are drop sets good for hypertrophy

For maximum hypertrophy, focus on hitting these 10 compound exercises every single week and perform at least 5 sets of each. Shane Duquette and Marco Walker-Ng, BHSc, PTS. We used the data to calculate effect sizes, confidence intervals, and various statistics. What’s nice about them, though, is that in all of these studies, the drop set groups finished their sets in less than half the time. The first example we will look at for mechanical drop sets that utilize a change in angulation is the standard dumbbell bench press. Load reduction is similar to drop sets, but instead of continually decreasing weight with no rest between sets, the load is reduced 5-10% with normal rest periods (Lima et al., 2018, Willardson et al., 2010, Willardson et al., 2012). We researched drop sets using two search engines: Pubmed, Pubmed PMC, and Google Scholar. Schoenfeld: We carried out a recent metanalysis on the topic that found 10+ sets per muscle per week elicited greater hypertrophy than <10 sets. Mean changes were neither statistically significant nor clinically significant between groups. That’s why bodybuilders prefer drop sets – because they’re decidedly geared towards increasing muscle size (hypertrophy). Drop sets lead to similar levels of exertion and fatigue as other types of training. *Ozaki had three groups, low load (30% 1RM), high load (80% 1RM), and drop set. Drop sets mean lowering the load, and lifting lighter loads is worse for gaining strength. Flat bench press Anyone who has pressed a weight overhead has experienced an increase in difficulty when compared to an incline or flat bench press position. That doesn’t mean that drop sets are only good for gaining muscle mass, though. That doesn’t mean that drop sets are only good for gaining muscle mass, though. In addition, it seems that a drop set workout that involves a total of 3 sets to failure (with two decreases in weight from the first) produces the same amount of hypertrophy as 3 sets to failure with the same weight. Cluster sets might be good for preventing form breakdown, reducing feelings of fatigue, and to build more volume with … Shane Duquette is the co-founder and creative lead of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell, and has a degree in design from York University in Toronto, Canada. enough reps in it to stimulate muscle growth. With this drop set, you move the pin upwards for every set. Drop sets are a brilliant tool for hypertrophy, but are often misused. Also, don’t be afraid to drop down in the 2-3 rep range on some compound sets … Our current conclusion is that drop sets are as good as regular sets for hypertrophy. Learn how to do drop sets. The key here I believe is something called a stimulating rep. A stimulating rep is one that actually produces hypertrophy. - Fisher et al., 2016, Drop sets involve an athlete reaching a point of MMF (or at least approaching MMF) and reducing the load in order to increase the work completed and extend the set duration, resulting in greater fatigue. Why drop sets should work – hypotheses and mechanisms, Choose a weight you can do 12 reps to failure with, No breaks! This kind of preserves a “theme” to the workout as either heavier or lighter and allows you to build strength on your secondary exercises as well. Instead of overhead press try landmine presses and leg elevated or pike press ups, so there's a far bigger emphasis on your shoulders. Two of the studies used a within-subject design (i.e. Move down the rack and choose a lower weight that allows you to do 10-14 reps, Keep moving down the rack. But the CI for the ES is wide and so is the significance test for the mean between-group change (p=0.577, as reported by the authors). It’s possible to do heavy drop sets, but as this systematic review explains, it stops becoming practical—it’s too fatiguing. Please note that these are averages based on our personal training experience and that accrued through training thousands of clients over the course of many years. By contrast, you don't see a lot of football players, sprinters or other athletes using drop sets, because drop sets are not conducive to strength, power or speed gains. After that, we'll keep you updated on the most important muscle-building research, lifting methods, and workout routines. Like rowing sometimes you have to go lower to go higher, or slower to go faster in rowing parlance A drop set is a lighter set that you do immediately after finishing a previous set. Articles | About | Purpose | Contact | Newsletter, Terms of Use | Medical Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Licenses and Attributions. I remember when I first saw a picture of Larry Scott hitting a biceps pose. It’s generally safer to have muscular failure on machines such as chest presses, because they won’t crush you under their weight compared to how a barbell bench press would. It kicks off with a 5-part series about how to build muscle more leanly, gain strength faster, and improve your appearance. Schoenfeld and Grgic pointed out that drop sets might be an effective training protocol to maximize hypertrophy in the type I (slow twitch) fibers. Angleri and colleagues sent the data on request and thus we would like to thank the authors for their openness and helpfulness. Then strip another 20% off the bar and do another drop set. How Much Weight Should You Drop In a Drop Set? In terms of increasing strength, drop sets might not be ideal. Note that rating of perceived exertion is an acute (temporary) measure of fatigue, not a long-term measure. AuthorsBrandon Roberts (Researchgate, The Strength Guys) Adam Tzur (Facebook, Twitter), Published: December 30, 2018 Updated: December 30, 2018. So looking at all of the research on drop sets, it seems that they stimulate about the same amount of muscle growth as straight sets. When lowering the weight between sets of drop sets, the idea is to choose a weight that’s light enough that you can do another set with enough reps in it to stimulate muscle growth. Drop-sets: There are few DS studies and they show conflicting information for strength and hypertrophy. Effect sizes: standardized effect sizes are helpful when compared between multiple studies. The 3 variations of this exercise that we will use during the drop set will be: 1. They do a great job of increasing our muscular endurance, too. Lift within the hypertrophy rep range. Harrison doesn’t recommend giant sets during any phase of strength training because they are really only good for hypertrophy training (since the loading intensity can’t be high enough for the third exercise to provide any strength benefit to anyone but the most novice of exercisers). End of the day its all about progressive overload. Only benefit seems to be a shorter workout which is an advantage under very rare situations. Both of these studies used within-subject design where each limb was randomized to drop set or traditional training. The group doing drop sets gained nearly twice as much muscle size, but the results didn’t reach statistical significance. - Howe & Waldron 2017, The Drop Set is an exercise protocol, in which resistance exercise is initially performed with a higher load and then gradually decreased. The Hypertrophy Rep Range: How Many Reps to Build Muscle. That's why bodybuilders prefer drop sets - because they're decidedly geared towards increasing muscle size (hypertrophy). As with all types of training, excessive workloads can lead to overreaching and overtraining. Here’s the best default way of doing drop sets: So putting all of that together, let’s say that you’re doing a full-body workout and you want to hit your biceps a bit harder. If you are in a hurry, you may want to do run the rack like this: As you can see, you need to experiment with drop sets to figure out the right weight and reps. Also, you should be mindful of other people who are exercising with dumbbells so that you don’t run into them on your way down the racks. Always consult your physician before beginning any exercise or diet program. Tight drop set: When you decrease the weight by a small amount (5-10%) in a drop set. A training partner can speed up the process and help you strip plates between each set. Bodybuilders have been using them for the past 80 years as a fast way to blast a muscle with extra sets, and they’ve fared quite well in the research. Why is it important to know your MV? CI = -0.58 to 0.62 Common language effect size: 50.6% (0.6% favouring drop set), Common language effect size: 51.3% (1.3% favouring traditional), CI = -0.74 to 1.23 Common language effect size: 57.3% (7.3% favouring drop set). Some studies such as Angleri and Goto lacked absolute data of pre and post means and standard deviations. To stay rooted in the theoretical and practical bases on which the upcoming recommendations are made, before proceeding, please be sure you've read the introductory … We have reviewed the cluster set (CS), rest-pause (RP), and drop-set (DS) literature (including Schoenfeld’s new DS study!). 66% indicates that there's a 16% greater chance that the person chosen from the largest change group has a superior outcome, It was calculated in Excel using: =NORMSDIST(ABS(mean_change_largest-mean_change_smallest)/SQRT(pre-SD_mean_change_largest^2+pre_SD_mean_change_smallest^2))*100. But if you’re interested, there are other types as well: As you can tell, there are an endless amount of ways to incorporate drop sets into your workout. Where drop sets falter is with strength training. The high load group was most similar to traditional training, therefore we compared it to the drop set. Drop sets work so well because they achieve each of the three different mechanisms for hypertrophy: Muscular Damage, Mechanical Tension, and Metabolic Fatigue. Mean changes: how much did the groups improve their strength and hypertrophy, on average? We also reviewed the references of each drop set study to help us find more studies. Here’s some key data about how the studies were structured: 12 weeks Within-subject design, unilateral, 8 weeks Within-subject design, unilateral, “Thirty-two volunteers had their legs randomized in a within-subject design in TRAD (3-5 sets of 6-12 repetitions at 75% 1-RM) (...) and [drop sets] (3-5 sets of ~50-75% 1-RM to muscle failure) protocols.” - Angleri et al., 2017. All of these factors increase your potential for hypertrophy. Choose a weight that allows you to do 10-14 reps, and so on. Incline bench press 3. Take your sets close enough to failure. What does MV mean? During our literature search on drop sets we found a number of studies which use load reduction. But it was not volume equated. One study supports drop sets for strength (Goto et al., 2004). Let’s say we picked one participant at random from both groups in these two studies. If you liked this article, you’ll love the full program. The between-group effect sizes were tiny ranging from 0.02 to 0.05 and the confidence intervals were wide and non-significant. Therethrou… Training past failure increases muscle damage and causes a lot of metabolic fatigue. Train primarily in the 4-6 rep range at 80-85% of your 1 rep max. I love drop sets. “Multiple drop sets can be performed to induce even greater levels of fatigue and metabolic stress, and hence potentially further enhance anabolism.” - (Schoenfeld & Grgic 2017). Fink et al., used the triceps, Angleri et al., used the thigh and Ozaki et al., used the biceps. we will cover the first three methods in our guide. You can run the racks, up the stacks, and more! For example, if you have 175lb on a barbell, on the next set you could remove 10lb from each side and continue doing reps with little to no rest. It is easier with dumbbells and machines. The studies that exist suggest that drop sets are as a good as regular sets for increasing muscle mass. Four studies measure muscle hypertrophy directly by MRI or ultrasound (Fink et al., 2017, Angleri et al., 2017, Ozaki et al., 2018, Goto et al., 2004) and one measures muscle hypertrophy indirectly by bod pod (Fisher et al., 2016). The drop set literature is small. They might be a big help. The drop sets helped so I could keep overloading and do 12 reps 40 then 12 reps 25 then 12 reps 10lbs for 5 sets. *The researchers had the participants drop the weight 3 times, which they call “a” drop set. I will more or less match the first work set of the second exercise to whatever rep range we used for the first exercise of the day. Our current conclusion is that drop sets are as good as regular sets for hypertrophy. Drop sets are a bonafide muscle-building technique, with numerous studies showing their effectiveness (study, study). From our literature search, we identified five studies with hypertrophy data. We must be careful with using drop-sets since they are generally completed to failure, which could cause excessive fatigue and/or injuries over time (Nóbrega and Libardi 2016; Howe and Waldron 2017; Schoenfeld & Grgic 2017). And since drop sets require you to train to failure, this lingering fatigue could negatively impact training sessions later on … If we look at the scientific literature, there are two main hypotheses: Muscle failure, fatigue, and time under tension should increase metabolic stress (Schoenfeld & Grgic 2017; Howe and Waldron 2017). What you want to do is strip a plate off the barbell, grab the next-lightest dumbbell or resistance band, move to a lower pin on the exercise machine, or choose an easier bodyweight variation. MV stands for Maintenance Volumeand refers to the amount of work that is required to maintain the muscle’s current size. However if you are an endurance athlete or regularly participate in other sports, additional hypertrophy can hinder performance. - Goto et al., 2016. Nonetheless, if a drop set is taken very far, it can certainly become exhausting. This is very quick for exercises like biceps curls. You can use machines, dumbbells, and barbells for drop sets. Part 3: Uni-Angular Tri-Sets. However, it’s important to know that more research is still required to determine whether or not drop sets are more effective than some other weightlifting strategies (progressive overload, high training volume, etc.) Drop sets really are one of the best accumulation methods that you can use. Hypertrophy Training Volume: How Many Sets to Build Muscle? We extracted data of means, standard deviations, percentage change (pre-post), as well as data about the study design (duration, etc.). Do your chin-ups and barbell curls like normal, but when you finish your final set of curls, strip 20% of the weight off the bar and immediately do a drop set. Nonetheless, there is no direct evidence that drop sets increase injury risk over the long term. What varies is when to do them, how many sets to do, how close to failure to go, and how much weight you’re supposed to drop between sets. Bodyweight exercises are already great finishing exercises, and when you combine them with mechanical advantage drop sets, you have a powerful hypertrophy tool. It is a double set, if you like, not to be confused with giant sets which entail multiple sets in succession for the same … Could you tell us about your fitness and nutrition interests? An important difference between the studies was the muscle group used during training. This is assuming that you’re not doing more volume with drop sets. Drop sets are a good way of getting in the volume while spending as little time as possible lifting (Fink et al., 2017; Looney et al., 2016; Schoenfeld & Grgic 2017; Howe and Waldron 2017). The first thing to know about drop sets is that they are an advanced technique, meaning if you are a beginner you don’t need to use them until you’ve exhausted less advanced methods of training first. More research is needed to determine if drop sets can be beneficial for specific muscle groups or if it should be used for certain exercises. More research is needed for stronger conclusions. Cluster sets and rest-pause: CS/RP seems to be similar to traditional training for gaining strength and muscle mass. This says little about whether drop sets are better than straight sets, but it does tell us that adding drop sets to your workout routine is a good way to add in extra sets without making your workouts longer. The survey is anonymous and takes 5 minutes to complete. We used Cohen’s Dppc2 (“Pre-Post-Control”) to calculate the between-group ES based on the difference in mean change with pooled pretest SDs (described in Morris, 2008). Yet, it is always a good idea to be careful. Drop sets mean lowering the load, and lifting lighter loads is worse for gaining strength. Hey Farhan, that’s true. So, what are drop sets? Stopping 1–2 reps away from failure often works best. Visual presentation: the visual graphs helped us interpret the data and put it into perspective and context. As this will enable you to take advantage of the multiple pathways involved with muscle hypertrophy. The idea with drop sets is to cram a bunch of challenging sets into a short period of time, increasing the muscle-building stimulus while keeping your workouts short, dense, and efficient. It is also the study with the largest between-group effect size (0.26 favouring drop set group). A lot of people don’t have unlimited time to train (myself included). Note that failure is traditionally used in drop sets, but is not required (learn more about training to failure). This can be dangerous if done quickly, as in the example of the bench press. Read more about how we found and analyzed the studies in our methodology section. “DS training might be an efficient way to increase muscle mass with minimal time spent training.” - Fink et al., 2017, “Given the significantly greater training volume performed on the drop-set day, drop sets may offer considerable utility as a means of augmenting training volume without substantially increasing training time.“ - Looney et al., 2016, “Adding a drop set or double drop set to the last set of an exercise for a given muscle group is a feasible strategy for accomplishing this goal while keeping total session duration shorter…” - Schoenfeld & Grgic 2017, “...when time limitations exist, a drop set protocol can be employed in order to increase the efficiency of the training session when seeking to increase muscle mass.” - Howe and Waldron 2017, “The mean training time per session, including recovery intervals, was lowest in the SDS condition.” - Ozaki, “The continuous use of drop sets may be detrimental over time (...)” - Schoenfeld & Grgic 2017. 1. As a great way to increase muscle mass by ensuring healthy muscle fatigue and increased blood flow, drop sets will promote hypertrophy and get you out of that unfortunate fitness funk. Wide drop set: When you decrease the weight by a large amount (10%+) in a drop set. Surprisingly, the studies found no difference in perceived exertion between drop sets and other sets (De Paula Simola et al., 2015, Raeder et al., 2016, Looney et al., 2016, Fisher et al., 2017). The drop set group experienced a 2% increase in the cross sectional area of the thigh while the other group experienced a 0.5% decrease. If maximal size is your goal, then hypertrophy of all fibers should be your focus. You may also want to check out my article on mechanical advantage drop sets for more information on this superior training method. Drop super-set: When you add drop sets to a super-set. We call that “3” drop sets, but it’s just a difference in terminology. For example, on your last set of leg extension and leg curl super-set you use one of the above methods to decrease the weight. He's personally gained 65 pounds at 11% body fat and has ten years of experience helping over 10,000 skinny people bulk up. Anywhere from 4–40 reps will stimulate muscle growth, but sets of 6–20 reps are more efficient, allowing you to build more muscle with every set. Besides, after plenty of heavy workouts in between your MAV and MRV or even above your MRV, it is for sure a good thing to lower your volume every now and then. If you remove 30% one set and 18% the next set, that’s perfectly fine. “Drop sets involve performing a set to concentric failure with a given load and then immediately reducing the load and continuing to train until subsequent failure.“ - Schoenfeld, 2011, “Breakdown sets require the performance of a set to MMF with a given load before immediately reducing the load and continuing repetitions to subsequent MMF. We searched scientific databases for studies on drop sets, and analyzed their data. It was the most I could do with the equipment I had so I made the best of it. The participants give a rating of how difficult they felt the exercise or training session was. This is the rationale for why drop sets could maximize hypertrophy. General conclusions: CS, DS, and RP can be good tools if programmed right. Some ways to achieve this are through the use of drop sets, reverse pyramid training, or also including a couple sets of 25-40 reps to near failure towards the end of your workout. When it comes to increasing muscle size (hypertrophy), drop sets have shown to be an effective technique. The 50% drop sets, also known as Wide Drop Sets, allow you to build size and increase your endurance as you activate your muscle systems. The recommendations here should be food for thought or places to start, not dogmatic scriptures to follow to the letter. Halving method: When you decrease the weight by half on a drop set. Drop sets are an efficient way to make progress while spending little time in the gym. I doubt that drop sets boost growth compared to straight sets, especially in the longer term. This could be due to the drop-set group completing 23% more volume than the traditional group. The final study, Goto et al., 2004, used a traditional design for 6 weeks of training, then split the groups in two during the final 4 weeks. No problem. And not only that, but research has also indicated that training to failure on major compound exercises diminishes performance for at least 48 hours and likely even longer. We excluded load reduction sets. This might go against our intuition that drop sets are exhausting. There are a few different ways of doing drop sets, but the general idea is always the same: do a regular set, strip some weight off the bar, and then immediately do another set. Rest-pause set: When you pause for an extended period of time (10-30 seconds) while continuing to decrease the weight. And to do that, it usually means dropping the weight by roughly 20–25% (study). This is done by decreasing your load by … This is when you strip plates off of a barbell between each set. Only human studies were used. For example, you might do a set of barbell curls with 75 pounds (a regular set), then do a second set with 60 pounds (drop set #1), and then do a third set with 50 pounds (drop set #2). Drop sets increase time under tension, which could increase hypertrophy (. In two studies, Angleri and Ozaki, participants increased their CSA by a mean of 2.16 cm² to 2.43 cm². One arm/leg trained with traditional sets, while the other trained using drop sets. Working outside of the hypertrophy range on the second part of your set can help you. Uni-angular tri-sets is another incredible hypertrophy training method that you should know about. We used the following keywords for searching pubmed, PMC, and Scholar: ("drop set" OR "drop-set" OR "drop sets" OR "drop-sets" OR "dropset" OR "dropsets" OR "breakdown set" OR "breakdown sets" OR "breakdown-set" OR "breakdown-sets") AND ("hypertrophy" OR "strength training" OR "resistance training" OR "bench press" OR "squat" OR "strength"). Now you’ve done 3 sets of barbell curls without needing to waste minutes resting. Notify me of follow-up comments by email. “[Drop set] training might be an efficient way to increase muscle mass with minimal time spent training.” - Fink et al., 2017. Greater TUT is required to hypertrophy these fibers and drop sets are one way to achieve an extended TUT. For another example, let’s say that you’re behind schedule and you don’t have time to do all 3 sets of barbell curls. There are currently not many studies on drop sets. Overhead (military) press 2. Then remove another 20% and do a second drop set. Marco Walker-Ng is the co-founder and strength coach of Outlift, Bony to Beastly, and Bony to Bombshell, and is a certified trainer (PTS) with a Bachelor's degree in Health Sciences (BHSc) from the University of Ottawa. We’d have a 66-67% chance of picking someone who made greater gains from the traditional groups versus the drop set groups. How trained were they? The muscle growth researcher, Dr Brad Schoenfeld, suspects that they stimulate muscle growth by causing greater motor unit fatigue in our muscles (study) and enhancing metabolic stress (study). Phase 2: Hypertrophy, or growth, consisting of high volume (eight to 12 reps, three to five sets) and moderate resistance (50 percent to 75 percent of one-rep max). Drop sets might help if they allow you to do more volume. If you can get anywhere from 6–12 extra reps, that’s great. Drop set super set: Side laterals into rear laterals done as a triple drop: start each exercise with a weight you can get 8 reps with, have 3 pairs of progressively lighter bells set up, and do the exercises as a superset over three drop sets, this is all one set. Still, due to the diversity in study designs, it is difficult to make any firm conclusions if drop sets are superior or inferior to other types of training.
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