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A new published study might finally clear the air about the effects of drop sets.
For those unfamiliar with drop sets, the concept is quite simple.
Instead of your traditional fixed sets, reps, and loading schemes, you take one set, start
off a relatively heavy weight, and do as many reps as you can.
Once you hit failure, you immediately decrease the weight so you can continue to do more
reps until you hit failure again.
Repeat this continuous weight drop 3 or 4 times.
The goal is to extend the set to recruit more muscle fibers and fatigue the muscle overall.
At the end of the set, the trained muscle should feel absolutely beat.
Now, there are different ways you can do drop sets.
Some people don’t take the reps to failure but instead do a fixed number of reps for
each drop.
Some drop in increments, and some drop in percentages.
And some do more than one set to REALLY push their limits.
In this particular study, though, it’s a comparison between normal sets and a single
drop set to failure.
Let’s look at other parts of the study.
16 active male college students.
Eight assigned to drop sets, the other eight assigned to normal sets.
The triceps push-downs was the exercise tested specifically to allow isolation of a single
muscle, the triceps brachii.
For drop sets, they decreased the weight 3 times by 20% each drop, starting with a predetermined
12-rep max.
The normal set group also used a12-rep max load and did 3 sets to failure with 90 seconds
of rest in between.
So, what did they find after 6 weeks?
In terms of strength, both groups improved quite well, but the normal set group improved
strength by 25.2% versus 16.1% from drop sets.
This lines up with research that show strength is best achieved with heavier weights, which
normal sets had over drop sets.
In terms of muscle growth, however, we see a shift favoring drop sets.
The drop set group saw a 10% increase in growth versus normal sets’ 5%.
Which, essentially, although not hugely different in absolute scales, is still twice as much
growth.
So, what does that mean for you?
It’s very clear that it will depend on your goal.
If you’re trying to get stronger, you might be better off sticking to normal sets and
lifting heavy weights.
For those trying to build muscle, well then, drop sets might be for you.
You can potentially build more muscle and essentially save more time doing so.
But… that doesn’t mean you should start drop setting all of your exercises all the
time.
As there are limitations to this study.
Explained by the authors, and I quote: “… the short duration (6 weeks) does not
allow us to predict the outcomes for longer time periods.”
And “the findings are specific to a small muscle group (triceps brachii) using a single-joint
exercise; it remains to be determined whether similar responses are seen in larger muscle
multi-joint movements.”
In short, there’s no guarantee that growth benefits will exist past 6 weeks, nor is it
guaranteed you will see similar results with movements such as squats and bench press.
Either way, don’t let it sway you away from at least trying it out.
After all, a little bit of change to your program can be a good thing, especially for
those dealing with plateaus.
Now, go get to droppin’!
What’s your thoughts on the new info on drop sets?
Worth it?
Share your thoughts below.
As always, thanks for watching!