When you go to the gym, how many sets should you do?
I would say of all the people I know and see at the gym the average would be 20-25 total sets. If you are working in the 3*8-15 repetition range (most people I see in the gym) doing this many sets, then you are either superman, lifting too light, or you are doing the wrong exercises.
The first thing to address is the type of exercises you are doing. A program to lose fat or increase muscle should be based around compound exercises. What I mean by compound is large muscle group exercises. Or you can think of it this way: An exercise in which you move a heavy weight a moderately long distance. If you are not doing these types of exercises because you are not good at them then that is not good enough! If you find them hard, then that is because they are!
Think of a squat vs a finger curl. Which one is likely to stimulate your body into burning calories? I will give you a clue: Not the finger curl!
Secondly, consider the load. As I have mentioned before, this should be at least 60% of the maximum load you can lift once. If you don’t know what this is then work it out. I will post a generic protocol on 1RM testing shortly.
It has been suggested by some that 12 is an optimal number of sets to do in the gym. It is of course hugely dependent on the number of repetitions you do. For example if you are doing 1-5 reps then more sets will be ok. However, generally speaking I tend to agree with 12-15 as a starting point. There is also a lot of scope for warm up sets, rehabilitation sets, and ‘aesthetic sets’ in a program which I would not count in this.
Get these two variables right (exercise selection and intensity) and you will be well on the way to a productive workout.
October 17, 2007 at 9:43 pm |
[...] kitchenpt wrote a fantastic post today on “How many sets should you do at the gym?”Here’s ONLY a quick extractIf you are working in the 3*8-15 repetition range (most people I see in the gym) doing this many sets, then you are either superman, lifting too light, or you are doing the wrong exercises. The first thing to address is the type of … [...]
October 17, 2007 at 9:45 pm |
[...] kitchenpt wrote a fantastic post today on “How many sets should you do at the gym?”Here’s ONLY a quick extractI would say of all the people I know and see at the gym the average would be 20-25 total sets. If you are working in the 3*8-15 repetition range (most people I see in the gym) doing this many sets, then you are either superman, … [...]