Research
Mixed
Maintaining or increasing resistance training volume (≥10 weekly sets per muscle group) during caloric restriction spares lean mass in resistance-trained athletes, particularly females, whereas reducing volume leads to greater lean mass loss.
If you are cutting weight, do not drop your training volume. Aim for at least 10 sets per muscle group per week. If you can, try to increase volume over time. This is especially important for female athletes to prevent muscle loss.
ModerateSupportsMEDIUM confidence
Studies involving high RT volume programs (≥ 10 weekly sets per muscle group) revealed low-to-no (mostly female) lean mass loss. Additionally, studies increasing RT volume during CR over time appeared to demonstrate no-to-low lean mass loss when compared to studies reducing RT volume.
Why this rating
The review includes 15 studies, but data on RT variables were incomplete in most, leading to insufficient evidence for a definitive conclusion.
Source
Lean mass sparing in resistance-trained athletes during caloric restriction: the role of resistance training volume
Christian Roth et al. · European Journal of Applied Physiology · 2022
DOI 10.1007/s00421-022-04896-5
systematic_review · n=129Cited 12×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
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