Am i doing too many sets/reps?

[MustangMan6913]

I've been reading a lot lately about other people's workouts and how many sets and reps they're doing and I feel like I may be over doing it.
I do about 5-6 different exercises for each muscle group and doing 3-4 sets per exercise with anywhere from 15-25 reps each. I just read a post from someone that said on big muscle groups I.e. chest he only does about 50-60 reps, not sure how many sets or exercises he was doing. I'm not just comparing my routine to just his but other routines I've read don't do anywhere near the amount of volume I do. Should I cut my routine down?

 

[Fattyone]

Are you making progress

 

[MustangMan6913]

Yes. When you put it like that my question seems dumb. But I feel like maybe I could do less and hit muscle groups more frequently like instead of an hour on chest, I could do 30 mins chest and then 30 mins triceps

 

[God&Gainz]

If you are trying to put on mass the ideal rep range is 3-8 for working sets.

If you are trying to lean out you can do as many reps as you would like, I usually aim for 8-15. Dropsets and burnout sets it can be anywhere from 20-50. You should still incorporate days where you lift heavier for low reps to hold onto as much strength as possible.

The best thing to do is alternate between the two.

 

[T&H]

I've been reading a lot lately about other people's workouts and how many sets and reps they're doing and I feel like I may be over doing it.
I do about 5-6 different exercises for each muscle group and doing 3-4 sets per exercise with anywhere from 15-25 reps each. I just read a post from someone that said on big muscle groups I.e. chest he only does about 50-60 reps, not sure how many sets or exercises he was doing. I'm not just comparing my routine to just his but other routines I've read don't do anywhere near the amount of volume I do. Should I cut my routine down?

I've done Two different types of workouts, sticking with something Lyle McDonald wrote years ago.

I do 6-9 reps, 7 to 8 sets for total of 60ish reps for bigger muscles like back and chest. 3 to 4 sets, 10-12 reps for smaller muscles for a total of 40 or so. I've consistently been able to add weight to the bar to see progress is being made.

Saying all that to say mine sounds like the other guys workout. You could do more efficient and shorter workouts to make progress than what you listed.

 

[1tank1]

Depends on your goals.

 

[Btcowboy]

Check out Renaissance Periodization. Some good info on sets and reps.

 

[theotherguy]

As long as you're recovering well enough to not impede you next workout, there is no need to pull back

 

[MustangMan6913]

@Tiredandhot, that's pretty much what I was getting at, could I do less and still make good progress. I'll try to change it up week to week. Thank you all for the advice. I'll check out Renaissance and periodization and see what he has to say too. Again, thanks all of y'all for the great advice

 

[Ferenor]

Less the volume, higher the intensity

 

[Hightower]

I've been reading a lot lately about other people's workouts and how many sets and reps they're doing and I feel like I may be over doing it.
I do about 5-6 different exercises for each muscle group and doing 3-4 sets per exercise with anywhere from 15-25 reps each. I just read a post from someone that said on big muscle groups I.e. chest he only does about 50-60 reps, not sure how many sets or exercises he was doing. I'm not just comparing my routine to just his but other routines I've read don't do anywhere near the amount of volume I do. Should I cut my routine down?

It seems to me that 2-3 exercises per muscle group are enough. Since it will be very difficult to work out qualitatively.

 

[MustangMan6913]

Yeah yesterday I cut my exercise down by a lot and I still got a good one in. Thanks buddy

 

[Deadp007]

I've done Two different types of workouts, sticking with something Lyle McDonald wrote years ago.

I do 6-9 reps, 7 to 8 sets for total of 60ish reps for bigger muscles like back and chest. 3 to 4 sets, 10-12 reps for smaller muscles for a total of 40 or so. I've consistently been able to add weight to the bar to see progress is being made.

Saying all that to say mine sounds like the other guys workout. You could do more efficient and shorter workouts to make progress than what you listed.

This sounds like a great workout that I'd like to give a run at.
Do you ever incorporate any amrap sets? And what is your progression like both in exercise & week to week?

 

[T&H]

This sounds like a great workout that I'd like to give a run at.
Do you ever incorporate any amrap sets? And what is your progression like both in exercise & week to week?

Had to research meaning of amrap, and no I don't. Typically my last rep ends up being around muscle failure, and I have my weights heavy enough to get 6 to 9 on bigger and 10 to 12 for smaller. On chest and back, my 2nd or 3rd set are heavier than the rest, then I drop the weight slightly back down. Progression is made when I can either get more reps at same weight or add 5 to 10lbs and still get same reps.

There really are many different workouts, I'm making progression with mine so far. Might switch it up soon.

 

[Hightower]

Yeah yesterday I cut my exercise down by a lot and I still got a good one in. Thanks buddy

Great, I myself have been wrong before, it was worth reducing the amount of exercise, the effect was much better.

 

[Hightower]

Had to research meaning of amrap, and no I don't. Typically my last rep ends up being around muscle failure, and I have my weights heavy enough to get 6 to 9 on bigger and 10 to 12 for smaller. On chest and back, my 2nd or 3rd set are heavier than the rest, then I drop the weight slightly back down. Progression is made when I can either get more reps at same weight or add 5 to 10lbs and still get same reps.

There really are many different workouts, I'm making progression with mine so far. Might switch it up soon.

I came to such a realization that it is necessary to train in cycles and change the program, so to speak, to surprise the body.

 

[BlackFrog]

One lesson I learned is to not just compare my routine to others, but to also keep in mind how you do your routine. That is, on paper, I always felt the need to do more volume because other people were saying to do X many sets. However, that doesn't keep in mind the quality of those sets- some people count warmups, some people pyramid up the weight so maybe only a couple reps on the last set are actually challenging, etc. For example, when you look at old bodybuilding routines, they'll say "Bench Press 5x5"- and then the write out is 135x5, 225x5, 275x5, 315x5, 365x5. So on paper, it's 5 sets, but only 1 set can really be considered a working set. Only you know how you train and how you recover, so you gotta assess and compare to yourself. If you do a ballbusting set of 20 rep squats where you're struggling to stand and not pass out at the end, that's just one set- compared to 5 sets of, say, leg extensions where they're all done half-assedly? That was the problem I was at. I was constantly beating myself to shit on each set, and then kept being told to do more volume and running myself further into the ground. When I actually stood back and thought about it, dropped a ton of volume, I started recovering and progressing again.

Tl;dr - volume v. intensity, quality v. quantity. Figure out which method works best FOR YOU, with YOUR physiology and psychology, and go all in.

 

[Hightower]

Training at a certain point is very individual in nature and you need to combine approaches and see what works best. But again, it is worth changing the direction of training so that the body does not get used to it.

 

[CaliforniaHGH]

A couple thoughts..

(1) If it ain't broke don't fix it.

(2) You'll never see a guy with massive pecs that can't knock out sets with 405 for reps. A big muscle is a strong muscle.

(3) Fatigue and recovery need to be balanced. Do too many sets too close to failure, and you'll eventually become counter-productive in your efforts. Some guys prefer low volume training to failure, others prefer higher volume training that stays shy of failure. Pick one the works for you, or rotate between them.

 

[Hightower]

Not sure if a strong muscle leads to a lot of hypertrophy. Then powerlifters would be the biggest. Hypertrophy = that's the right specialty.