@liftrunbang: This topic has been tossed around a lot and I'll shed some light on some of the comments of "push back" I've heard about me saying it's better to do 3 sets of 1 exercise than 1 set of 3... This isn't a black or white ticket item, despite all the arguing about it. In the realm of trying to maximize muscle growth, the answer can be both can be effective but it comes back to what muscle group is being trained, and what exercises are being selected. Let's start with the claim that 1 set of 3 exercises for a muscle is more effective than 3 sets of 1 exercise due to the fact that the same muscle fibers will be active in the same exercise only selection, and that this somehow reduces motor unit recruitment due to more Ca2+ accumulation and will cause more muscle damage. - first off the Ca2+ problem is easily solved by...(drum roll) just taking adequate rest periods so that the Ca2+ handling by the serca pump and mitochondria can do their job - the idea that moving to a second exercise somehow fixes this issue is also nuanced. For example... bench press - incline press - flye ALL will be using the same motor unit pool. There is some bias from flat to incline for upper pecs but you are NOT activating these divisions separate from each other CLEANLY (or do you not get that?) - so the fatigue problem still exists A better and more effective example would be something like a costal cable flye with an upper pec cable flye because the overlap will be minimal due to two different component motions (extension vs flexion) - biceps, triceps, calves, lats, pecs, traps can all be trained for all divisions effectively with single exercises - glutes, delts, hamstrings, quads probably all need more than 1 delts have rear delts + front and side delts glutes have upper lower + glute medius and also benefit from lengthened stuff (serial sarcomere addition vs radial growth) quads need leg extensions + some lengthened motion IMO for the same reason as glutes same for hams (however a seated leg curl goes a long way by itself) So I hope that helps you out because this isn't a black and white topic. It gets even more nuanced if you're trying to specialize on a muscle

Paul Carter

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Friday 21 August 2026 15:19:37 GMT