Weekly Sets Calculator
Science-based weekly set targets for every muscle group
Steady progress (3-4 sessions/week)
Your target: 126 weekly sets. This exact volume goal is built into Hypro, and the app tracks your coverage against it every week, free.
Track Your Weekly Volume Automatically
Hypro counts your hard sets per muscle group as you log workouts and shows exactly which muscles are under target.
Or start training free on webHow Many Sets per Muscle Group per Week?
The research consensus: 10-20 hard sets per muscle group per week maximises muscle growth for most trained lifters, with 6-10 sets enough for beginners and maintenance. These numbers come from meta-analyses by Schoenfeld et al. (2017), Baz-Valle et al. (2022), and Pelland et al. (2024) covering thousands of participants.
MEV, MAV, and MRV Explained
| Landmark | Meaning | Typical range |
|---|---|---|
| MEV | Minimum Effective Volume — least that grows muscle | 6-8 sets/week |
| MAV | Maximum Adaptive Volume — the productive sweet spot | 10-20 sets/week |
| MRV | Maximum Recoverable Volume — the recovery ceiling | 16-25+ sets/week |
The calculator above applies these landmarks per muscle group, adjusted for recovery speed and indirect work: calves and side delts tolerate more volume, while the lower back and hamstrings get heavy indirect load from compound lifts and need fewer direct sets.
How to Use Your Targets
- Pick your focus and schedule above — the targets scale with how many sessions you can commit to.
- Count only hard sets: working sets within 0-3 reps of failure. Warm-ups do not count.
- Spread volume across 2+ sessions per muscle per week — 5 sets twice a week beats 10 sets once.
- Progress volume slowly. Add 1-2 weekly sets to a lagging muscle every few weeks, and deload when performance drops.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many sets per week for muscle growth?
10-20 hard sets per muscle group per week for most lifters. Beginners grow on 6-10; advanced lifters may push 16-22 for priority muscles.
Do compound exercises count for secondary muscles?
Partially — a common convention is 0.25x credit. A bench press set is a full chest set and a quarter set for triceps and front delts.
What counts as a hard set?
A working set within 0-3 reps of failure (RPE 7-10). Easy sets and warm-ups do not count toward volume targets.
Related Free Tools
- Progressive Overload Calculator — Know exactly when to add weight or reps.
- Hypertrophy Calculator — Find your optimal training weights from your 1RM.
- 1RM Calculator — Estimate your one rep max from any hard set.
Last updated July 2, 2026 · Reviewed by Dawid Kowalczyk, Personal Trainer & IFBB Competitor