Originally Posted by
Dave M
Coach: PPST talks about how the number of repetitions per set is a strong determinant as to the type of muscle hypertrophy achieved. Fig 4-4 on page 60 of PPST Ed2 shows that Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy is lowest at 1 repetition, highest at about 12. With this in mind, would it be an acceptable idea for trainees very worried about excess body mass (the OP, or perhaps girls who abhor the idea of needing new jeans) to go to 5 sets of 3 rather than sets of 5? The chart shows that there should be less sarcoplasmic hypertrophy with 3 reps than at 5 reps, but 3 repetitions is enough that you could still accumulate some volume.