More Muscle in One Spot with Less Time?
Drop-Set Training Elicits Differential Increases in Non-Uniform Hypertrophy of the Quadriceps in Leg Extension Exercise
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two ways to train legs: one is normal, the other is doing extra reps right after getting super tired. The extra-reps way made one part of the front thigh muscle bigger — but only in the top and middle, not the bottom.
Surprising Findings
The vastus lateralis (side thigh muscle) showed zero difference in growth between drop sets and traditional training—even at all three measurement points (30%, 50%, 70%).
Most assume drop sets would stimulate all muscles equally due to metabolic stress. But this shows muscle-specific responses—even within the same joint movement.
Practical Takeaways
Use drop sets on isolation exercises like leg extensions or dumbbell curls to target specific muscle zones (e.g., upper quads or biceps peak) for better aesthetics.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a healthcare professional. Terms
Two ways to train legs: one is normal, the other is doing extra reps right after getting super tired. The extra-reps way made one part of the front thigh muscle bigger — but only in the top and middle, not the bottom.
Surprising Findings
The vastus lateralis (side thigh muscle) showed zero difference in growth between drop sets and traditional training—even at all three measurement points (30%, 50%, 70%).
Most assume drop sets would stimulate all muscles equally due to metabolic stress. But this shows muscle-specific responses—even within the same joint movement.
Practical Takeaways
Use drop sets on isolation exercises like leg extensions or dumbbell curls to target specific muscle zones (e.g., upper quads or biceps peak) for better aesthetics.
Publication
Journal
Sports
Year
2021
Authors
Dorian Varović, Kristian Žganjer, S. Vuk, B. Schoenfeld
Related Content
Claims (7)
Doing leg extensions with drop sets (going to failure, then lowering the weight and going again) makes the front part of your thigh muscle grow more than doing regular sets, but only in the upper and middle parts—not the bottom or the side muscles.
Even though drop sets make your thigh muscle grow more in some spots, they don’t make you stronger in a one-rep max or in a machine test than regular sets—both methods improve strength about the same.
The side muscle of your thigh doesn’t grow any more with drop sets than with regular sets—no matter where you measure it.
Muscles don’t grow evenly—when you train your thigh, the top and middle parts of the front muscle grow more than the bottom, and the side muscle grows the same everywhere.
Drop set training produces equivalent muscle hypertrophy in significantly less training time compared to traditional resistance training, resulting in greater hypertrophy per unit of time.