The journal Sports Medicine Open published an interesting study related to muscle growth. Experts, in particular, studied the effect of drop sets on muscle growth and came to interesting results: training in this technique allows you to increase muscle volume faster than classic high-repetition repetitions or exercises with heavy weights.
A standard gym workout for an ordinary person includes 6–7 exercises: 4–5 for a large muscle group and 1–2 for a small one. For example, 5 exercises for the back muscles, and after 2 exercises for the biceps. Each exercise is performed for 3–4 approaches, including 6–15 repetitions. Rest between sets is about 1–2 minutes.
This is a classic scheme. This workout will take about an hour, and your muscles will grow if you follow proper nutrition, progressive loads and use optimal weights.
Drop sets are a fundamentally different approach to training. According to research, their effectiveness is no lower than that of classical training, but the training will take significantly less time with similar (or better) results.
What is the secret of drop sets?
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The main secret of drop sets is the maximum use of all the body’s resources. For example, let’s say you do a barbell curl. Your working weight is 30 kilograms. After doing 12 repetitions, you experienced muscle failure. It is impossible to lift the barbell again without cheating.
In classical training, the approach ends with this. You rest for a minute and then repeat the exercise. But during drop sets, the athlete does not finish the exercise, but reduces the weight and immediately continues working. This allows you to fully utilize muscle potential, significantly increase endurance and increase volume. After the first weight loss, you repeat the procedure and do this several times (about 4–5). Only then does the exercise end and you move on to the next one.
An exercise that previously took you about 10 minutes now takes only 5, and its effectiveness has only increased. It sounds ideal, but drop sets have a major drawback.
This technique is very exhausting. Practice drop sets daily. Especially for a beginner, this is a direct road to injury and nervous exhaustion. Therefore, you need to use the technique only to stimulate muscles when you have reached a plateau and cannot achieve growth.