A meta-analysis of 157 randomised trials modelled resistance training dosage as sets times repetitions times exercises times intensity times frequency times duration and found a non-linear dose-response for strength. Increasing dosage beyond the identified plateau did not maintain or increase the rate at which strength developed.

• Lyristakis P, Wundersitz D, Cousins S, Huynh M, Zadow E, Gordon BA. (2026). The Influence of Individual Resistance Training Variables on Muscle Strength: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. View source

Retrospective growth modelling of training records from a large sample undergoing once-weekly single-set training to momentary failure found strength gains trending asymptotically, reaching a practical plateau by roughly one to two years. Substantial gains still accrued, around 30 to 50% in the first year.

• Steele J, Fisher JP, Giessing J, Androulakis-Korakakis P, Wolf M, Kroeske B, Reuters R. (2023). Long-Term Time-Course of Strength Adaptation to Minimal Dose Resistance Training Through Retrospective Longitudinal Growth Modeling. View source

Adults trained three days a week for sixteen weeks and then dropped to either one third or one ninth of that dose for a further thirty-two weeks. Both maintenance doses preserved fibre hypertrophy in young adults but not in older ones, while strength was largely retained even through complete detraining.

• Bickel CS, Cross JM, Bamman MM. (2011). Exercise dosing to retain resistance training adaptations in young and older adults. View source

Untrained men trained for eight weeks and then dropped to either one or two sessions per week with volume load roughly halved. Both reduced-training groups held their half-squat one-rep max and quadriceps cross-sectional area, while the group that stopped entirely lost both.

• Tavares LD, de Souza EO, Ugrinowitsch C, Laurentino GC, Roschel H, Aihara AY, Cardoso FN, Tricoli V. (2017). Effects of different strength training frequencies during reduced training period on strength and muscle cross-sectional area. View source

A multi-experiment study of powerlifting athletes and coaches concluded that a minimum effective dose approach means 3 to 6 working sets of one to five repetitions each week per powerlift. Those sets were spread across 1 to 3 sessions per week using loads above 80% of one-rep max.

• Androulakis-Korakakis P, Michalopoulos N, Fisher JP, Keogh J, Loenneke JP, Helms E, Wolf M, Nuckols G, Steele J. (2021). The Minimum Effective Training Dose Required for 1RM Strength in Powerlifters. View source

A systematic review and meta-analysis of the minimum effective training dose in resistance-trained men found that a single set performed between one and three times per week was enough to produce significant one-rep-max gains. Loads of roughly 70 to 85% of one-rep max taken to a high intensity of effort produced suboptimal but real squat and bench press increases.

• Androulakis-Korakakis P, Fisher JP, Steele J. (2020). The Minimum Effective Training Dose Required to Increase 1RM Strength in Resistance-Trained Men: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. View source

Resistance-trained individuals squatting more than twice bodyweight trained lower body at twelve, eighteen or twenty-four weekly sets for eight weeks. Muscle thickness and fat-free mass did not differ by weekly set number, and the middle dose produced the largest back-squat one-rep-max increase.

• Aube D, Wadhi T, Rauch J, Anand A, Barakat C, Pearson J, Bradshaw J, Zazzo S, Ugrinowitsch C, De Souza EO. (2022). Progressive Resistance Training Volume: Effects on Muscle Thickness, Mass, and Strength Adaptations in Resistance-Trained Individuals View source

Resistance-trained males either held lower-limb weekly set volume constant or added four or six sets per week every two weeks across twelve weeks. Both progression groups gained more back-squat one-rep-max strength than the constant group, and the six-set progression beat the four-set one, while hypertrophy did not differ between groups.

• Enes A, DE Souza EO, Souza-Junior TP. (2024). Effects of Different Weekly Set Progressions on Muscular Adaptations in Trained Males: Is There a Dose-Response Effect? View source

Resistance-trained men performed one, three or five sets per exercise per session for eight weeks. Strength and endurance rose equally in all three groups, while hypertrophy followed a dose-response with increasingly greater gains at higher volumes.

• Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, Grgic J, Delcastillo K, Belliard R, Alto A. (2019). Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men View source

A meta-analysis of weekly set volume and strength gain found a graded dose-response, with medium and high weekly set counts more effective than low ones and low weekly sets producing the smallest pre-to-post difference. For well-trained individuals the authors judged either a medium or a high weekly set dose appropriate.

• Ralston GW, Kilgore L, Wyatt FB, Baker JS. (2017). The Effect of Weekly Set Volume on Strength Gain: A Meta-Analysis. View source

A meta-regression of the resistance-training dose literature found a graded dose-response between weekly set volume and both hypertrophy and strength: the posterior probability that gains increase with volume was 100% for each. Both best-fit models show diminishing returns, considerably more pronounced for strength than for size, and neither identifies a point past which volume stops helping. The dose is also a per-muscle accounting construct rather than a count of hard sets of one lift - sets are classified direct or indirect, and an indirect set is credited 0.5 of a set under the fractional method the authors found best supported.

• Pelland JC, Remmert JF, Robinson ZP, Hinson SR, Zourdos MC (2026). The Resistance Training Dose Response: Meta-Regressions Exploring the Effects of Weekly Volume and Frequency on Muscle Hypertrophy and Strength Gains View source

A systematic review comparing moderate and high hypertrophy volumes classified under 12 weekly sets per muscle as low, 12-20 as moderate and over 20 as high, and found no difference between moderate and high volumes for the quadriceps or the biceps brachii, with an advantage for high volume only in the triceps brachii. It concluded that 12-20 weekly sets per muscle group is the standard recommendation for trained lifters.

• Baz-Valle E, Balsalobre-Fernandez C, Alix-Fages C, Santos-Concejero J (2022). A Systematic Review of The Effects of Different Resistance Training Volumes on Muscle Hypertrophy View source

A meta-regression of 15 studies found a graded dose-response between weekly resistance-training volume and hypertrophy: each additional weekly set per muscle was associated with roughly a 0.37% greater gain in muscle size, and higher weekly set categories produced meaningfully larger gains than lower ones. The relationship is positive but shows diminishing returns rather than being unlimited.

• Schoenfeld BJ, Ogborn D, Krieger JW (2017). Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass: A systematic review and meta-analysis View source