The Study
Equated volume load: similar improvements in muscle strength, endurance, and hypertrophy for traditional, pre-exhaustion, and drop sets in resistance training
This study is like a quick note about different exercise methods. It says they all seem to work about the same when you do the same total amount of work, but it doesn't prove one causes better results than others because we don't know how the study was done.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
This study looked at different ways to lift weights and see which is best for muscles.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 547 / 100
Quality score
Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or control groups, minimizing bias. The gold standard for testing whether an intervention causes an effect.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1No one way was better than the others for building muscle or strength.
- 2All three ways made muscles stronger, bigger, and able to last longer about the same.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Sport Sciences for Health
Year
2024
Authors
Kadir Keskin, F. Gogus, Mehmet Gunay, R. A. Fujita
Related Content
Claims (10)
If you get equally tired from different workout routines, how much muscle you build might depend more on how tired you are than on how many sets or reps you do.
Doing multiple different exercises with higher volume does not lead to noticeably more muscle growth than doing just one exercise four times per week.
Just because a workout makes your muscles feel huge and pumped during the session doesn't guarantee they'll actually grow bigger over time.
Two different ways of lifting weights—pre-exhaustion and traditional—both help you get stronger and last longer during exercise about the same amount.
Doing all your sets for one exercise before switching to the next might build a tiny bit more muscle than mixing exercises up, but it's such a small difference we can't be sure it's real.
In young men who exercise recreationally, three different weightlifting methods—traditional training, pre-exhaustion, and drop sets—produce the same increases in muscle strength, endurance, and size when the total amount of work is kept equal.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.