Among the most common questions we are asked is why exactly we make you do three sets of pretty much every single exercise that we do.  It’s a great question!

We find results make happy clients and conducting 3 sets is a bona fide “sweet spot” for producing results.  If you’d like to understand how exactly doing three sets helps, read on!

Understanding your body

Your muscles are made up of fibers and there are different types of fibers that make up different types of muscles.  Slow twitch, fast twitch, are found in skeletal muscles while smooth and cardiac muscles fibers are found in the lungs and heart.  The information below is going to focus on skeletal muscle fibers.

Why 3 sets work

When you are doing your first set of any exercise, you are working out the fibers of the muscle that are most readily available.  The ones that you typically use to do most menial tasks like pick up a fork or run the vacuum or lift your TV remote.

During your second set of repetitions you start to dive deeper into your muscle fibers, exercising both the surface layer fibers as well as the deeper down fibers of that muscle.  These fibers are the ones you do not use as often but are still involved in some daily activities, possible examples might include lifting a load of laundry, or picking up a child, or lifting a flat tire into that back of your car.

By the time you start on your third set reaching into the deepest part of your muscles.  This is where you really start to feel the burn and will end up noticing the results.  That magical third set is what will really get you the overall muscular strength and endurance.  These are the fibers that you rarely use but still need action in order to stay relevant!  The third set is where you target those fibers that are responsible for things like; moving a couch, or carrying a heavy box or luggage.

By skipping that third set, you never really get down deep enough into the fibers of the muscle to make enough of a difference.  It takes effort to tax the fibers down deep in order to make the muscle react and grow stronger.  And that is why you see results and why doing three sets is so important.