9) with just the 3 exercise above for chest shoulders and tris.
This definitely works well on deadlifts. Only problem I’ve found with the 1 set approach is for the upper body exercises because unlike the deadlift, you can only push them as far as the 1 set allows if yk what I mean. Deadlifts you can rest between each rep and extend the set very long, and therefore squeeze a lot out of it, unlike with the bench press or overhead press. I think 2 sets is more of a good middle point for most exercises. Some can even benefit from 3 but really depends on how hard you’re pushing. Most people don’t train that hard so you gotta factor that in.
Hey. Just found your channel and it's really great. Have been following Jay Vincent HIT training. But I like your style. Minimalistic that's great! Ever tried Dog Crap training? 1 set to failure directly followed by around 2 or 3 sets with the same weight to failure. Thanks man. Starting tomorrow with deadlift, chinups and dips
Apparently, the most recent study states that 52 sets are optimal. I think 52.5 sets work better. The 52nd is taken to failure, and beyond, hence the 0.5 set, 😂😂😂
Are you training with 2 or 3 sets currently? I'm following your twice a week program and It's written as 2 sets for all exercises but I often see RPT programs using 3 sets.
2 sets is what I do as a general rule of thumb. I’m gonna update those free programs and put them on their own pages. The only time I use 3 sets would be on bench/OHP, but even then I still use 2 sets mainly.
You have to track your lifts (weights you’re using and the sets and reps) and focus on progressive overload in a medium rep range. Refer to some of my free programs in my description as an example of what to follow to achieve this.
Yup. Go to any gym. Only 3% of the guys in there are making consistent gains. I see a lot of personal trainers spouting metanalysis this and double blind that who don't look like they even lift.
@@dwaynecunningham2164 Oh man this is in every gym 🤣 PT's who look like they've never set a finger on a weight. I went through the certification process a while back for the hell of it, and what they teach is a joke. Completely misleading.
@Polarity Fitness LMFAO! When your personal trainer looks like he needs a personal trainer, might be time to look somewhere else. You shouldn't have to tell people you lift, they should be telling you that you lift. A lion never has to tell anybody he's a lion.
I just want to get clear on something and please confirm this if you agree: When you say 4-6 sets pers week in a span of roughly 7 days, you mean something like 2 sets of Deadlifts, 2 sets of Squats, 2 sets of RDL's/Leg Curls, 2 sets of Leg extensions. So that would come to 8 sets per LEGS per week (some more quads/hamstring focused). Same thing for pressing - 2 sets of Bench, 2×OHP, 2×Chest flys, 2×Incline bench, 2×Dips, so that would come to 10~ sets for chest per week (including upper chest). Am I right? Please clarify on that💡
This is too much. I mean for example like 2 full body workouts a week. One workout 2-3 sets of bench, next workout 2-3 sets of dips (for chest). When I say 4-6 sets per much group I’m talking about the major muscle group, not each smaller muscle group. I honestly even think that it’s only necessary to go on that upper limit of 6 for some muscle groups at a time with everything else being tapered down to the 3-4 sets per week.
@Polarity Fitness I see. If you were at 70 kg for 6 reps in Squat in the 1st set and training that lift once per week, what rate would you progress on that lift? Like 1.25/2.5/more each week? Do you progress only with weights and keep the reps the same, or by double progression? (increasing reps, then weight, then reps again etc)
And then there are guys like Menno henselmans and abel csabai that got better results with more volume. Some people respond to higher volume, some to lower. I just wish people stopped trying to sell their own product and diss on the people recommending the opposite of what they are doing.
I train the bench like 3 times every 2 weeks. If some workouts I feel I can’t add a rep, what should I do. Should I reduce the frequency to once a week or just stay at the same weight and reps for a couple workouts
It's so much more effective to do less volume with a little more intensity. So you can push a little bit more. Too many spend their wheels with so much volume and they spend more time recovering instead of growing. Since lowering my volume I grew in these past 4-6 months. At first I wasnt sure but even my friends notice I got a lot bigger and more defined.
100%. Our adaptational reserves are limited. You can only adapt and recover from so much. Never mind the fact that with too much volume you end up going through the motions to get through the workout anyways, leaving little potential to stimulate any growth to begin with.
So would a bro split be better than push pull legs cause right now I’m working each body part twice except for legs because I can’t recover lol my legs are fucked for like a week after I have leg day
I'm not strong and the only movement I seem to Improve in is deadlift and leg Press, , the others stay the same But muscle builds. I bench 60kg and have been for 9 months. I look pretty and that's the point isnt It? Minimal time/work for max result
Im a guy who Always trained with high volume. My 1 ST year im the gym i was doing ppl Split. I was in the gym for more than 4 hours . I was owertraning. When i heard stuff Like this im scared to do low volume traning because bodybuilding culture programed me. I belive what you are saying but im stil a bit insecure so im im the middle right now. Curently im doing 9 sets per weak for each muscle group. What do you think about that.
Embrace that less is more bro. You'll make much better gains on my program. Focus on giving more effort and intensity in the reduced amount of training volume and then you'll realize that what you're doing now is overkill.
Yes it could since you should never train on consecutive days, which you would if added another day. Also, although you could think that the intensity for that day isn't that high, it could negatively impact your recovery because of external factors like stress, work, sleep, etc.
Hope you guys found this valuable. Let me know in the comments section what you thought, and drop any questions! Make sure you pick up my FREE 13-point natural muscle-building checklist: www.polarity-fitness.com/the-ultimate-13-point-natural-muscle-building-checklist-89024637/
Bruh, volume is literally the key driver for hypertrophy. Not incremental strength gains. How you gonna increase in strength if your strength has plateau'd? Vooooluuummeeeee. Obviously don't overdo it with 20 sets per workout, but anywhere from 6-15 sets/week is golden per muscle group. You can't blame the scientific community for "making it too hard" when the volume landmarks are literally written out for you lmao. It doesn't get easier than that. I can guarantee you're working in that set range anyway if you're making progress. Anything less, you're 100% leaving gains on the table. Anything more, you're also leaving gains on the table. If you can't make gains on 6-15 sets/week you're executing the plan incorrectly.
Hello Sir. One quick question: i currently do 65kg for 6 reps on the incline bench. Would you recommend To me doing just 2 sets of it in the first workout on Monday? On Thursday I’m doing seating barbell shoulder press. Ty very much
I’m Been Doing Full Body With 114 Sets A Week N 38 Sets A Workout For A Week For The Last Year And I Have Made The Best Gains Life I Slowly Increase Volume Weight Reps N Speed From Week To Week Month To Month If I Can Get Finish With A Workout Faster I’m Also Getting Stronger I Also Been Lifting For 7-8 Years
been doing a two days a week fullbody routine with one top set one backoff set for each exercise monday squats bench db rows overhead press pullovers bis/tris thursday deadlift incline bench chinup dips lateral raise bis/tris do you think this is too much for chest in this routine?
progressive overload is a scam, just train hard whatever you do and EAT. Use muscle calculator to count your calories and you will see that your body is changing. First month of science training I bulk +8 lbs. pretty lean. My arms after 3 month are bigger now than my friends arms, who called me dumb cause I don’t lift weights. 😂 it’s funny because I’m still getting bigger and my friends don’t. They eat tons of “healthy” food and don’t listen to me when I say it’s not enough calories Ps I eat 3700 calories a day. I was 170 now I’m 191 (6,2)
Personally it depends on body type. I’ve tried lower volume for a while, and it didn’t do anything. For me high volume and moderate/heavier weight always got me big. I take 2 or 3 basic exercises and go from there. We can see guys like Tom platz that did legs for hours, and he had the best legs in bb history.
Comparing to someone on gear is not useful. I like to go with natural lifters. I think low-volume has it's place as well as high-volume and an all-out-crazy-workout for a given bodypart from time to time too.
The only study that counts is the one in your own notebook. Are your weights going up? Yes? Good. Keep going.
Dude I wish I said this in the video LOL. Very well said. Pinning this comment.
@Polarity Fitness it is your now, King. Feel free to use it. No need to cite me or anything. Happy to give something back.
Big facts
I hadn't lifted in 10 years and got back into it. So I go on youtube and saw nothing but these "science" channels saying to do a minimum of 10 sets per muscle group per week. I can only train twice a week so of coarse I started doing 5 sets per exercise lol. Seemed like a lot and like you say you end up just going through the motions at the end of it. Out of curiosity I started asking the sort of most jacked dudes at my gym and none of them said more than 8 sets per week, 6 sets was the most common answers and if they did more they would not be able to recover. Multiple dudes told me to do just 2 hard set per session, that's all that was needed. Started doing that, much much better. Great video man.
Can’t agree more. I still follow your ABCD program ( for 2 months now) and I’m slowly bulking. The results are way better than when I was training with high volume. You’ve really helped me. Can’t thank you enough.
That’s amazing bro, keep going!!!
@@polarityfitness Do you think there's any benefit of adding french presses if I'm already doing close grip bench press and overhead press? I'm trying to get the most muscle I can since I'm still newer to lifting I want to maximize my gains another example would be upright rows are there additional benefits of adding them with my overhead press?
I was doing 6 sets per muscle 1 x week. Now I just switched to fullbody 3 sets per muscle 2 x week. 3 exercises per muscle 1 all out set each
This is a good set up for sure. If you’re doing that many different exercises per muscle group how long is your workout?
We will rise natural 💪💪
👊👊👊
Facts. When you do too much volume the focus is too spread out as you just want to get through all the exercises as you have to do so much so you end up going through the motions and doing random ass sets. It’s much better to have a lot less exercises and really attack them with intensity. Progressive overload and getting stronger in the compound lifts is much more effective for naturals then high volume mind muscle connection stuff lol
Amen brotha, well said.
What i learned after watching countless if studies, exercises and lifting weight. Mist advices are for bodybuilders on gear.
Yeah, you absolutrly right, i got my gains from progressive overload and HIT training.
I'm doing a variation of normal speed and slow speed reps 2-3 sets per muscle group wirh 5 days off between.
Yes. I have followed guys like Layne Norton and volumalization. For me learning at age 17 to lift weights for hypertrophy I learned about progressive overload.
As an older guy who always trained great to see a young guy talking sense and cutting through the bullshit that is out there
Your advice came at the perfect timing, thanks bro! Earned my like and subscription.
Great to hear that man, it’s my pleasure!
Have fun discovering the power of your own body. That's it. Enjoy the journey.
great video - I totally agree - wishing everyone the best - S
Thank you man :) back at you!
Biggest shortcoming of volume studies is that a lot of them have a very liberal definition of what failure is and what a „trained” lifter is. Thats why they come up with the 10-20 sets per muscle group thing for example
Exactly! Well said my friend.
Don't forget also that muscles are hit when doing exercises that people don't necessarily associate with being for that muscle, for example Military press will hit your upper chest real nice (and of course shoulders) believe me, close grip bench could be your exercise for triceps but will also provide decent stimulation for chest. so imagine... a routine like
Flat bench 3 sets of 6-8
Military press 3 sets 6-8 ( on your second workout )
close grip bench for tris 3 sets of 8-10( placed on either workout 1 or 2 )
now the lower end of the "recommended" sets per body part per week is 10, you've almost hit that (9) with just the 3 exercise above for chest shoulders and tris.
Get stronger with one set! I’m just focusing on getting stronger on one set of Trap bar currently
This definitely works well on deadlifts. Only problem I’ve found with the 1 set approach is for the upper body exercises because unlike the deadlift, you can only push them as far as the 1 set allows if yk what I mean.
Deadlifts you can rest between each rep and extend the set very long, and therefore squeeze a lot out of it, unlike with the bench press or overhead press.
I think 2 sets is more of a good middle point for most exercises. Some can even benefit from 3 but really depends on how hard you’re pushing. Most people don’t train that hard so you gotta factor that in.
Very ture, you are wise beyond your years
Thank you Anthony🙏
Well said mate!
Hey. Just found your channel and it's really great. Have been following Jay Vincent HIT training. But I like your style. Minimalistic that's great! Ever tried Dog Crap training? 1 set to failure directly followed by around 2 or 3 sets with the same weight to failure. Thanks man. Starting tomorrow with deadlift, chinups and dips
Thanks man! nope never tried that before. I love my RPT style with a top set followed by a back off set going lighter.
Apparently, the most recent study states that 52 sets are optimal. I think 52.5 sets work better. The 52nd is taken to failure, and beyond, hence the 0.5 set, 😂😂😂
When is your training program coming out?
It’s actually all finished, I’m just waiting on a couple legal documents I need to release it. Should be out within the next 2 weeks or so.
Are you training with 2 or 3 sets currently? I'm following your twice a week program and It's written as 2 sets for all exercises but I often see RPT programs using 3 sets.
2 sets is what I do as a general rule of thumb. I’m gonna update those free programs and put them on their own pages. The only time I use 3 sets would be on bench/OHP, but even then I still use 2 sets mainly.
So you telling me
-I only have to count my reps
-from 10 to 15 reps max
-lift heavy
-progressive overload
You have to track your lifts (weights you’re using and the sets and reps) and focus on progressive overload in a medium rep range. Refer to some of my free programs in my description as an example of what to follow to achieve this.
Do you find potatoes made in the air fryer are just as good as potato wedges made in the oven? I’m thinking of buying one
I find them just as good. It’s also a lot quicker in the air fryer.
air fryer= convection setting on oven
What if you are limited on weight and can only add reps ? What do you do ?
This guy is super legit. I see people doing 30 sets per day and they make zero progress.
Thank you brother
Yup. Go to any gym. Only 3% of the guys in there are making consistent gains. I see a lot of personal trainers spouting metanalysis this and double blind that who don't look like they even lift.
Exactly!! Theorists man. This is a problem in the fitness industry. People lack critical thinking skills.
Holy shit! Thought that was just in my gym.
@@dwaynecunningham2164 Oh man this is in every gym 🤣 PT's who look like they've never set a finger on a weight. I went through the certification process a while back for the hell of it, and what they teach is a joke. Completely misleading.
@Polarity Fitness LMFAO! When your personal trainer looks like he needs a personal trainer, might be time to look somewhere else. You shouldn't have to tell people you lift, they should be telling you that you lift. A lion never has to tell anybody he's a lion.
I just want to get clear on something and please confirm this if you agree:
When you say 4-6 sets pers week in a span of roughly 7 days, you mean something like 2 sets of Deadlifts, 2 sets of Squats, 2 sets of RDL's/Leg Curls, 2 sets of Leg extensions. So that would come to 8 sets per LEGS per week (some more quads/hamstring focused). Same thing for pressing - 2 sets of Bench, 2×OHP, 2×Chest flys, 2×Incline bench, 2×Dips, so that would come to 10~ sets for chest per week (including upper chest).
Am I right? Please clarify on that💡
This is too much. I mean for example like 2 full body workouts a week. One workout 2-3 sets of bench, next workout 2-3 sets of dips (for chest). When I say 4-6 sets per much group I’m talking about the major muscle group, not each smaller muscle group.
I honestly even think that it’s only necessary to go on that upper limit of 6 for some muscle groups at a time with everything else being tapered down to the 3-4 sets per week.
@Polarity Fitness I see. If you were at 70 kg for 6 reps in Squat in the 1st set and training that lift once per week, what rate would you progress on that lift? Like 1.25/2.5/more each week?
Do you progress only with weights and keep the reps the same, or by double progression? (increasing reps, then weight, then reps again etc)
And then there are guys like Menno henselmans and abel csabai that got better results with more volume. Some people respond to higher volume, some to lower. I just wish people stopped trying to sell their own product and diss on the people recommending the opposite of what they are doing.
I train the bench like 3 times every 2 weeks. If some workouts I feel I can’t add a rep, what should I do. Should I reduce the frequency to once a week or just stay at the same weight and reps for a couple workouts
It's so much more effective to do less volume with a little more intensity. So you can push a little bit more.
Too many spend their wheels with so much volume and they spend more time recovering instead of growing.
Since lowering my volume I grew in these past 4-6 months. At first I wasnt sure but even my friends notice I got a lot bigger and more defined.
100%. Our adaptational reserves are limited. You can only adapt and recover from so much. Never mind the fact that with too much volume you end up going through the motions to get through the workout anyways, leaving little potential to stimulate any growth to begin with.
So would a bro split be better than push pull legs cause right now I’m working each body part twice except for legs because I can’t recover lol my legs are fucked for like a week after I have leg day
Squat push pull isn't a bad split. I'd recommend checking out this video for the best 3 day splits bro: th-cam.com/video/xOfPbHv0qmM/w-d-xo.html
Bro if I don't have access to GYM how can I stay shape and have great physique?
Body weight training bro. Push ups, chin ups, etc...
I'm not strong and the only movement I seem to
Improve in is deadlift and leg
Press, , the others stay the same
But muscle builds. I bench 60kg and have been for 9 months. I look pretty and that's the point isnt
It? Minimal time/work for max result
Im a guy who Always trained with high volume. My 1 ST year im the gym i was doing ppl Split. I was in the gym for more than 4 hours . I was owertraning. When i heard stuff Like this im scared to do low volume traning because bodybuilding culture programed me. I belive what you are saying but im stil a bit insecure so im im the middle right now. Curently im doing 9 sets per weak for each muscle group. What do you think about that.
Embrace that less is more bro. You'll make much better gains on my program. Focus on giving more effort and intensity in the reduced amount of training volume and then you'll realize that what you're doing now is overkill.
I currently do a low volume/high intensity 3-day split. Would it hinder recovery if I added a day where I just did a few isolations and no compounds?
Yes it could since you should never train on consecutive days, which you would if added another day. Also, although you could think that the intensity for that day isn't that high, it could negatively impact your recovery because of external factors like stress, work, sleep, etc.
Hope you guys found this valuable. Let me know in the comments section what you thought, and drop any questions! Make sure you pick up my FREE 13-point natural muscle-building checklist: www.polarity-fitness.com/the-ultimate-13-point-natural-muscle-building-checklist-89024637/
Bruh, volume is literally the key driver for hypertrophy. Not incremental strength gains. How you gonna increase in strength if your strength has plateau'd? Vooooluuummeeeee.
Obviously don't overdo it with 20 sets per workout, but anywhere from 6-15 sets/week is golden per muscle group. You can't blame the scientific community for "making it too hard" when the volume landmarks are literally written out for you lmao. It doesn't get easier than that.
I can guarantee you're working in that set range anyway if you're making progress. Anything less, you're 100% leaving gains on the table. Anything more, you're also leaving gains on the table.
If you can't make gains on 6-15 sets/week you're executing the plan incorrectly.
Does frequency not matter for a natural meaning training every muscle group twice a week is better than once?
Hello Sir. One quick question: i currently do 65kg for 6 reps on the incline bench. Would you recommend To me doing just 2 sets of it in the first workout on Monday? On Thursday I’m doing seating barbell shoulder press. Ty very much
I’m Been Doing Full Body With 114 Sets A Week N 38 Sets A Workout For A Week For The Last Year And I Have Made The Best Gains Life I Slowly Increase Volume Weight Reps N Speed From Week To Week Month To Month If I Can Get Finish With A Workout Faster I’m Also Getting Stronger I Also Been Lifting For 7-8 Years
been doing a two days a week fullbody routine with one top set one backoff set for each exercise
monday
squats
bench
db rows
overhead press
pullovers
bis/tris
thursday
deadlift
incline bench
chinup
dips
lateral raise
bis/tris
do you think this is too much for chest in this routine?
progressive overload is a scam, just train hard whatever you do and EAT. Use muscle calculator to count your calories and you will see that your body is changing. First month of science training I bulk +8 lbs. pretty lean. My arms after 3 month are bigger now than my friends arms, who called me dumb cause I don’t lift weights. 😂 it’s funny because I’m still getting bigger and my friends don’t. They eat tons of “healthy” food and don’t listen to me when I say it’s not enough calories
Ps I eat 3700 calories a day. I was 170 now I’m 191 (6,2)
Science training?
Personally it depends on body type. I’ve tried lower volume for a while, and it didn’t do anything. For me high volume and moderate/heavier weight always got me big. I take 2 or 3 basic exercises and go from there. We can see guys like Tom platz that did legs for hours, and he had the best legs in bb history.
Comparing to someone on gear is not useful. I like to go with natural lifters. I think low-volume has it's place as well as high-volume and an all-out-crazy-workout for a given bodypart from time to time too.
If strength is the main driver of you physic why powerlifters are so “lean”
check what happens when those powerlifter have a cut
The white lebron james based.
evidence-based, with freaking roiders as test subjects 😂