Reps and sets for muscle mass...

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Each body part should have at least 16 sets a week.

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This is insane. For some people yes. Others no. This isn’t one size fits all. I don’t see how the natty folks on here do 16 to 20 sets per body part unless you aren’t training very hard.

As long as you push your self to near failure and eat surplus... Reps and sets to me is not the deciding factor.

To get big you need to eat and lift heavy shite.

I'm natural and did 16 sets for major body parts for many years. Chest and back I scaled down to 12 but shoulders and legs still do 15+

Biggest thing I ever did for gaining strength was realizing 8-10 reps sucks, 3-5 is so much better

Higher reps made me “feel” like I was doing more, but my strength gains are so much better with heavier weight and less reps

I have no idea if this is proven or not but it was a massive difference for me

2 words....

Beyond Failure.

They all will build muscle with progressive overload. I despise high rep sets on compounds. I save it for accessory type exercises. Powerbuilding if you need a name. I also enjoy top sets with backoff sets. Like I said, with proper diet and progressive overload they all work.

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I have no idea if this is proven or not but it was a massive difference for me

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For me being 46 and natty less is definitely better. For me. I cannot do a 'volume' workout anymore without destroying my joints and I will not repair/recover no matter how much protein I consume. I essentially do one warm up set and then one set to failure. Four exercises total per body part. So in total four warm up sets and four working sets so eight total. Sometimes I will do 10 total but that is only for chest and the extra two sets are just pec deck machine which is super easy. When I was juicing (and younger) I loved volume training because I was on so many androgens/anabolics/orals, gh, insulin that I could repair easily and it literally didn't matter. I wouldn't make it one week now with a volume plan I'd be a mess physically.

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. When I was juicing (and younger) I loved volume training because I was on so many androgens/anabolics/orals, gh, insulin that I could repair easily and it literally didn't matter. I wouldn't make it one week now with a volume plan I'd be a mess physically.

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Probably should be a caveat with this thread between natty or not because you are talking apples and oranges between the 2 in building muscle mass and it all boils down to recovery. With that said, there is a definite line in volume training going into the high rep range versus the low rep range that builds more strength. I have always used in my training whether on gear or not that you are going to build more muscle mass with a higher rep range and adjust weights/sets with what your body can handle either on/off versus my powerlifting days when I dialed down the reps but went as heavy as I could.

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Beyond Failure.

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Doesn’t exist. You either experience muscle failure or you don’t.

I've been doing drop sets for my upper body. Lift to failure, reduce the weight, rinse, repeat. 3 or 4 sets depending on the exercise.

Day 1 is chest press, lat pulldowns, pec fly, lateral raises, seated dip, rotary torso (the last two are three sets of 8-15 and when 3x15 is too easy I add weight).

Day 2 is shoulder press, tricep pulldowns, bar curls, concentration curls, compound row, ab crunches. I've recently moved to fixed number of reps for some of these. You do want to be careful about pushing certain exercises to failure since pulling a back muscle will set you back several weeks.

Day 3 is leg day and I do 3 sets of 8-15 on 7 exercises.

Been at it about 10 months. My shirts are getting tighter. My official weight at my annual checkup is unchanged, thanks to less fat and more muscle. I have visible muscle growth and have significantly increased my one rep max on most exercises.

You'll want to consume extra protein - instead of 50g which is the standard recommendation, 2g for every three pounds of body weight. Also increase your water intake. High protein intake makes your kidneys work harder.