Muscle hypertrophy and strength increases after ten weeks of High Intensity Training

How many sets per exercise are necessary to gain muscle mass and strength? In this study subjects trained all major muscle groups twice a week performing nine exercises. One group applied high-intensity training (HIT) and did only one drop-set of each exercise to the point of momentary muscular failure, whereas the other group performed as many repetitions as possible in each set and did three sets of each exercise. Both groups trained twice a week for ten weeks, while the control group did not strength train at all. For both training groups body composition was analysed in weeks 0 and 11, so that changes in muscle mass and fat mass could be identified. At the same time each subject performed strength tests with 50 percent of their respective 10RM for each of the nine exercises. This publication shows the average changes of body composition and strength for each exercise in both training groups as well as a body composition analysis of each of the 43 subjects. von Giessing, Jürgen