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# Can Fewer Sets Build More Muscle?
- URL: https://theseguysknow.io/low-volume-vs-high-volume-training/
- Published: 2026-10-20T06:47:48.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T11:21:08.000Z
- Description: An incline press and a pec deck can be enough for chest. We look at what shorter workouts get right, where the claims go too far and when adding sets makes sense.
- Author: Kendrick Hale
- Tags: Health & Fitness, #use

An incline press and a pec deck can be a perfectly good chest workout, even if the guy doing five exercises thinks you've taken the afternoon off. Before adding another movement, find out how much you're getting out of the first two, because an impressive exercise list can hide some very comfortable training.

## Quick Answer

Two well-chosen exercises can build muscle when you do enough challenging work across the week. If your sets are consistently easy, we'd improve those before adding more. Keep a little in reserve when appropriate; going to failure on every set isn't required.

## Adding Exercises Is the Easy Part

You can keep adding to a programme without getting much better at anything in it. Another press goes in, then another fly, and eventually chest day becomes a considerable commitment even though the original exercises haven't changed much. There's something reassuring about having all that work written down. You can count the sets and feel you've covered everything, whereas judging whether a set was demanding takes a bit more honesty. Suppose the programme says ten reps, you stop at ten, and you could easily have done sixteen. You followed the instructions, but the number didn't tell you how hard to work.

Adding another exercise gives you more to do without necessarily addressing that problem. This is the part of the low-volume argument we agree with: before building a fancy-pants programme around several variations of the same movement, learn to get something worthwhile out of the ones you've chosen.

For chest, an incline press and a pec deck give you two exercises you can practise and progress. For quads, a leg press and a leg extension can serve the same purpose. Keep the selection manageable enough that you know what you're trying to improve when you sit down, rather than choosing another attachment because you vaguely remember someone recommending it.

## Find Out How Many Reps You're Leaving Behind

A set becoming unpleasant and a muscle being unable to complete another rep are different moments. When the weight starts moving slowly, you may still have several controlled repetitions available, even though you'd quite like to put it down. That's what repetitions in reserve, or RIR, describes. Finishing at 2 RIR means you estimate that two more good reps were possible. It's a useful way to discuss effort without confusing a heavier weight with a harder set: you can take a lighter weight close to failure or stop well short with something heavy.

A [2024 analysis by Robinson and colleagues](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-024-02069-2?ref=theseguysknow.io) found that muscle growth tended to improve as sets finished closer to failure. That gives substance to the argument for fewer, more demanding sets, although the analysis used estimated RIR and couldn't establish one ideal stopping point. Taking every set to failure isn't necessary to put that finding to use. In an [eight-week study involving 18 trained adults](https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/items/dbe641c7-a606-4e00-94bc-bb2fbe253afa?ref=theseguysknow.io), training with an estimated one or two reps remaining produced similar average growth in the front-thigh muscles to training to failure, with less fatigue affecting repetition performance and lifting speed.

Our [guide to recognising muscle failure](https://theseguysknow.io/do-you-have-to-train-to-failure/) covers how to judge that effort. Practise on familiar equipment you can exit safely, leave an appropriate margin on heavy lifts, and stop if technique breaks down or you feel sharp or joint pain. Needing somebody to rescue the bar doesn't make the set more respectable.

## Four Hard Sets Don't Cancel the Rest of the Week

The appealing version of this argument has a guy doing four brutal sets beating another guy doing fifteen with a few reps left. We'd take the warning about coasting seriously, but there is no reliable formula that tells us those four sets win. Sets stopped three or four reps short can still contribute to growth. More work also has evidence behind it. [Pelland and colleagues' analysis of 67 studies and 2,058 participants](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-025-02344-w?ref=theseguysknow.io) found that higher weekly volume was associated with greater muscle growth, with smaller additional benefits as volume increased. Training harder doesn't make that finding disappear.

For example, two sets of incline press and two on the pec deck, repeated twice a week, give you eight weekly chest sets. Use three sets of each at both sessions and you're doing twelve. You've increased the work considerably while keeping exactly the same two exercises.

Get a manageable amount of work genuinely challenging, then decide whether adding to it helps. If you're already training well and recovering comfortably, extra sets can be worthwhile. There's no need to become loyal to a tiny routine simply because cutting down worked at first.

## Why Reddit Can Produce Two Opposite Success Stories

In [one r/naturalbodybuilding discussion](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1kq4uwa/low%5Fvolume%5Fhigh%5Fintensity%5Ftraining/?ref=theseguysknow.io), u/EternityLeave preferred lower volume because shorter workouts fitted a busy schedule and were easier to do consistently. That is a good reason to choose them. A programme has to survive the week you actually have, including the evening when you leave work late. A [separate thread asking about progress after increasing volume](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1rki2rf/there%5Fare%5Fso%5Fmany%5Fstories%5Fof%5Fpeople%5Fswitching/?ref=theseguysknow.io) brought different accounts. u/NoiseWorldly reported worse gains after trying low volume, while u/moobycow preferred a couple of extra sets with a rep or two remaining over fewer sets taken to failure.

The useful follow-up is what their previous training looked like. If cutting down lets somebody recover properly and stop missing sessions, they've changed more than a number in their notes. Someone adding sets may have been doing too little to begin with. Both can improve without either discovering the routine everybody else must follow.

There is also a difference between reporting a better lift and measuring a larger muscle. A good first fortnight can be encouraging, especially if you're less exhausted, but judging growth needs more than an immediate improvement in your lifts.

## Make the Shorter Routine Earn Its Place

If you want to cut back, keep the useful exercises familiar and remove the additions you have the weakest reason for keeping. Two exercises with a clear role are a sensible place to investigate; “two” isn't a magic number you have to defend when your training would benefit from something else. Write down the weight and reps, and keep the movement consistent. Getting another good rep with the same effort is useful progress; managing three more because you've started doing half the movement is very convenient accounting. Our [guide to adding reps or weight](https://theseguysknow.io/more-weight-or-more-reps/) explains how to make those comparisons without expecting a heavier dumbbell every week.

Give the change several weeks and look at whether performance is improving and you're ready to train again when the next session arrives. Keep food and sleep in the picture, as we explain in our [beginner muscle-building guide](https://theseguysknow.io/how-to-gain-muscle-for-beginners/). A routine that's too much to recover from needs a different adjustment from one that's manageable but no longer providing enough work.

We'd happily start by shortening a long workout full of easy, forgettable sets. Learn the exercises properly and make the work demanding enough to track honestly. Once you're doing that, another exercise or a few extra sets becomes a decision you can judge by your progress, instead of something you add because going home after two movements feels suspicious.

#### Sources

****TGK**

- [The First Sign of Discomfort Is Not Muscle Failure](https://theseguysknow.io/do-you-have-to-train-to-failure/), 13 September 2026.
- [When to Add More Weight or Reps at the Gym](https://theseguysknow.io/more-weight-or-more-reps/), 7 October 2026.
- [How to Gain Muscle for Beginners](https://theseguysknow.io/how-to-gain-muscle-for-beginners/), 30 July 2026.

****Research**

- [Robinson et al.: Estimated Proximity to Failure, Strength Gain and Muscle Hypertrophy](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-024-02069-2?ref=theseguysknow.io), Sports Medicine, 2024.
- [Refalo et al.: Similar Muscle Hypertrophy Following Training to Failure or With Repetitions in Reserve](https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/items/dbe641c7-a606-4e00-94bc-bb2fbe253afa?ref=theseguysknow.io), Journal of Sports Sciences, 2024.
- [Pelland et al.: The Resistance Training Dose Response](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-025-02344-w?ref=theseguysknow.io), published online 4 December 2025; Sports Medicine, 2026.

****Reddit Discussions**

- [r/naturalbodybuilding: Low Volume, High Intensity Training](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1kq4uwa/low%5Fvolume%5Fhigh%5Fintensity%5Ftraining/?ref=theseguysknow.io), accessed 16 October 2026.
- [r/naturalbodybuilding: Experiences Moving From Low to Higher Volume](https://www.reddit.com/r/naturalbodybuilding/comments/1rki2rf/there%5Fare%5Fso%5Fmany%5Fstories%5Fof%5Fpeople%5Fswitching/?ref=theseguysknow.io), accessed 16 October 2026.