August 22, 2007
How Many Sets per Body Part to Get Big
It is important for bodybuilders to understand how many sets per body part to get big muscles and avoid wasting precious time in the gym. There is no hard and fast rule when it comes to deciding on how many sets for each muscle group to build big muscles since it depends on the individual bodybuilder, their current level of muscular development and how often they train. Although there are limits to how many sets you should perform to build muscle and avoid the pitfalls of overtraining.
In general when considering how many sets per body part to get big muscles as fast as possible you need to separate the muscle groups individually.
How many sets to build a big chest I would say in the range of 6-9 sets in one workout per week for a beginner bodybuilder. For an intermediate bodybuilder I would say 12 sets of chest exercises in total performing 4 different exercises and doing 3 sets for each exercise. Most advanced bodybuilders would of course already know the answer to this but an advanced bodybuilder would probably perform anywhere from 12-18 total sets and incorporate super sets as they feel the need.
To build the back muscles I would say how many sets to get big would be approximately 9-12 for a beginner bodybuilder and 12-15 sets for an intermediate always doing 3 sets per exercise.
How many sets to get big legs including both quadriceps and hamstrings I would recommend 9 sets of quads and 3 sets of hamstrings for the beginner with 12 sets of quadriceps and 6 sets of hamstrings for the intermediate bodybuilder.
I would perform the same amount of sets in total for the 3 smaller muscle groups of the triceps, biceps and deltoids. How many sets per bodypart to build big muscles I would stick with just 6 sets for the beginner and 9 sets for the intermediate bodybuilder. The arms and shoulder are the most severely overtrained of all body parts since many bodybuilders think that more sets equals bigger muscles but this is just not true. It is by training with intensity, having short breaks between sets, using a combination of heavy weights and low reps in one workout but frequently keep mixing the workouts up by changing to high reps and a medium heavy weight during other workouts.
To build big muscles takes a long time and you obviously need the discipline to avoid missing workouts and stick to a good diet that is high in protein and complex carbohydrates but one more tip is always to change your training routines for faster gains. If you always use the same exercises and stay within the same rep range all the time you will soon hit a plateau and stop growing. If you train with high intensity and to the point of absolute muscle failure during your workouts you will give yourself the best chance to build muscle fast and this way you only need to train each and every body part once per week.