The Primary Driver Of Muscle Growth (Hint: It's NOT Volume)

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The Primary Driver Of Muscle Growth (It's NOT Training Volume)

"Workout volume is the primary driver of muscle growth."

You might have heard this common piece of bodybuilding advice floating around online.

Reality?

Training volume in and of itself is NOT a stimulus for muscle hypertrophy.

You can perform as many weekly sets as you want for a given muscle group as part of your bodybuilding workout, but if the intensity level of those sets isn't high enough, your body will still have no incentive to build muscle in response.

Muscle growth is an adaptive reaction to stress, and the primary driver that underlines the entire muscle building process is actually training intensity.

It's when you perform a physical task that is right up close to or beyond the existing capacity of the muscle. That is what triggers the body to adapt and to increase the size and strength of that muscle.

For that reason, the AMOUNT of work you perform (workout volume) cannot be considered as the primary driver.

Both intensity and volume matter in the overall bodybuilding picture and are two sides of the same coin, but when it comes to the issue of volume vs. intensity, intensity is the ultimate baseline factor.

In fact, even a single set per week performed with sufficient intensity can produce consistent muscle gains over time. It wouldn't be optimal, but it would still produce results if done correctly.

On the other hand, you can perform as much training volume as you want, but in the absence of sufficient training intensity, you won't see any appreciable muscle building results.

As a general workout intensity guideline, I recommend performing the bulk of your sets about 1-2 reps short of muscular failure, 3 at the very least. (Training to failure on every set can be done if the volume is lowered and the trainee is experienced enough, but this won't be ideal for most)

For example, if you were doing a set of 10 reps and that 10th rep represented an all-out grinder where the bar was just barely moving along, you'd want to stop at the 8th or 9th rep, and the 7th rep as a minimum.

How many sets per week should you perform at this intensity level to gain muscle optimally?

There is always individual variation at play, but a good reliable training volume guideline to go by is 8-15 weekly sets for large muscle groups and 4-8 sets for small muscle groups.

Don't fall for the idea that more weekly volume is automatically better. More training volume does produce more muscle growth, but only up to a certain point, and going too far will actually be counterproductive and increase your chances for injury.

What's the bottom line on volume vs. intensity?

They're both important factors in the bodybuilding equation, but intensity is still the primary driver when it all comes down to it and is the first thing you should examine when determining if your workouts are being executed properly.

In other words, quality first and then quantity.