Weekly training volume checker

What counts as a hard set

A working set that ended with 3 or fewer reps in reserve (RIR), or one with no RIR logged. Warm-ups are left out. A set with 4 or more in reserve does not count.

Only sets near failure count. Across a series of meta-regressions, muscle grew more as sets ended closer to failure, while strength gains barely changed with RIR (Robinson 2024). Povver draws the line at 3. An unrated working set counts, as it does in the app, so skipping RIR never shrinks your count.

Direct and indirect sets

Each hard set counts 1 for every muscle the exercise trains directly and ½ for every muscle it trains indirectly. One set of bench press: chest 1, triceps ½, shoulders ½. Three sets give chest 3, triceps 1.5, shoulders 1.5.

The ½ comes from Pelland 2026, a meta-regression of 67 studies and 2,058 people that counted indirect sets three ways (in full, as half, not at all) and found that "the relative evidence for the 'fractional' quantification method was strongest." The lighter bar shows direct sets alone.

Each exercise's muscles come from Povver's exercise catalog. Where the catalog credited a muscle that only steadies the lift, such as biceps on a dumbbell bench, the table uses the corrected mapping.

Ten groups: chest, back, shoulders, biceps, triceps, quads, hamstrings, glutes, calves, abs. Traps count as back, adductors as glutes.

The ranges

One range for every muscle, in hard sets per week, indirect sets as half:

• Below 4: below the minimum. Pelland 2026 found 4 weekly sets to be the smallest dose that grew muscle by a detectable amount.
• 4 to under 10: above the minimum. Each extra set still adds growth, at a falling rate (Pelland 2026).
• 10 to 18: in range, Povver's default target. Each extra weekly set added about 0.37% to growth in Schoenfeld 2017. Baz-Valle 2022 put the best range for young trained men at 12 to 20.
• Above 18, up to 29: high. In this band, Pelland 2026 estimates about 11 more weekly sets for each further detectable gain.
• Above 29: past the ceiling. Povver stops suggesting more sets here. Pelland 2026's next tier, 30 to 42 sets, still grew muscle, but at about 12.5 more weekly sets for each detectable gain, and few studies went that high. None measured a recovery limit, so 29 is not one.

In the app these are MEV (4), MAV (10–18) and MRV (29).

The ranges are for muscle growth. Strength is different: in Pelland 2026, strength gains flattened from about 5 weekly sets per muscle, and more sets did not reliably add a detectable gain. In the app, your own plan can move the target.

How far to trust it

These are averages across studies, and one lifter's best volume can sit well above or below the band. The count shows where a week lands. Your progress shows whether the band fits.