K
Kirk
Guest
Weight training: one set or three?
Does performing multiple sets when strength training yield better
results? Or can a shorter, one-set regimen suffice?
Q1: I have heard that performing
one set of 8 to 12 repetitions during
weightlifting is as good as three
sets. Is that true?
Q2: What is the ideal
combination of reps and sets when
strength training?
A: Adhering to the “no pain-no
gain” adage, personal trainers have
long advised people to perform three
sets — 8 to 12 repetitions each — of
weightlifting exercises. But there is
mounting evidence to suggest that
most people, and not only beginners,
may get just as much benefit from a
one-set training regimen — and save
time, too.
One such study, published
earlier this year in Medicine &
Science in Sports & Exercise, a
journal of the American College of
Sports Medicine, looked at 42 people
ages 20 to 50 who had been performing
one set of a nine-exercise circuit
three times a week for at least one
year. For the study, half of the
participants were asked to increase
their sets from one to three for each
exercise, which included leg curls,
chest presses and biceps curls.
When results were analyzed 13
weeks later, both groups saw similar
improvements in their muscle
strength, endurance and body
composition.
DIMINISHING RETURNS?
“We’ve been taught to do more
and more for so long. But a one-set
training regimen is a valid,
effective method for weight training
for most people,” said study author
Chris Hass, an exercise science
researcher at the University of
Florida in Gainesville.
Source:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/455698.asp#BODY
Does performing multiple sets when strength training yield better
results? Or can a shorter, one-set regimen suffice?
Q1: I have heard that performing
one set of 8 to 12 repetitions during
weightlifting is as good as three
sets. Is that true?
Q2: What is the ideal
combination of reps and sets when
strength training?
A: Adhering to the “no pain-no
gain” adage, personal trainers have
long advised people to perform three
sets — 8 to 12 repetitions each — of
weightlifting exercises. But there is
mounting evidence to suggest that
most people, and not only beginners,
may get just as much benefit from a
one-set training regimen — and save
time, too.
One such study, published
earlier this year in Medicine &
Science in Sports & Exercise, a
journal of the American College of
Sports Medicine, looked at 42 people
ages 20 to 50 who had been performing
one set of a nine-exercise circuit
three times a week for at least one
year. For the study, half of the
participants were asked to increase
their sets from one to three for each
exercise, which included leg curls,
chest presses and biceps curls.
When results were analyzed 13
weeks later, both groups saw similar
improvements in their muscle
strength, endurance and body
composition.
DIMINISHING RETURNS?
“We’ve been taught to do more
and more for so long. But a one-set
training regimen is a valid,
effective method for weight training
for most people,” said study author
Chris Hass, an exercise science
researcher at the University of
Florida in Gainesville.
Source:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/455698.asp#BODY
