If you’re reading this then you probably want to know why you’ve stopped building muscle mass. In my opinion as a coach, this problem almost always comes down to one specific issue. You aren’t lifting with enough volume to maximize your muscle building potential. I should point out that this isn’t just my opinion, this is also confirmed by several research studies. In this article, I will be reviewing recent research on just how much you actually need to lift, to start building muscle muscle mass again. I’ll also provide several programs, and some dietary guidance to get you started on the right track. Keep reading for more.
This problem can be a difficult one, as most athletes make rapid muscle gains when they start lifting. These beginner gains generally last up to a year, and start to taper off after that. I have a great muscle predicting calculator, based off of the data for thousands of athletes. It demonstrates that the amount of muscle you gain in the first year is roughly equal to the amount of muscle you’ll gain in the following 9 years of hard training.
Don’t be disheartened by this, as these predictions assume you’ve trained perfectly your whole time in the gym. This is actually the cause of your muscle building problems. You aren’t training hard enough for your training age, and experience level. Here’s a quick overview of this topic.
Building Muscle Mass Overview
- Lifters fall into ruts that limit their muscle building potential
- Research indicates that up to 32 sets per body part is needed to build muscle mass
- Intermediate and advanced lifters cannot build muscle mass with low volume programs
- Most skeletal muscles are best trained 2-3 times per week
- Heavier weights aren’t always needed to build serious strength
- High volume training should not be used year-round, rest days are a thing
As I alluded to earlier, we’re often our biggest barrier to further muscle growth. Humans are creatures of habit, and following a path that worked before is great for most goals. It won’t work for building lean muscle mass. To increase muscle size, you need to constantly change and evolve.
Most lifters will religiously track their exercises and the amount of weight for each movement, and if asked, they couldn’t tell you how many sets they did for their body parts over a given week! If you can’t tell me how you’ve progressed from last years training, then you’ll make no gains. Let’s take a look at a great piece of research that highlights the need for continued progress for bodybuilders and strength athletes.
Weight Training With Enough Volume to Build Muscle Tissue
Long time readers of this website know that I write about building muscle mass quite often. One of my most popular articles examined over 200 research studies on building muscle. It came to some startling conclusions, which I’ve summarized in the infographics below.
The research that I highlighted in that article examined all relevant studies in order to determine how much training volume caused the most overall muscle mass. The research also examined which exercise intensities were best to build the most muscle, as well as how often each of your major muscle groups should be trained per week.
I’ll Do It
While this research gives a great starting place for a resistance training program, it has a glaring flaw. The vast majority of these participants were beginner, or intermediate athletes, who didn’t have a ton of experience in the gym.
If you’ve played with my muscle mass calculator, you’ll see that newbies always gain the most muscle mass in the beginning stages of their time in the gym. This means that what works for them, isn’t likely to be sufficient for more advanced lifters. High volume training research has entered the chat.
High Volume Resistance Training Research for Building Muscle Mass
It can be quite difficult to find muscle building research for advanced lifters. This is because there’s a smaller group of people that fall into this category. It’s very easy to find folks that have never seen the inside of the gym, which explains why the majority of Americans look the way we do!
This research article is entitled, ” High Resistance–Training Volume Enhances Muscle Thickness in Resistance-Trained Men.” The authors of this study noted that the vast majority of research on strength training for muscle hypertrophy artificially designates 10+ sets per week, per muscle group, as high volume. If you’ve spent any time in the gym, you’ll know that you’re only half way through a workout at the 10 set mark.
They realized that there was a real need to examine how high volume resistance training programs affect muscle gain, for athletes that have more than a year in the gym. This is exactly what they did. They recruited 27 men in their twenties, and early thirties, who had been lifting for 2+ years. Prior to this study, these athletes averaged 5 days per week in the gym. These guys sound like they’re following some of my programs!
They’re also relatively strong. They had an average bench press of 98kg or 215 pounds, at an average bodyweight of 177 pounds (80kg). Their average 1 rep max back squat was 114kg or 251 pounds. These are pretty good numbers, even if the back squat is a bit low compared to the bench press. That’s bodybuilders for you!
If you want to try my most popular functional fitness bodybuilding hybrid program then check this out.
The Research Protocol
After the researchers did their baseline strength, and muscle mass measurements, they put the trainees through an 8 week program, that was designed to maximize muscle growth in the arms and legs. Along with the strength numbers, the researchers were interested in measuring biceps and quad thickness, so they designed a specific program to work on those areas of fitness.
They split the 27 trainees into three groups, low, mid, and high volume. The lowest volume group started at 16 sets per body part, per week. The middle group was 24 sets, and the high volume group was 32 sets. All groups followed the exact same 4 day per week lifting program, with the only change being the number of sets each group did.
They also had the research participants fill out a food log a few days during the protocol. They wanted to see if there were any changes for protein intake, or overall nutrition. Surprisingly, there did not appear to be any changes from a dietary perspective. Now, let’s take a look at the results.
Building Muscle Mass Research Results
Drumroll please, slowly and inexpertly opens envelope, and puts glasses on. The high volume group takes home the gains trophy. They built the most muscle mass, and they built the most strength, by a wide margin. Honestly, I’m glad they made the most progress, as they put in a brutal amount of hard work. Here’s a sample of one of their workouts.
Sample High Volume Muscle Building Workout
Bench Press: 8 x 8-10 RM
Dumbbell Fly: 8 x 8-10 RM
Cable Triceps: 8 x 8-10 RM
Parallel Back Squat: 8 x 8-10 RM
Leg Extension: 8 x 8-10 RM
If you really dig into the study, the authors gave the athletes only 1 minute of rest between sets, and 2 minutes of rest between exercises. They also controlled the tempo of each rep, which ended up being normal tempo for lifting. The researchers did a very good of job controlling as many variables as they could. This allowed them to see what effect increased volume had on hypertrophy, and strength gains.
The researchers found a pronounced effect for strength. The 32 set group gained the most upper body, and lower body strength. In only 8 weeks of training, the highest volume group gained 28.7% on their 1RM bench. They also gained 25.4% strength in their 1RM back squat. These are astounding numbers, considering that they didn’t lift any sets above 85% of 1RM, which most researchers would consider essential to gain strength. Here are the specific numbers.
These numbers are impressive. Even the lowest volume group gained 16-23% on their lifts. Next let’s take a look at the increases in muscle thickness. As you’ll see, these results will follow the same general trend. Higher volume training yielded better results.
High Volume Training Hypertrophy Results
Recall that the researchers measured muscle thickness at three locations on the body. They measured this with an ultrasound machine, which is much more accurate than using a tape measure. Prepare to be amazed by these results.
Biceps % Increase
- 16 Set – .5%
- 24 Set – 1.3%
- 32 Set – 3.1%
Triceps % Increase
- 16 Set – .8%
- 24 Set – 4%
- 32 Set – 7%
Quads % Increase
- 16 Set – 2.1%
- 24 Set – 5.6%
- 32 Set – 9.4%
You can easily see the trend. The lowest volume group gained the least muscle mass. The middle group gained a respectable amount of muscle mass, and the high volume group takes home the gains trophy. Given these results, it seems pretty clear that we should all train 32 sets per body part per week right? Not so fast, we need to temper these results with some real world considerations.
Building Muscle Mass: Real World Volume Considerations
Given this research, and the other research I’ve read, I think it’s safe to conclude that you need to increase training volume as you gain muscle mass, and gain experience in the gym. However, there are a few caveats for those of us living in the real world.
First, the researchers were examining only a few outcomes, and as a result they programmed the workouts to focus on building those muscles. The athletes in the study didn’t do any deadlifting, shoulder pressing, ab work, or upper body rowing. To put it bluntly, they did not follow any normal bodybuilding routine that I would recommend.
That doesn’t invalidate this research, it just means that they left out a lot of training that you or I would not. I would imagine that if we included 32 sets per body part, for a full body routine, your muscle cells would rapidly enter the over-training zone.
For those athletes with a lot of experience in the gym, it’s best to start on the lower end of the volume spectrum and gradually work up. For stubborn body parts, I think it might be beneficial to work up to 32 sets per body part, but only on a few body parts at a time. I truly doubt any lifter can withstand that much total body volume, naturally.
If you want another great muscle building program, with all the details, then get your copy!
Strength Training Take Aways
I also think the strength gains are quite telling. Given the limited rest and high volume of work, these athletes were most likely working between 60-70% of their 1RM. This isn’t even close to the ideal 85% that most studies recommend for optimal strength gains. And yet, these participants gained a lot of strength, without even touching a high percentage weight!
This shows that neural efficiency is an incredibly important factor for weight lifting. Your body truly does learn how to use your muscle fibers most efficiently to lift heavy weight, provided you practice these lifts a lot. I’d like to see more research on high volume, low intensity (lighter weights) strength training. Now let’s talk about which program you should follow to gain muscle mass.
Finding Your Best Program For Building Muscle Mass
I’ve been writing programs for many years, and I’ve got something for just about everyone. In this section I’ve put together a quick list of my most popular muscle building programs. If you want to see which order I recommend following for each of the programs, then check this article out.
- The 8 Week Functional Bodybuilding Hybrid Program
- 6 Weeks of Muscular Growth for Functional Fitness Athletes Program
- 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program
- 10 Week Functional Power Building Program
- The 11 Week High Intensity Bodybuilding Program
Some of these programs are designed for functional fitness athletes who want to build muscle, and maintain their conditioning. However, other programs like the 12 Week Free Bodybuilding Program, and 11 Week High Intensity Program are pure muscle building programs. You won’t find a WOD or metcon in sight! Now let’s talk about some simple nutrition advice that can get you headed in the right direction.
Nutrition For Building Muscle Mass
If you read my article about the amount of protein you actually need to gain muscle mass, you’ll find that it’s actually a little lower than you might think. Most average sized males only need about 160 grams of protein to gain muscle mass. This assumes they’re eating enough carbs, fats, and essential amino acids. Research shows no appreciable benefit to eating more protein than this.
That is not the case for when you’re trying to lose weight. You absolutely need higher protein when aiming for weight loss. Research has shown that when ingesting protein and carbs together, the carbs spare the protein for muscle protein synthesis. When you’re on a diet, you often don’t have the necessary carbs to spare, and more of your protein intake is used for energy production. This is why you need higher protein (at least a gram per pound of bodyweight) on a diet.
The key to building muscle is to maintain a reasonable caloric surplus. You only need around 300-500 calories extra to build muscle tissue. Eating thousands of extra calories over your needs will not increase the rate at which you gain muscle. It’ll just lead to excess body fat!
It’s a good idea to check out this article where I break down the basics of nutrition and your metabolism. You can then download my nutrition calculator which will give you a great starting point for your muscle gain diet. Make sure to use the weight gain tab. Remember this isn’t exact, it’s just a reasonable place in which to begin.
Recovery for Building Muscle Mass
Get ready because I’m about to recommend some really expensive, very complicated recovery techniques. They use glass bottles, and jars of old mustard. Just kidding, most muscle recovery things that are sold to you are actually a massive waste of money. Read this article on scientific based recovery methods, and you’ll see there are only a few things that truly work.
The best way to recover is to sit on an exercise bike for 10 minutes after your session in the gym. It doesn’t have to be an exercise bike, as any light movement will work, hello walking! The important thing is to cool down at a very easy pace for at least 10 minutes.
This increases circulation throughout your body. Circulation is needed to begin the recovery process, allowing your body to begin repair damaged muscle tissue sooner. As a nice bonus, you’ll find you actually feel better leaving the gym.
There’s also some evidence that wearing exercise tights can decrease the amount of soreness you feel, and increase your muscle mass when worn during, or after training. Check out this article where I reviewed the research on that topic.
Lastly, you can increase the amount of reps you can do, provided you do some light hyperventilation prior to your set. The research on that topic was quite interesting, and resulted in athletes lifting 35% more reps just by breathing heavily prior to their work sets.
Final Thoughts
I know my audience, so I’ll leave you with a word of caution. Do not go to the gym, and try and double all of your sets and reps. This is likely to increase your chances of getting injured, without much increase in muscle mass. I would recommend adding in volume slowly.
There is a range of response for all athletes. In the study, some athletes in the middle volume group actually built as much muscle mass as the average high volume lifter. You know your body, and you need to add in volume reasonably.
I recommend picking one or two muscle groups that you want to focus on. You can then add in another exercise with 2-3 sets of 8-10 reps after your normal routine. Gradually add in volume in this manner until you feel like you need to add in another exercise.
You will need to cycle in deloads from time to time. These are the periods of time when your body actually makes the most gains. Be smart with your training, and if you really want to learn how to put together a solid training program, then you should pick up my ebook, “Programming Your Fitness,” where I cover that topic in great detail. Now get out there and get training.
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