Lie 5 – High-Volume Training is More Effective
Make three work sets per exercise your ceiling. Sometimes, it's even better to do just one or two work sets per exercise.
The recommendations for high volume commonly come from drug users, including those who claim to be "natural." Some of the most amazing, legitimately drug-free bodybuilders also recommend high-volume training. But they have freaky genetics for it and thus a tremendous advantage over typical drug-free bodybuilders.
Much of the information to support high-volume training is based on the results of misunderstood and/or misrepresented studies or pseudoscience.
Too much training is as counterproductive as training too often. But most typical bodybuilders train too often and do too many sets per workout. Of course, volume plays an important role in the muscle-building process, but intensity comes first. You won't stimulate any growth if you don't train hard enough, no matter how much volume you do.
Low-volume training is highly effective, provided you use a selection of the best exercises for you, apply excellent form, train hard, don't train too frequently, eat well, sleep generously, and strive to make progress. But most struggling bodybuilders fail on all those fronts.