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The evidence behind the builder's notes

The program builder counts weekly sets per muscle group and shows a few notes. The notes are information, not limits: none of them stops you saving or assigning a program. This page says how we count and which research each note rests on.

How we count

  • A planned set is a filled cell of a resistance exercise. Cardio and plyometric exercises and free-text blocks are not counted.
  • Fractional counting (Pelland et al. 2025): a set counts 1 for the exercise's main muscle and ½ for each helper muscle.
  • A set counts once per muscle group, with its highest share there. A lat pulldown, with lats as the main muscle and upper back as a helper, is 1 set of back, not 1.5.
  • One week = one pass through the plan's days. Plans do not say which weekdays they use; if a 4-day plan runs over 8 days, the real numbers are half of these.
  • A training day for a group is a day that gives it at least one full set (counted fractionally).
  • In blocks that are not plain sets (ladders, pyramids, coefficient × X, circuits, EMOM, AMRAP, for time, intervals) the number shows with ≈: each cell counts as a set, but these are not separate hard sets.
  • This number differs from “sets done (main muscle)” on the progress page, which counts only sets the athlete completed, and only for the main muscle.

Major muscle groups

The rules read these ten groups. Other muscles (traps, lower back, forearms, adductors, abductors, full body) show in the table without notes. Biceps and triceps are two groups, because the research measured them separately.

Chest
Chest، Upper chest
Back
Lats، Upper back
Shoulders
Front delts، Side delts، Rear delts
Biceps
Biceps
Triceps
Triceps
Quads
Quads
Hamstrings
Hamstrings
Glutes
Glutes
Calves
Calves
Core
Abs، Obliques

The notes

More than 20 weekly setsCaution · Threshold: 20

Baz-Valle et al. (2022), a systematic review: in trained people, 20+ weekly sets were no better than 12–20 for the quadriceps and biceps, and better only for the triceps. Pelland et al. (2025), a meta-regression: growth rises with volume, with diminishing returns. Neither sets a maximum; this note is only a prompt to check recovery.

Sources for this note: Baz-Valle et al. 2022, Pelland et al. 2025

Fewer than 10 weekly setsNote · Threshold: 10

The ACSM 2026 position stand (Phillips et al.) advises a “higher weekly volume (~10 sets per muscle group)” for hypertrophy.

In a client's program it shows only when the client's intake goal is muscle gain; in templates it shows as general information.

Sources for this note: ACSM 2026

Only one day a weekNote · Threshold: 2

ACSM 2026 advises training all major muscle groups “at least twice a week”. Pelland et al. (2025) found clear effects of frequency on strength and negligible ones on muscle size.

Sources for this note: ACSM 2026, Pelland et al. 2025

A major muscle group not trainedNote

ACSM 2026 advises training all major muscle groups, at least twice a week.

Sources for this note: ACSM 2026

What we do not claim

  • No credible source sets a hard maximum for weekly volume; 20 sets is not a cap, only the point above which most muscles showed no clear extra growth.
  • We show no number for volume per session; we found no source strong enough to cite one.
  • Research measures volume in hard sets per muscle per week, not in reps.
  • The notes do not replace a coach's judgement and never block anything. Each can be dismissed for that plan.

Sources

  1. Phillips SM et al. Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults: An Overview of Reviews. Med Sci Sports Exerc 58(4), 2026 (ACSM position stand). acsm.org
  2. Pelland JC, Remmert JF, Robinson ZP, Hinson SR, Zourdos MC. The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains. Sports Med 2025. link.springer.com
  3. Baz-Valle E, Balsalobre-Fernández C, Alix-Fages C, Santos-Concejero J. A Systematic Review of the Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy. J Hum Kinet 81, 2022. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
  4. Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Sports Sci 2017. (Background)

Each number on this page was checked against its source on October 1, 2026.

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