Minimum Effective Dose Lifting

What is the least amount of strength training you can do, while still seeing gains in muscle size & strength over time?

It's less than you'd probably think; and understanding this piece of information can be very freeing.

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A meta-analysis from Pelland et al. [1] looked at exactly this.

More specifically: they studied how the volume of strength training you affects the results you see; in terms of muscle growth & strength increases.

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To start, volume is defined as the number of sets taken close to failure per muscle group per week.

A couple important points to note about this definition:

1. All that matters is that effort is high and you get close to failure. Whether that's done with high reps or low reps does not matter. [2]

2. It does not include warm-up sets; only your working ("real") sets.

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Where this can get a little more confusing is with regard to muscle groups that are active during a movement but are not the primary mover.

An example of this would be the triceps and anterior deltoids (front of your shoulder) during a bench press; whereas the muscles of the chest are serving as the primary mover.

If a muscle is serving more of an accessory role than a primary role, most studies will count this type of volume as 0.5 sets toward your total weekly volume.

In most cases, this type of characterization will be as predictive of muscle growth as counting 1 set per week toward the primary drivers of a movement.

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What the Pelland et al. meta found is that the minimum effective dose for a muscle to increase in size over time is 4 sets per week. Something that is very easy to accomplish in just 1-2 sessions per week.

They found this to be true in trained and untrained populations.

That is: if you are at this dose and are truly taking your training close to failure, you will see progress.

• For a deeper dive into resistance training volume & this study specifically, go here.

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As an ultra-minimalist example (2 sets performed per exercise):

Session 1:

1. Romanian deadlifts superset with reverse nordics

2. Incline dumbbell bench superset with bench supported rows

Session 2:

1. Reverse lunges superset with leg curls

2. Pull-ups (or pulldowns) superset with push-ups (weighted, knee, regular, etc.)

Depending on how efficient you are with your warm-up, this could be done in ~20 minutes per session.

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Now, I'm not necessarily telling you to train at this low of a volume.

You can if you want to, but the main point is this:

A lot less than you think is a lot more worthwhile than you think.

You might be in a busier season of life, or maybe have other training pursuits you want to prioritize for the time being.

It's helpful to know that in such cases you are probably still able to easily exceed the minimum effective dose; and therefore still be able to continue seeing progress.

The question of "is this amount of strength training worth it?" is almost always yes. Whether you are highly trained or not.

The all-or-nothing choice is almost always a false dichotomy.