In bodybuilding, “junk volume” refers to training that consumes time and energy without contributing to muscle or strength gains. It’s essentially wasted effort. Volume is the amount of work, or the number of hard sets, you perform. Junk volume, therefore, is training volume that doesn’t contribute to your goals. Scientific evidence supports the existence of junk volume, and it likely hinders many trainees from achieving their desired results. Let’s examine three common types of junk volume and how to avoid them.
The first type is excessive volume per workout. Imagine training your chest with flat dumbbell presses. After warming up, you perform a challenging set of eight to ten reps, pushing close to failure. This set effectively stimulates muscle growth due to the mechanical tension placed on the pecs. This is considered “effective volume.” Two or three such sets would also be effective. However, would ten sets be ten times as effective? Likely not. The stimulus per set diminishes, eventually reaching a point of diminishing returns where additional sets become junk volume.
Research suggests that up to six sets per muscle group per workout yield significant muscle growth benefits. Beyond six sets, the gains plateau and may even regress slightly. This refers to volume per muscle group per day, not total weekly volume. While 10-20 sets per muscle group per week remains a good guideline, exceeding six to eight sets in a single workout likely offers minimal benefit. Distributing volume across multiple workouts is often more effective.
While six sets is a useful guideline, individual responses vary. Some individuals might benefit from slightly higher volumes, perhaps up to 10-12 sets, especially for larger muscle groups like back, glutes, and quads. Smaller muscle groups may respond optimally to six to eight sets. This highlights a potential drawback of bro splits, where a single muscle group is trained with excessively high volume in one workout. Distributing volume across the week, through upper/lower, push/pull/legs, or full-body routines, can be more effective for maximizing muscle growth.
The second, and arguably most common, type of junk volume is performing easy sets. Many lifters, particularly in commercial gyms, don’t train with sufficient intensity to maximize muscle growth beyond the beginner stage. Studies show that a substantial percentage of lifters leave a significant number of reps in the tank, reducing the effectiveness of their training. For hypertrophy, the majority of your sets should be within zero to three reps of failure, with some sets taken to failure periodically.
The final type of junk volume is ultra-high rep sets (40-50+ reps). While these sets aren’t entirely useless, they are far from optimal. Research indicates a lower limit for effective training intensity, around 20% of your one-rep max. Excessively high reps create a substantial recovery demand without providing additional hypertrophic benefits. This can lead to excessive soreness and impaired performance in subsequent workouts, hindering overall progress. Increasing the weight and reducing reps is generally more effective for muscle growth.
