If you look at it, you will be resting 3 minutes plus the amount of time that it takes you to perform the other exercise (so you actually are resting a given muscle between 3 and 4 minutes). You will do 2-3 biceps focused exercises per workout, twice per week. This allows you to lift heavier weights than if you just stay idle for 3 minutes waiting to recover. And since we’re using a schedule that allows us to train each body part twice per week, it means we’ll be aiming for 5-10 sets for the back in each workout, and 2-5 sets for the biceps in each workout. Along with consistency, determination and repetitions, gaining bicep muscle mass requires time. Calves: 30-60 reps per week. : For instance, first do Biceps, then do Triceps). Biceps are easily the most over trained body part in a gym. If you do a lot of compound exercises that involve the biceps (chin-ups, underhand rows) you maybe wanna aim towards the lower end of the 10-20 set range, if you’re not doing that much compounds, you can aim towards the higher range. In conclusion, thou must work hard, if in the Olympia thou want to take part, but thou must also work smart, lest thy body falls apart. One of the most common areas of confusion among lifters is figuring out exactly how many sets per workout one should do. Notably, the highest effect size is for a very low volume and some of the lowest non-negative effect sizes are for the highest volumes. Back workouts use biceps quite a bit. Experienced Beginner Bicep Workout Routine. Answer: For absolute beginners, 4-6 sets twice a week works best. I think, based on the literature and my experience helping hundreds of people attain their ideal physique, most people run into the limits of their willpower or connective tissue long before their muscles actually become incapable of recovering from the training volume. Now let’s figure out which exercises to do. A modified superset for Incline Curls and Lying Triceps Extensions in which you perform 3 sets of each exercise will look like the following: Lying Triceps Extensions 1 set of 10-12 reps Rest 90 seconds, Incline Curls 1 set of 10-12 reps Rest 90 seconds. Also, whether a hardgainer or average gainer, remember to have a post workout protein shake with simple carbs to spike insulin levels and induce anabolism (growth). (2018) published a very similar study. Quadriceps: 60-120 reps per week. If you don’t take into account someone’s recovery capacity, you may not just be wasting time and effort and risk injury, you may also be directly reducing your gains. All sets were performed to failure. But overall 24 sets including all arm muscles looks okay, but imo a little bit too much. Twice A Week. Many coaches debate if there’s a point in doing more than 10 sets per week, so 45 sets to failure sounds ludicrous in contrast. Optimal Sets per Week: 8-12 total sets of direct work for both triceps and biceps Frequency : 2-3 days per week, or more. ONCE a week will do, 4-5 sets of varied curls as long as you are doing a back workout during the week. Performing as little as 6-8 sets per week can also suffice for some lifters who are performing a lot of pulling, as the biceps … Hamstrings: 60-120 reps per week. as it’s literally off-the-charts high way up in the top right. However, the number of studies to look at the impact of more than 10 weekly sets were few and far between. For strength development, the additional gains from more sets were pretty meager though. However, there was no major difference in strength gain of both the groups. As you get more advanced into bodybuilding, you start learning more about your own individual recovery capabilities, but in my experience 10-12 sets seems to be tolerated well by most people. Here’s what the data show for untrained individuals. Several studies have found that there’s a sweet-spot training volume compared to which, doing more or less, reduces progression [2, 3, 4]. Just so that I don't feel like I left you hanging, the program below will work well for gaining more arm size: Superset: Preacher Curls - 10 sets of 10 reps (no rest) Triceps Dips - 10 sets of 10 reps (1 minute rest), Superset: Hammer Curls - 2 sets of 12-15 reps (no rest) Triceps Pushdowns - 2 sets of 12-15 reps (1 minute rest). Copyright © 2020 MennoHenselmans.com, all rights reserved. Hugo competes as drug free NPC athlete at the National Level and his core supplementation has always consisted of Prolab products. For example, your routine might vary in intensity and look something like this: 5 sets at 50% 1RM on Monday; 3 sets at 70% 1RM on Wednesday; 2 sets at 90% 1RM on Friday. Another common mistake of overtraining is hitting the biceps with too many sets, you could walk into almost any gym and find someone doing 20 odd sets on their biceps being under the incorrect impression that ‘more is better’. There wasn’t enough research to draw any solid conclusions as to what the effect of higher … Three Times A Week. Hence, training each muscle twice a week with 6-10 sets per muscle per workout is optimal for muscle gain. Multiple sets taken to 10 reps fall in the middle of the rep range (8-12) and are linked by studies to muscle growth, so you'll find nary an exercise scientist who'll disagree with that approach. With 4 sessions, it’s around 30 sets, and with 5 or 6 weekly sessions, it might be as high as 35 sets per week in many cases. If you have an average metabolism, multiply your bodyweight times 15 to gain muscle size and use a macronutrient ratio of 40% carbs, 40% proteins, and 20% fats. 4 sets of 3 exercises = 12 sets. (2015) had participants perform 1, 3 or 5 sets per exercise with 2 exercises for the biceps and 3 for the triceps in a 3x per week full-body training program. In most cases, 10 to 15 sets per week spread among 2 to 3 workouts will help to build mass. Hugo is owner of www.hrfit.net, an informational, free fitness and nutrition website. Negative effects sizes are included but not shown, as they are likely indicative of measurement error or lack of adherence to the training program. I'm now an online physique coach, scientist and international public speaker with the mission to help serious trainees master their physique. I’d also emphasize how important nutrition is for your recovery capacity. Hugo also just released his new book called The Hardgainer's Handbook of Bodybuilding in March 2005 and also serves as a nutrition consultant to several professional football players and other elite athletes. The most well-known of these is the German Volume Training study finding that cutting the volume in half from the original 10-set template improved results, as illustrated below. The logarithmic best-fit trendline shows an increase in gains from 5 to 20 sets per week, but it’s not exactly major. And you’ll finish off by grinding out two “pump sets” of 10 reps with shorter rest periods. But, and this is a big but – not just a fine squat booty but a Kardashian sized caveat – more volume is not always better. Notes: In a Modified Compound Superset, you first perform one exercise, rest the recommended amount of seconds and then perform the second exercise (i.e. The ideal amount? Other obvious factors like disorders and injuries and at a certain point, age, should be considered too. 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