Volume de Treino

Systematic review and meta-regression of 34 treatment groups from 15 studies examining total weekly resistance-training sets and muscle-size changes. Each additional weekly set was associated with a small increase in hypertrophy effect size (P=0.002), and higher- vs lower-volume categories differed significantly (P=0.03), but a three-level categorical model (<5, 5-9, 10+ sets) showed only a non-significant trend (P=0.074). The authors describe a graded dose-response relationship, while noting the modest number of included studies and indirect volume manipulation across trials.

Series of multilevel meta-regressions across 67 studies (2058 participants) that classify contributing sets as 'direct', 'fractional', or 'total' relative to the measured muscle/lift before modeling dose-response curves for weekly volume and frequency. Using the best-supported 'fractional' method, both hypertrophy and strength increased with volume (100% posterior probability of a positive slope) but with diminishing returns, more pronounced for strength; frequency showed a negligible-compatible effect on hypertrophy but a positive, diminishing-returns effect on strength. Authors emphasize the distinction between direct and indirect sets as central to interpretation and flag that dose-response curves are not linear.

Systematic review/meta-analysis of 7 RCTs (6 in the quantitative synthesis) in young trained men (18-35y, ≥1y experience) comparing low (<12), moderate (12-20), and high (>20) weekly sets per muscle on muscle thickness/CSA. No significant difference was found between moderate and high volume for quadriceps (p=0.19) or biceps brachii (p=0.59), while high volume showed an advantage for triceps brachii (p=0.01); authors suggest 12-20 weekly sets as a practical standard. The evidence base is small (6-7 studies) and restricted to young trained men, limiting generalizability.

This meta-analysis pooled 61 treatment groups from 9 studies (screened from 6962 records identified via PubMed, MEDLINE, SWETSWISE, EMBASE and SPORTDiscus as of September 2016) and found a graded dose-response relationship between weekly training sets and strength gains: high (HWS) and medium (MWS) weekly-set groups outperformed low weekly-set (LWS) groups for both multi-joint and isolation exercises (effect-size differences of roughly 0.15-0.23, all favoring higher volume). For well-trained individuals specifically, either MWS or HWS appears to be an appropriate dose, though the authors note their restrictive inclusion criteria left only 9 of 6962 screened studies eligible, limiting the precision of the dose-response estimate.