Number of sets

D

DwayneJohnson

New Member
I'm getting close to finishing my 3rd cycle and I just logged on to this forum to read some posts. One thing that confuses me greatly is that many people post routines that have A TON of sets. My understanding from the HST guides was that you were supposed to do about 10 total sets per workout (for all muscle groups taken together) in the 15's, and maybe 15 total sets in the 10's, and like 20 total sets in the 5's.

I see people posting routines where the do like 25 sets in the 15's, and by the time they get to the 5's they are doing dozens of sets in every workout. Nobody seem to be commenting that this is a lot of sets.

Am I missing something?

Dwayne
 
I think it has more to do with the amount of time you spend working out more than anything. your workout should take approx 45 to 75 mins max is my understanding.

so if you can crank out that many sets in the 5s at max weight I guess why not

myself, i was planning on doing 10 exercises at 10 reps x 3 sets. But I already had to change that to 10 x 2 - noways i had the gas to do it in any reasonable amount of time, certainly not 60-75 mins, unless i lowered the weight so much that set 1 and 2 were easy.
 
I'd strongly urge you to stop thinking in terms of sets, because sets don't mean anything. What you need to be concerned about is total reps.
 
Totentanz said:
I'd strongly urge you to stop thinking in terms of sets, because sets don't mean anything. What you need to be concerned about is total reps.
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and obviously as you keep raising the weights, you should be able to do less and less reps no matter how many sets as its just harder and harder and you get more exhausted at heavier weights?
 
Totentanz what would be your answer to my question? On the 15's how many reps should I do per workout per bodypart? What about when Im on the 5s?
 
Based on current research, I'd aim for 25-30 reps per muscle group during the 10s and 15s, during the 5s I would aim for 15-20 per muscle group. This may not always result in an even number of sets, which is fine. Just cluster, use myoreps or whatever to get to your total rep goal.
 
jasonjm2005 said:
and obviously as you keep raising the weights, you should be able to do less and less reps no matter how many sets as its just harder and harder and you get more exhausted at heavier weights?
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Not necessarily, or even "obviously".

Doing 10 singles of 205kg deadlift exhausts me far less than doing 3 sets of 15RM deadlift ~ 140-150kg will.
 
Totentanz said:
Based on current research, I'd aim for 25-30 reps per muscle group during the 10s and 15s, during the 5s I would aim for 15-20 per muscle group. This may not always result in an even number of sets, which is fine. Just cluster, use myoreps or whatever to get to your total rep goal.
Click to expand...
Totentanz on a compound movement such as bench, if you performed 10 reps would you count 10 reps to the secondary muscles of your delts and tris as well? I never understand how to count my reps on heavier compound movements to the smaller secondary muscles that are being worked as well.
 
So if you performed two sets of bench at 15 reps and one set of a shoulder press at 15 reps wouldn't that technically put you at 45 reps for triceps? That's over the recommended before even doing a tricep exercise.
 
Quite frankly, this whole number of reps or sets thing, including direct and indirect, is hogwash once you get past the absolute beginner phase. There is no set formula that will maximally work for everyone. There are too many variables; age, amount of 1 rep max being used, number of reps per set, % before failure, rest between sets, training age, time since last SD (if any), how much sleep you got last night, what you ate the last 48 hours, frequency of workouts, if your other half is bitchy because it is her time of month, etc., etc. Once you get to know your body, you should be able to gauge when a muscle has been worked enough, keeping in mind the intended frequency of working that muscle that week. Anything else is akin to saying that you always drive through curves at 45 MPH, regardless if it is a 10 degree curve or a 180 degree curve.

Getting to know your body should not take more than 3 months from when you start to lift weights consistently. During that period just go with the standard 1 set of 15's 2 sets of 10 and 3 sets of 5. If you haven't figured out what your body can take by then, take up a passive hobby. Bear in mind that your body is influenced every day by outside factors. It is only when you reach that point in that body part of that workout will you know when you have had enough taking into account planned future frequency.

There are so many variables involved that you have a better chance of winning the lottery than of doing even one "perfect" workout. So go buy a lottery ticket (somebody has to win eventually) and stopped fretting over counting.
 
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