Research

Mixed

Maintaining previous resistance training volume yields superior maximum strength gains compared to increasing volume by 30% or 60% in trained males, while muscle hypertrophy remains equivalent across all volume levels.

If you are a trained lifter, do not automatically increase your weekly set count when you feel stuck. This study suggests that simply maintaining your current effective volume may yield better maximum strength gains than increasing it by 30-60%. However, if your goal is strength endurance (reps at submaximal loads), a moderate 30% volume increase may be beneficial. Monitor your recovery and prioritize technique over arbitrary volume increases.

ModerateQualifiesMEDIUM confidence
Our findings suggest that trained males can experience significant muscle growth and strength adaptations while maintaining their previous weekly set number above a certain weekly set volume threshold... Interestingly, CON group resulted in the greatest overall 1RM strength, whereas G30 showed the highest increase in repetitions to failure, with no differences between groups in muscle mass size.
Andrew Barsuhn et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2024

Why this rating

Randomized controlled trial with trained subjects, but high dropout rate (~45%) and small final sample size (n=29) reduce statistical power for some comparisons.

Source

Training volume increases or maintenance based on previous volume: the effects on muscular adaptations in trained males

Andrew Barsuhn et al. · Journal of Applied Physiology · 2024

DOI 10.1152/japplphysiol.00476.2024

rct · n=55Cited 5×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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