Strength gains seem to slow down after a year of training; thus, increasing sets may provide a greater stimulus to induce strength gains to make continued gains in strength and muscle mass.
A NEW STUDY REVEALS HOW MUSCLE STRENGTH PLATEAU [ MORE IMPORTANTLY, HOW TO BREAK A PLATEAU] SUMMARY
- Muscle strength plateau often occur with long term training.
- After one year of training, strength gains slow down substantially.
- Lifters may need to adjust the volume by adding more sets to increase neuromuscular adaptations to strength training.
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN VOLUME AND MUSCLE GROWTH
Untrained lifters can substantially increase strength and muscle mass gains with as little as one set per week. For intermediate and advanced lifters, you will need more volume (i.e., sets, reps, and weight) than a beginner. A lifter will gradually need to increase the number of sets, reps, weight, etc., in their training cycle to keep making gains in muscle growth. Increased volume is especially important for advanced lifters.
The body becomes remarkably adaptive to resistance exercise; a higher exercise stimulus threshold will be needed for muscle growth. Multiple sets increase muscle protein synthesis and anabolic signaling pathways in muscle. Studies have found a positive correlation between volume (i.e., sets) and muscle protein synthesis.(1, 2) Similar to protein synthesis; anabolic signaling pathways are increased after multiple sets compared to single sets.(3)
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SETS AND MUSCLE GROWTH
Baseline levels of muscle mass predicted beneficial responses to higher volume training.[7] In this study, subjects were assigned to low (1 set) and moderate volume (3 sets) over a 12-week training study. Moderate volume led to larger increases in muscle growth, strength, and type II fiber-type transitions. These changes coincided with greater activation of anabolic signaling pathways controlling muscle growth and greater induction of ribosome synthesis. This suggests that trained athletes need a greater set/rep stimulus than novice lifters.
Multiple sets are superior to a single set for strength gains, muscle endurance, and arm growth.(4) One of the most compelling arguments for multiple sets for enhancing muscle growth is a meta-analysis by James Krieger, in which he found that muscle growth was the greatest in those that did 2-3 sets versus 1 set. He also found that the 4-6 sets had a slightly better increase in muscle growth than the 2-3 sets.
The meta-analysis showed that doing more sets leads to more muscle growth than a single set.(5) The same author later conducted another meta-analysis and reported a linear relationship between sets and muscle growth. Less than 5 sets per week resulted in the least muscle growth (5.4%), whereas more sets, 5-9 sets (6.6%), and 10+ sets (9.8%) resulted in greater increases in lean muscle mass.(6)
WHAT IS THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF SETS YOU CAN PERFORM AND STILL INCREASE STRENGTH?
Mike Mentzer was a proponent of performing one set to failure and advocated of training system called Heavy Duty training. A recent study examined the strength changes in subjects training with one set of exercises to failure over ~6.8 years. The study analyzed the gym data from a personal training center in which all subjects were required to log their information on an IPAD next to each station. Participant training records were available to examine from 2009 through 2017. Training data was available from 14,690 participants with records ranging up to 352 weeks (~6.8 years) in length. The sample was 60% female, and both male and female participants were similarly aged 47±12 years.
SUPER SLOW TRAINING MUSCLE STRENGTH PLATEAU
Trainees typically performed 6 exercises, including chest press, pulldown, leg press, abdominal flexion, back extension, and either hip adduction or abduction (alternated each session). The subjects used a SuperSlow style of training in which they performed repetitions with a duration of 10 seconds concentric and 10 seconds eccentric. Thus, time under load was intended to fall within a range of ~80-120 seconds. The weight was increased when the subjects performed the desired number of repetitions, and a personal trainer monitored all sessions.
When all the data was analyzed, they found that despite large increases in strength gains after the first year, a plateau occurred, with gains slowing down after that.(7) The study is unique because you can rarely track people for over seven years and analyze their strength gains. Why strength gains slow down after a year is a mystery.
A two-year training study found an ~80% increase in strength gains in the first year, followed by a plateau in strength in the second year. (8) Olympic weightlifters have low relative strength gains (2.8%) over 2 years in elite weightlifters with at least 7 years prior experience.(9) Further, negative correlations between baseline strength and gains in strength over a 2-year period in 20 professional rugby union players; this they interpreted as evidence of a ceiling or plateau effect (i.e., those who were stronger were assumed to be more trained and have less capacity to gain).(10)
Strength gains seem to slow down after a year of training; thus, increasing sets may provide a greater stimulus to induce strength gains to make continued gains in strength and muscle mass.
MUSCLE STRENGTH PLATEAU KEY POINTS
- After one year of training, strength gains slow down substantially.
- Lifters may need to adjust the volume by adding more sets to increase neuromuscular adaptations to strength training.
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