So, how many exercises should you do for each muscle group? There is no single number that works for everyone. It depends on many things, like how long you’ve been lifting, how often you train the muscle, and how much total work you do. But generally, people use anywhere from 1 to 5 or maybe 6 exercises for a muscle group in one workout session. The real key is not just the number of exercises. It’s about the total amount of work you do for that muscle, known as workout volume per muscle group, over a week.
Think of it like building something. You can use a few big tools or many smaller ones. Both can get the job done, but the best way depends on the job and who is doing it. Lifting weights is similar.
Image Source: builtwithscience.com
Grasping Training Volume
Let’s talk about workout volume per muscle group. This is super important. Volume is simply how much work you do. A common way to measure volume is by counting the number of hard sets you do for a muscle group in a week.
Why is volume so important? Because doing enough work is what tells your muscles to grow bigger and stronger. If you do too little work, nothing happens. If you do too much, your body can’t recover, and you won’t get better either.
So, instead of just asking “how many exercises?”, a better question is “how much volume do I need, and how can I get that volume with the right exercises?”
The Role of Optimal Sets and Reps Per Muscle
Workout volume is often counted by the number of sets you do that are hard enough to cause change. For muscle growth, which we call hypertrophy, research shows that a good range for sets per muscle group per week is often between 10 and 20 sets.
Within each set, you usually do reps. Reps are the number of times you lift the weight in one set. For muscle growth, doing between 6 and 15 reps per set works well for most people. Some people do a bit less, some do a bit more, but that’s a common range.
So, you need a certain number of hard sets per week for a muscle group (like 10-20). You do these sets using exercises.
Let’s say you need 15 sets for your chest in a week.
* You could do 3 exercises of 5 sets each in one workout. (3 exercises)
* You could do 5 exercises of 3 sets each in one workout. (5 exercises)
* You could do 2 exercises of 4 sets and 1 exercise of 7 sets. (3 exercises)
* You could train chest twice a week, doing 3 exercises of 2-3 sets each time. (3 exercises total, but spread out)
See how the number of exercises can change even if the total sets (volume) stays similar? This shows why just counting exercises isn’t the whole story.
Training Frequency for Muscle Growth
How often you train a muscle group each week is called training frequency. This makes a big difference in how many exercises you do in one workout.
- Training a muscle group once a week: If you train a muscle group only one day a week, you need to get all your weekly sets done in that one session. If you need 15 sets for chest, you might do 4-5 exercises of 3-4 sets each in that single workout. This means more exercises per session.
- Training a muscle group two or three times a week: If you train a muscle group more often, you split the total weekly sets. If you train chest twice a week and need 15 sets total, you might do 7-8 sets in each workout. This could be just 2-3 exercises of 3-4 sets each time. This means fewer exercises per session, but spread out over the week.
Training a muscle group more often (2-3 times per week) is generally seen as very good for muscle growth. It lets you spread out the volume. This can help you do higher quality sets because you’re not doing too much in one go. It might also lead to better recovery and more frequent signals for the muscle to grow.
So, if you train a muscle twice a week, you will likely do fewer exercises for that muscle in each workout compared to training it only once a week. But you will do exercises for that muscle on more days.
Exercises for Hypertrophy: What Kind Matters?
The type of exercise matters, not just the number. For muscle growth (hypertrophy), you want exercises that work the muscle hard and let you add weight or reps over time.
There are two main types of exercises:
- Compound Exercises: These use several joints and work multiple muscle groups at once. Examples include squats (legs, glutes), bench press (chest, shoulders, triceps), deadlifts (back, legs, many others), overhead press (shoulders, triceps). These are great for building overall strength and muscle mass efficiently. They allow you to lift heavier weights.
- Isolation Exercises: These use mainly one joint and focus on working just one muscle group. Examples include bicep curls (biceps), triceps extensions (triceps), lateral raises (side shoulders), leg extensions (quads), leg curls (hamstrings). These are good for targeting a specific muscle more directly, adding extra volume, or working on a muscle that might be lagging.
You usually want a mix of both. Compound lifts build the main strength and mass. Isolation lifts help add more volume or shape to specific muscles.
How many of each? It depends.
* You might start a workout with 1-2 heavy compound lifts.
* Then you might add 1-3 isolation exercises to hit the muscle from different angles or add more volume after the heavy lifting is done.
So, the number of exercises isn’t just a count; it’s about choosing the right tools for the job – using big lifts and smaller lifts to work the muscle effectively.
Beginner vs. Advanced Lifter Exercise Volume
How many exercises, and more importantly, how much volume, you need changes as you get more experienced.
Beginner Workout Volume
If you are just starting out, your body is very sensitive to training. You don’t need a lot of work to see results. In fact, doing too much too soon can lead to injury or burnout.
- Volume: Beginners usually need less weekly volume. Maybe 10-12 hard sets per muscle group per week is enough to start seeing growth.
- Exercises per workout: With lower volume needs and often training muscles more frequently (like a full-body routine 3 times a week), beginners usually do fewer exercises per muscle group in a single session. Maybe 1-3 exercises per muscle group is plenty in one workout.
- Example Full Body Workout: Squats (legs), Bench Press (chest/shoulders/triceps), Rows (back/biceps), Overhead Press (shoulders/triceps). This hits many muscles with just 4 exercises total, maybe 2-3 sets each. The “per muscle group” count here might be 1-2 effective exercises hitting chest, back, legs directly.
- Focus: For beginners, learning good form on a few basic compound exercises is more important than doing lots of different exercises. Quality over quantity is key here.
Advanced Lifter Exercise Volume
Someone who has been training hard for years needs more work to keep growing. Their body is used to the stress.
- Volume: Advanced lifters often need higher weekly volume, maybe 15-25 sets per muscle group per week, sometimes even more depending on the muscle and the person.
- Exercises per workout: To get this higher volume, they might need more sets per exercise or more exercises per workout. If they train a muscle twice a week, they might do 8-12 sets in each session. This could mean 3-5 exercises per muscle group in that one workout. If they train it only once a week (less common for advanced lifters focused on hypertrophy), they might do 5-6+ exercises for that muscle group in a single session.
- Variety: Advanced lifters might use a wider variety of exercises to work the muscle from different angles or to add more volume without putting too much stress on joints from just heavy compound lifts.
So, advanced lifter exercise volume is generally higher than beginner workout volume. They do more sets total, which often means doing more exercises or more sets of each exercise.
How Many Sets Per Muscle Group: Finding Your Range
As we discussed, the total number of sets per muscle group per week is a core idea. But how do you know your right range?
This brings us to the concepts of Minimum Effective Volume (MEV) and Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV).
- Minimum Effective Volume (MEV): This is the least amount of work you need to do for a muscle group to make it grow. Any less than this, and you won’t see progress. For many, this might be around 8-12 sets per muscle group per week. Beginners might find their MEV is lower.
- Maximum Recoverable Volume (MRV): This is the most amount of work your body can handle for a muscle group and still be able to recover, adapt, and grow stronger or bigger by your next workout for that muscle. If you do more than your MRV, you might feel overly sore, weak, or even get injured. This volume is too much for your body to handle well. For many, this might be around 18-25 sets per muscle group per week, but it varies greatly.
Your goal is usually to train somewhere between your MEV and MRV. You want enough work to cause change (above MEV), but not so much that you can’t recover (below MRV).
How does this relate to the number of exercises?
* If your MEV is 10 sets per week for chest, you could get that done with maybe 2 exercises (e.g., bench press 5 sets, flyes 5 sets).
* If your MRV is 20 sets per week for chest, you might need 4-5 exercises (e.g., bench press 4 sets, incline dumbbell press 4 sets, dips 4 sets, cable flyes 4 sets, machine press 4 sets).
So, the number of exercises often helps you hit your needed volume target within that MEV to MRV range. If you need more volume (closer to MRV), you’ll likely do more sets. Doing more sets might mean adding more exercises, especially after you’ve done heavy sets on your main lifts.
Finding your personal MEV and MRV takes time and trying different things. Start with a lower volume (like 10-12 sets per muscle group per week) using a few exercises. See if you make progress. If you stop making progress, slowly add more sets or exercises. See how your body handles it. If you feel rundown, overly sore, or weak, you might be close to or over your MRV.
Workout Split Volume and Exercise Count
The way you split your workouts over the week (your workout split) also affects how many exercises you do per muscle group in a single session.
Here are some common workout splits and how they might affect exercise numbers:
-
Full Body (3 days/week): You train all major muscle groups in each workout, 3 times a week.
- Volume Distribution: Weekly volume for a muscle (like 15 sets) is split over 3 sessions (e.g., 5 sets per session).
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: Low. You might do only 1-2 exercises per muscle group in each session (e.g., Squats for legs, Bench Press for chest, Rows for back). You cover the whole body with a few exercises total (4-6 per workout).
- Total Exercises per muscle group per week: Similar to other splits, but spread out. You might do 3-6 different exercises for a muscle over the week, but only 1-2 in any single workout for that muscle.
-
Upper/Lower Split (4 days/week): You train upper body one day, lower body the next, rest, then repeat. You train each muscle group twice a week.
- Volume Distribution: Weekly volume (15 sets) is split over 2 sessions (e.g., 7-8 sets per session).
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: Moderate. You might do 2-4 exercises per muscle group in each session. For example, on an upper day, you might do Bench Press (compound), Incline Dumbbell Press (compound/isolation), and Cable Flyes (isolation) for chest (3 exercises).
- Total Exercises per muscle group per week: Similar to other splits, spread over two workouts.
-
Push/Pull/Legs (PPL) (6 days/week): You train “push” muscles (chest, shoulders, triceps), “pull” muscles (back, biceps), and legs. You often repeat this cycle twice a week, hitting each muscle group twice.
- Volume Distribution: Weekly volume (15 sets) split over 2 sessions (e.g., 7-8 sets per session).
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: Moderate. Similar to Upper/Lower, you might do 2-4 exercises per muscle group in each session. Push day might have 3-4 chest exercises, 2-3 shoulder exercises, 1-2 triceps exercises.
- Total Exercises per muscle group per week: Similar, spread over two workouts.
-
Body Part Split (Bro Split) (5-6 days/week): You train each muscle group on its own day once a week (e.g., Monday Chest, Tuesday Back, Wednesday Legs, etc.).
- Volume Distribution: All weekly volume (15 sets or more) is done in one session for that muscle.
- Exercises per muscle group per workout: High. To get 15-20+ sets in one session, you might need 4-6 or even more exercises for that muscle group in that single workout. For a chest day, you might do Bench Press, Incline Press, Decline Press, Dumbbell Flyes, Cable Crossovers, Machine Press.
- Total Exercises per muscle group per week: All done in one go.
This shows that workout split volume directly affects how many exercises you do on a given day for a muscle. Splits with higher frequency per muscle group (Full Body, Upper/Lower, PPL) tend to use fewer exercises per session for that muscle. Splits with lower frequency per muscle group (Body Part Split) tend to use more exercises per session for that muscle.
Remember, the total weekly volume for a muscle group is the main driver for growth, assuming you are training hard and recovering. The number of exercises per session is just one way to organize that volume.
Quality Over Quantity of Exercises
It’s easy to think that more exercises are always better. But this isn’t true. Doing 6 exercises poorly with bad form is not as good as doing 3 exercises really well with good form and effort.
Each exercise should serve a purpose. Maybe one compound lift is for heavy strength. Another compound or isolation lift is for slightly higher reps to focus on the muscle pump. An isolation exercise hits a specific part of the muscle or adds extra volume safely.
Doing too many exercises can:
* Make your workouts too long.
* Make you tired, so your later exercises aren’t done with good effort.
* Increase the risk of injury if you push too hard when fatigued.
* Lead to “junk volume” – sets that don’t really add much benefit because you’re too tired.
Focus on choosing effective exercises. These are exercises where you can feel the target muscle working well and where you can safely progress (lift more weight or do more reps) over time.
For many muscle groups, 2-4 well-chosen exercises per workout session is often enough to get in the needed volume for that session, especially if you train the muscle more than once a week. If you train it only once, you might need 4-6+ exercises for bigger muscles like back or legs.
Sample Exercise Counts Based on Experience and Split
Here are some very general ideas about how many exercises per muscle group you might do in a single workout session. Remember, this varies greatly based on total weekly volume needs, workout split, and exercise choice.
| Muscle Group | Beginner (e.g., Full Body 3x/week) | Intermediate (e.g., Upper/Lower or PPL 2x/week) | Advanced (e.g., PPL or Body Part 1-2x/week) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chest | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-5 |
| Back | 1-2 | 2-4 | 4-6 |
| Legs (Quads) | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-5 |
| Legs (Hams) | 1 | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Shoulders | 1-2 | 2-3 | 3-4 |
| Biceps | 1 | 1-2 | 2-3 |
| Triceps | 1 | 1-2 | 2-3 |
Note: These are just estimates per workout session for the target muscle group. For example, a bench press counts towards chest, shoulders, and triceps volume, but you’d primarily list it as a chest exercise in a split focused on chest. The total number of exercises in a workout might be 4-6 for full body, 6-10 for upper/lower or PPL, and potentially 10-15+ for a body part split focused on large muscles.
The key takeaway here is that as your volume needs (sets per week) increase with experience, you will likely need to do more sets per session. This often means using more exercises in that session, or doing more sets of the exercises you already do.
Minimum Effective Volume and Maximum Recoverable Volume in Practice
Finding your MEV and MRV helps guide your training.
- Start near MEV: If you are new to a workout or a muscle group, start with fewer sets (near your estimated MEV, maybe 10-12 sets per week). This might mean 2-3 exercises per muscle group per workout if you train it twice a week.
- Build up volume: As you make progress and your growth slows down, slowly add more sets or exercises. This increases your volume. You are looking for the amount of volume that gives you good results without making you feel overly tired or unable to recover.
- Listen to your body: If you start feeling run down, performance drops, or you are always super sore, you might be pushing your MRV. It’s time to back off the volume slightly for a week or two (this is often called a deload).
- Periodization: Many lifters cycle their training volume. They might have phases where they do higher volume (closer to MRV) to push for growth, followed by phases of lower volume (closer to MEV) to recover and avoid burnout. The number of exercises might change in these different phases.
The number of exercises you do is a tool to manage your volume (sets and reps) within your body’s ability to recover (MRV). You want enough exercises and sets to be above your MEV, but not so many that you go over your MRV.
How Many Exercises Are Too Many?
There isn’t a strict rule, but signs you might be doing too many exercises for a muscle group include:
- Workout length: Sessions are taking way too long (e.g., much over 60-90 minutes of actual lifting time for most people, though this varies).
- Fatigue: You feel completely drained halfway through the exercises for a muscle group. Your performance drops sharply.
- Lack of focus: You are just going through the motions on later exercises.
- Poor recovery: You are constantly sore or feel weak in your next workout for that muscle, even after a few days rest.
- Joint pain: Doing too many exercises, especially isolation ones or variations you don’t need, can add stress to joints without much added muscle benefit.
If you notice these signs, it’s likely better to reduce the number of exercises and focus on doing fewer sets and exercises with higher quality and effort. Remember, workout volume per muscle group is the goal, but effective volume matters most. Junk volume from too many exercises isn’t helpful.
Wrapping It Up: Focus on Volume, Not Just Count
To wrap up, the answer to “how many exercises per muscle group” is flexible. It’s not a fixed number.
Instead of counting exercises, focus on:
- Total Weekly Volume: How many hard sets are you doing for the muscle group each week? Aim for a target based on your experience (e.g., 10-12 sets for beginners, 15-25+ for advanced). This is the primary driver for muscle growth (hypertrophy).
- Training Frequency: How many times per week are you hitting the muscle? Splitting volume across 2-3 sessions is often effective and means fewer exercises per session.
- Exercise Selection: Choose effective exercises (a mix of compounds and isolations) where you can feel the muscle working and safely progress.
- Listen to Your Body: Start with a reasonable amount of volume (near MEV) and slowly increase it if needed, paying attention to recovery and progress. Don’t exceed your MRV.
- Quality: Focus on doing your exercises with good form and effort, rather than just adding more exercises for the sake of it.
The number of exercises per muscle group in a single workout will naturally fall into place based on your workout split and the total volume (sets) you need to do in that session to reach your weekly target. For most people aiming for hypertrophy and training a muscle 2x/week, 2-4 exercises per muscle group per session is a common and effective range.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is doing just one exercise per muscle group enough?
A: For beginners, one compound exercise per muscle group per workout (like squats for legs, bench press for chest, rows for back) might be enough to get in enough sets for beginner workout volume, especially if training the muscle multiple times a week. For more experienced lifters needing higher volume, one exercise is usually not enough to get in all the needed sets or hit the muscle from different angles effectively for advanced lifter exercise volume.
Q: Should I do different exercises each workout for the same muscle?
A: You can, but it’s often better to stick with the same effective exercises for a period (like 4-8 weeks) so you can focus on getting stronger or doing more reps on those specific lifts. This helps you track progress. Swapping one exercise occasionally is fine, but totally changing everything each time makes it hard to measure if you’re improving.
Q: How many sets per muscle group should I do per week?
A: For muscle growth, a common guideline for optimal sets and reps per muscle is 10-20 hard sets per muscle group per week. Beginners often do well with the lower end (10-12), while advanced lifters may need more (15-25+). Find your range between your minimum effective volume (MEV) and maximum recoverable volume (MRV).
Q: Does the size of the muscle group matter for exercise count?
A: Yes, often. Larger muscle groups like legs and back can handle and may require more exercises and sets than smaller muscle groups like biceps or triceps to reach sufficient workout volume per muscle group.
Q: Can I do all my exercises for one muscle group in one day?
A: Yes, this is how a body part split works. However, training frequency for muscle growth by hitting the muscle 2-3 times per week with less volume each time (and fewer exercises per session) is often considered more effective for growth and recovery by many experts. It helps spread out the workout split volume.
Q: What is junk volume?
A: Junk volume refers to sets and exercises that don’t contribute effectively to muscle growth or strength because you are too fatigued to perform them with sufficient intensity or good form. Doing too many exercises can lead to junk volume.
Q: How do I know if I am doing too much volume?
A: Signs include feeling very tired all the time, constantly being overly sore, seeing performance decrease instead of improve, trouble sleeping, or feeling rundown. These might mean you are exceeding your maximum recoverable volume (MRV).