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New Research: Multiple or Single Sets?
by Joy DuMay

If your goal is to get strong through weight training, how many sets per exercise do you need to get the optimal benefit from your workout? There has been controversy for years as to what type of training program most effectively increases maximum strength and its carryover to speed-strength activities like jumping and sprinting. One side of the fence says that one set is enough for strength gains, and the other insists on three sets. Who is right?

For the general public - meaning you and me, the people who want to get the best rewards for our efforts - a new research article may give us some answers. The Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina has published "Short-Term Performance Effects of Weight Training With Multiple Sets Not to Failure vs. a Single Set to Failure in Women". Specifically, the researchers tested women to see if they got better strength results through performing 3 sets of 10 repetitions versus 1 set of 8 to 12 repetitions for each exercise in each workout.

The exercises performed were as follows: Monday and Friday, squats, ¼ squats, bench press, standing press, and crunches, and on Wednesday, mid/thigh pull, shoulder shrugs, straight-legged dead lift, upright row and crunches. There were 9 women in the single set group, and 8 in the multiple-set protocol. All were previously untrained, healthy college-age women.

The results? The authors state that "short-term weight training using multiple-set-variation (MSV) produced more favorable improvements in performance compared to single sets (SS) in initially untrained women…. Part of the greater improvement in the performance variables in the MSV compared to the SS is likely due to several levels and types of variation. These differences include variation in training volume and intensity, as well as differences in speed of movement".

This makes sense, right? If you perform more sets for each exercise, you will be able to vary the movement intensity and speed in each set, plus you will lift more total weight than if you have just performed one set. You'll get greater benefits from more sets.

But wait, there's more… the study used previously untrained subjects, and this factor lead to this statement by the authors: "It has been known for some time that almost any reasonable resistance-training program can result in significant strength gains in untrained men and women. Initial strength gains over the first 3-6 months are primarily due to neural alterations, with later gains being more related to hypertropic mechanisms".

In other words, when you first start a weight training program, you will see great gains in strength due to new neurological connections being made. Your coordination will improve, and your muscle neurons will fire at the right time to help you lift that weight. After 3-6 months, your increase in muscle size (hypertrophy) serves to increase your strength. That's when you start seeing a difference in your body shape.

For those of you just starting out, the authors suggest that "single-set protocols offer a sufficient stimulus to improve maximum strength and other performance measures, regardless of the trained state or time frame. However, the present study, using untrained women, as well as previous observations using untrained men, indicates that multiple-set protocols can produce superior results compared with single-set protocols in a variety of performance measures".

Practically speaking, if you're new to weight training, one set per exercise will help you get stronger. If you're short on time, don't let that stop you. Learn how to lift the right way, and progress at your own speed. Try one set of each exercise in each workout for the first month or two, and then add on sets and variations as you get more confident.

Remember, the journey of a thousand miles (and the journey to your better body) begins with a single step (and maybe a single set!). Get some advice through a personal trainer, videotapes and books, to get the best workout for your needs. The important thing is to get your body moving!

Please see the complete research article in the August, 2000 Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, published by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.