Research

“3 sets of 10” really is the default

The median weighted set is 10 reps, and 62.4% of sets are exactly 8, 10 or 12 reps. 51.9% of exercise entries are exactly 3 sets and 36.7% are exactly 4.

Heavy sets are rare, except on the big barbell lifts

Only 2.9% of weighted sets are 1–5 reps. On the bench press it is 14.3%, the squat 13.4% and the deadlift 15.5%.

Chest gets trained most; hamstrings and calves least

Chest is trained in 79% of active training weeks, with a median of 11 sets when it is trained. Hamstrings appear in 53% of weeks (median 5 sets) and calves in 43% (median 4).

Few weeks reach 10–20 sets per muscle

Chest lands in the 10–20 weekly sets range in 32% of active weeks. For lats it is 10% and for hamstrings 9%.

The typical workout is under an hour

The median app-timed workout lasts 51 minutes with 19 working sets. The middle half run 37–69 minutes.

Most lifters train about twice a week, and Monday is gym day

Lifters with 4+ logged weeks average a median of 2.1 workouts per logged week, and 30.1% of logged weeks have a single workout. 18.3% of workouts happen on a Monday and 8.5% on a Sunday.

About half of new lifters never log a second workout

15,784 of 30,794 people who logged a first workout never logged another. Across everyone, 15% were still logging in week 4 and 8% in week 12.

Streaks break in the first month, then get sticky

A first weekly streak ends after week 1 72% of the time, after week 2 50% and after week 4 26%. By week 20 the chance of it ending that week is 9.7%.

The first week predicts the next three months

New lifters who trained on 4 or more days in their first week were still logging at week 4 51% of the time, against 6% for those who trained on one day. At week 12 it was 28% against 3%.

Comebacks happen fast or not at all

31.7% of broken streaks were followed by a return within 12 weeks, and 14.2% came back after missing a single week. After a first streak of one week only 13% returned; after 16+ weeks, 79% did.

Half the time, lifters repeat last session’s weight

Between back-to-back sessions of a lift the top weight went up 32.5% of the time, stayed the same 52.3% and dropped 15.2%. When it stayed the same, 55.5% of sessions also repeated the same reps.

New personal bests get rare fast

51.5% of second sessions on a lift set a new estimated best, 18.5% of tenth sessions and 5.4% of sessions 41–80. The curve is almost the same for beginners, intermediates and advanced lifters.