Is One Hard Set All You Need?

What’s the least amount of work you can do and still make gains?

Most people do 3 sets per exercise. But what if you only did 2 sets? Would you cut your gains in half? Or.. what if you only did 1 set? Would you make any gains at all?

Well, there’s science to answer this.

For strength, just one heavy set done two to three times per week will build strength in most people.

For health, it’s even less. Just 1 hour of lifting per week is enough to reduce risk of death from all causes by about 30%!

And for any muscle to grow, just 4 hard sets per week can spark measurable growth. Yes, 4 sets. Per WEEK. So for your chest, that could look like this: 2 hard sets of flat bench on Monday, 2 hard sets of cable flyes on Thursday. Done.

Remember, six time Mr Olympia Dorian Yates built his chest off exactly that.. 4 sets per week! That may not yield maximum gains for you, but it will yield noticeable gains.

And any amount of training you do is a lot better than not training at all.

[jonahhofmeyr]

Crazy how little it takes to improve your life significantly

[shouryachakre]

"Any amount of training you do is a lot better than not doing at all" Now that's facts.

[banaanbosse]

*me working out an hour per week to reduce my chances of dying in a fatal car crash by 30%*

[drc]

This advice is much more practical than 10-20 hard sets per week per muscle group. Thanks for sharing!

[deadringer-cultofdeathratt]

Short haired Nippard isn’t real. He can’t hurt you.
Short haired Nippard:

[sarthak-ti]

Love the quote at the end. So many people online will say things like “this isn’t optimal”, but at the end of the day, whatever gets you into the gym is what really matters

[gknfqoy]

I've been working out for about 3 years, improving in weights and physically growing, but since I reduced the number of sets and increased the intensity, I'm seeing growth at a faster rate. Again, everyone is different, but it's just insane.

[aleksei]

Holy moly, I always have a all or nothing mentality when it comes to exercise or dieting, I’m either working out and eating right or I’m rotting on the couch, no in between.
Crazy to think that just doing a little bit over a long period of time can improve your health and life dramatically

[vancejoy]

Buddy I needed this. Injury after injury and new fatherhood has me in excuse mode. Any movement is better than none. Let's get it!

[butterflyfairy]

i love how we’ve hit the cycle of our lives where we’re like “ok i want to keep up with these healthy habits but i literally have a million other responsibilities and only so much energy and time!” there’s nothing wrong with exercising entirely for health, and i’m glad that fitness influencers like you encourage balance and knowledge! life has ebbs and flows and we should feel empowered to do what we can when we can, not only be encouraged when we’re on the extreme and able to schedule 6 gym sessions a week.

[shrw]

"any amount of training you do is a lot better than not training at all" thanks jeff for the reassurance

[NLLeFa]

I do 3 sets of weighted dips on monday and 3 sets of OHP on friday and my pushing muscles keep growing. For back I do 3 sets of machine tbar row on monday and 3 sets of weighted pullups on friday. For legs I do squats and leg curls for 3 sets each on wednesday. Stimulate the muscle and get out. What remains is how you eat and sleep that will impact your look.

[IronChicken]

That's actually been my approach over the last year, and that's the time I've made most of my progress. It's crazy, people always ask me: "bro how many sets do you do?"
I always reply with: "I don't count." Meaning repwise, I just bump them out till I can't do any more, then do dropsets of death. Most of the time I just do 2-3 sets. If I'm in a hurry, 1 set will be enough.
The less you do (volume-wise), the harder the intensity needs to be. I always train beyond muscle failure (using dropsets and cheating at the very very end and controlling the eccentric, then do lengthened partials).

In a nutshell:

• 1-3 sets.
• High intensity.
• supersets to save time
• dropsets, lengthened partials, cheatreps controlling the negative
• basic exercises - oldschool
• progression (weight/reps/form)


That's MY way of training - it works for me.

[alejandrobc]

He could mention mike mentzer as he was dorian yates’s coach and also the person who invented that training style

[Random_Gamer-shpf]

Murderer, who's already stabbed me 7 times: HOW THE HELL ARE YOU STILL ALIVE

Me, who lifts one hour per week:

[SalamPHI]

This makes me less worried about missing few workouts

[joyboy]

Can we all appreciate how jeff always give us the best information in simple ways even tho he always gets hate from ignorant people keep it up jeff ❤

[tomhenderson]

Started working out a few months ago and just started another semester of college. I've been down on myself not going as frequently as I was over summer, but the reminder that anything is better than nothing is super helpful, thanks y'all

[JBrown_Trivium]

MENTZER was right. DECADES ago. Legend

[yenthee-god-vtuber]

Jeff I lost 35 lbs this year and made crazy gains thanks to your channel. But I got married, and am working 93 hours a week to afford a life free from debt. It sucks working that much and still having a negative bank account.


This also means I gained weight. It’s hard… but your videos. This video. It’s really encouraging. Thank you papa Jeff. You’ll always be the one person I truly trust for fitness advice (dr. Mike is cool too. But he’s scary 😂)