Gain Muscle With Drop Sets

The great Arnold Schwarzenegger used drop sets to get the body that won him Mr. Olympia and now, so can you. Drop sets are an ideal way to add muscle mass to your frame. It is one of the best ways to shock your muscles into growth and great way to break the plateau when your muscles stop growing.

In order to perform drop sets, you lift certain amount of weight as you normally would, doing 6-10 reps. Then once you maxed out on the last rep, you immediately lower the weight and bust out another 6-10 reps and keep lowering and lifting until exhaustion.

When you perform your normal lifts, you usually max out on your last rep to the point where you can’t lift anymore. But if you immediately decrease the weight, you will find that you can perform another set of 6-10 reps. Then, if you lower it again a third time, you can go again for another 6-10 reps and so on.

Doing these kind of drop sets entice muscle growth because they provide maximum strain on your muscles. As you keep decreasing the weight and continuing on with your exercise, you will be continually pushing your body and muscles to their limits and this extra strain on your muscles is what promotes growth.

Also drop sets are a great way to break through the dreaded plateau mark where you stop seeing gains and muscle growth from your workouts. Since your body and muscles are not used to the strain that drop sets cause, it is a great way to shock your muscles into growing once again.

With that being said, it is also very easy to overtrain with drop sets. So I recommend doing no more than 3 drop sets at a time. Also only perform drop sets periodically as a way to change up your workout. Since your main goal with drop sets is to promote muscle growth, you only need to perform it a handful of times (maybe for one week out of your regular workout regimen) to shock your muscles and body to grow. If you make drop sets a part of your regular routine, your body will sooner or later get used to them which will take away from their effectiveness.

How To Perform Drop Sets

There are many variations of drop sets with each being equally as effective. It is best to mix up these variations to keep things fresh and maximize your results.

Tight Drop Sets: These types of drop sets require you to lower the weight by about 10 to 20 percent for each drop. So if you are lifting 100 pounds regularly, you will lower the weight to 90-80 pounds for the first drop set, around 80-70 pounds for the second drop set, and so on.

Wide Drop Sets: These types of drop sets require you lower the weight by 30 or more percent per drop. So if you are lifting 100 pounds regularly, you will lower it to 70 pounds, then 50 pounds, and so on.

End Set Drop Sets: This is where you perform drop sets after you perform your regular sets. So if you do three sets of bench press normally, you would incorporate the drop sets after the last rep on last regular set of bench press and keep performing these drop sets until exhaustion.

Ascending Drop Sets: This is where you increase the number of reps as you lower the weight. For example: you do 8 reps of 100, 12 reps of 70, and then 16 reps of 50. Ascending drop sets work well in conjunction to wide drop sets since decrease in weight is substantial enough to allow you to do more reps.

Descending Drop Sets: This is where you decrease the number of reps as you lower the weight. For example: you do 10 reps of 100, 8 reps of 90, and then 6 reps of 80. Descending drop sets work well in conjunction with tight drop sets.

Additional Points

• When performing drop sets keep the rest periods to a minimum if any at all. This will maximize the strain on your muscles.
• Machine weights are better for drop sets than free weight, since you can easily adjust the weight by moving the pin around rather than getting up and adding and removing plates which cost you valuable time.
• It will help if you have a partner with you when doing free weight drop sets as they can quickly change the weight while you perform your drop sets.
• Don’t go over 3 drop sets and use them periodically as a way to shock your muscles to grow. This way you will see continuous gains without hitting the plateau mark.
  

My Final Take

Drops sets are a great addition to any workout routine but best when used sparingly. Always try to vary your workout routine and do the same with your drops set. This way your body will always be adjusting and growing as it tries to adapt to each strenuous task you throw at it.

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