How many exercises and sets should I be doing in the gym?

[johnsmithcel]

I go 4 times a week. I do two days of chest, shoulders and triceps and two days of back, biceps and legs. Is doing 3 exercises for each muscle group and 3 sets per each exercise enough or should I be doing more?
Also is there a better workout plan? I find it hard to fit in everything in 4 days if I want to train every muscle twice. I stopped doing core completely tbh.

 

[Constantin Denis]

do 4 sets per exercise..ideally 3-4 exercises per muscle

 

[johnsmithcel]

do 4 sets per exercise..ideally 3-4 exercises per muscle

Thanks. Is the split i'm doing currently okay?

 

[Orc]

10+ hard sets per muscle per week, how you do it only makes a minimal difference.

 

[Lux]

do 4 sets per exercise..ideally 3-4 exercises per muscle

This but make each set spamming the exercise till absolute failure. then drop the weight.

 

[Lux]

also give legs their own day. Whether you go 3 or 6 times a week should depend on how fast you recover. & add in some cardio training.

 

[longjohnmong]

I go 4 times a week. I do two days of chest, shoulders and triceps and two days of back, biceps and legs. Is doing 3 exercises for each muscle group and 3 sets per each exercise enough or should I be doing more?
Also is there a better workout plan? I find it hard to fit in everything in 4 days if I want to train every muscle twice. I stopped doing core completely tbh.

And how's it working out for you? How much stronger are you than when you started? And how long have you been lifting?

 

[Tonymontana]

How much volume (sets) you can handle and actually recover/benefit from is different person to person.

All that matters is whether or not you can add weight/reps workout to workout. Of course it wont happen everytime, but over time, you have to be recovering and getting stronger or else thats an indicator your training is ineffective.

6-12 hard sets/bodypart/ week is damn near optimal for the majority of people imo, and it’s very few that can actually recover from or need more.

Large bodyparts (lats/upperback, chest, side delts, quads) closer to 12. Smaller muscles like arms already get stimulated some from compound exercises so those get closer to 6