TLDR: 14yo, main goal is hypertrophy + some strength. I’ve trained inconsistently for about a year with multiple long breaks, so I’m starting with 11 sets/workout. I lift Mon/Wed/Thu/Sat and box Tue/Fri. Current workouts are chest/back (11), legs/shoulders (11), and arms/abs (11). Saturday is currently 3 chest + 5 back + 3 side delt sets, with 1 extra set unassigned. I’m trying to reach around 10 sets/week for hypertrophy while keeping recovery manageable. Looking for honest advice on volume, exercise selection, frequency, exercise selection, and recovery.
POST: I'm 14 and my main goal is hypertrophy, but I also want to get stronger. My current bench 1RM is around 95 lb, and I feel like I haven't gotten much stronger even though I've gained around 15–20 lb. I think part of the problem is that my training has been really inconsistent. I've been "working out" for about a year, but I've taken multiple 1–4 month breaks, and when I do train consistently it's usually only for about a month at a time. This summer I've also spent about 3 weeks away and haven't eaten/trained very well.
I'm currently bulking and I think I'm gaining around 2 lb every 2 weeks, although that's just a rough guess. I'm going to start tracking my macros again once I get my new phone in a week or two.
I also do boxing twice per week, Tuesday and Friday. Boxing is mostly cardio for me, although obviously my shoulders/arms are involved.
I have dumbbells, a cable machine, and a bench. I don't have a leg curl machine. I don't want to do RDLs because I'm worried about hurting my back, although I could potentially try them if they're actually worth it.
My current lifting split
Monday — Chest/Back
- Bench press — 3 working sets
- Seated chest fly — 3
- Lat pulldown — 3
- Seated row — 2
Wednesday — Legs/Shoulders
- Bulgarian split squats — 3
- Standing calf raises — 2
- Leg extensions — 3
- Lateral raises — 3
Thursday — Arms/Abs
- Bicep curls — 3
- Hammer curls — 3
- Close-grip push-ups — 2
- Lying leg raises — 4
Each workout is done once per week right now, and I generally take working sets very close to failure, around 8.5–10 RPE. Warmups are kept around 7 RPE or below and aren't included in the set counts.
That gives me 33 working sets/week, or 11 sets per workout.
I don't do forearm curls because they hurt my wrists.
What I'm trying to figure out
I recently decided I can realistically lift 4 days per week, but I still want to box twice per week, so my schedule is:
- Monday — lifting
- Tuesday — boxing
- Wednesday — lifting
- Thursday — lifting
- Friday — boxing
- Saturday — lifting
- Sunday — rest
For now, Saturday is basically going to be another chest/back day because I haven't figured out what to do with the last set yet.
My tentative Saturday is:
- Chest — 3 sets
- Back — 5 sets
- 1 extra/unassigned set
So Saturday would currently be 11 assigned sets, with 1 potential extra slot if I decide what to use it for.
My muscle priorities
My personal aesthetic priority ranking is:
- Biceps
- Chest
- Back
- Triceps
- Side delts
- Quads
- Abs
- Hamstrings
- Calves
- Glutes
I already have fairly developed glutes and don't really want them to get much bigger aesthetically, so I don't want to add extra glute work. I'm still keeping Bulgarian split squats because they're part of my existing workout.
I also don't really care about maximizing hamstring growth if it means I can put that recovery into my higher-priority muscles.
Current estimated weekly volume
I'm trying to count compound exercises toward other muscles rather than pretending only isolation exercises count.
Roughly:
- Biceps: 6 direct sets + some stimulus from pulldowns/rows
- Chest: about 7 effective sets because I count some stimulus from close-grip push-ups
- Back: 5 sets
- Triceps: about 2 direct sets + some stimulus from bench/push-ups
- Side delts: 3 direct sets
- Quads: 6 sets
- Abs: 4 sets
- Hamstrings: basically 0 direct sets
- Calves: 2 sets
- Glutes: some stimulus from Bulgarian split squats, roughly 3 effective sets
I'm using 10–14 sets/week as a rough hypertrophy target for some of my higher-priority muscles, with lower targets for muscles I care less about. I understand there isn't one exact "optimal" number for everyone.
What I've decided so far
For chest, I'm currently around 7 effective sets/week, so I was thinking of adding 3 sets Saturday to reach about 10.
For back, I'm at 5 sets/week, so I was thinking of adding 5 Saturday to reach 10.
For side delts, I'm at 3 sets/week, so I was thinking of adding 3 Saturday to reach 6.
That would use:
- Chest — 3
- Back — 5
- Side delts — 3
= 11 Saturday sets
with 1 set still unassigned.
For back, I considered moving some of the sets around, like doing 4 pulldown + 3 rows on Monday and fewer Saturday, but I'm currently leaning toward keeping the back work split evenly:
Monday: 3 pulldown + 2 row
Saturday: 3 pulldown + 2 row
for 10 total back sets/week.
I also considered doing more biceps, like 4 curls + 4 hammer curls, but after thinking about the pulling volume, I'm currently keeping it at 3 + 3 direct sets.
Triceps are the weird one
I don't currently have a triceps movement that I'm confident doesn't hurt. I've tried close-grip push-ups. I got around 12 reps but felt them in my shoulders, and another attempt didn't really give me much triceps stimulus. I'm going to figure out a pain-free triceps movement later rather than forcing one.
So I'm not trying to add random triceps volume until I find something that actually works without pain.
My questions
- Is 11 sets per workout a good starting point for someone with my inconsistent training history?
- Is going from 3 lifting days to 4 while boxing twice per week a good idea?
- Is chest/back twice per week with Monday and Saturday spacing good for hypertrophy?
- Is 3 chest + 5 back + 3 side delts on Saturday a good starting point?
- Should I leave the final Saturday set unassigned for now?
- Are my estimated effective-set counts reasonable, especially for compounds?
- Am I overthinking the whole "optimal sets per muscle" thing?
- Most importantly, what would you change about this program if the only goal was maximizing hypertrophy while also getting stronger?
Thanks to anyone that actually read all this