Heartland Spa
When it comes to recreational weight lifting, one set is sufficient! ACSM (American College of Sports Medicine) reminded us of this in the Health and Fitness Journal May/June 2000 issue, and we are happy to remind you!

Forty-nine healthy recreational weight lifters (men and women) were divided into two groups. For 13 weeks, one group performed 1 set; the other group performed 3 sets. Both groups showed the same improvements in muscular strength, endurance, lean body mass and fat mass!

Not convinced! If that sounds just too easy to be true, maybe it is. Be sure to make that one set challenging. Strength gains come from progressive overload. Your last repetition should be the last time you can lift that weight while maintaining good form and control over the movement. Most people stop short of this for various reasons, such as relying on a repetition number (number 12) to tell them they are done.

Still not convinced? Then do multiple sets! While you are spending the extra time at the gym, the rest of us will be relaxing with a massage… or more realistically catching up on work… OK, doing multiple sets does have advantages!