The Study
Investigating the Effect of the Tonal Drop Set Mode On Elbow Flexor Hypertrophy
This study is like a fair race between two workout styles — one old, one new. They randomly picked people to try each style and measured muscle growth. It found one style made muscles a tiny bit bigger, but not enough to really matter. So we can say one might be slightly better, but not by much.
Analysis score
Maximum 90 for a randomized controlled trial.
Where the score came from
Both ways of lifting weights made arms slightly bigger, but one way took less time.
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 566 / 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.
- 1The extra muscle from traditional training is too tiny to matter in real life.
- 2But drop sets build the same muscle in less time — great for busy people.
- 3Traditional training: +0.07 cm more muscle than drop sets.
- 4Drop sets: 1.86% muscle growth in less time.
- 5Total growth in both groups: about 0.1 cm.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Authors
Seth Hinson, Zac Robinson, Jacob Remmert, Joshua Pelland, Scott Mikula, Alexandre Hamaide, Michael Zourdos
Related Content
Claims (10)
If you lift weights until your muscles can't do another rep, pushing fast on the way up and slowing down on the way back, it helps your muscles grow bigger.
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.
Even though one method showed a tiny bit more muscle growth, it was so small that it wouldn’t make any noticeable difference in how your arms look or feel.
After 10 weeks of hard lifting, your arms only get a tiny bit bigger — less than the thickness of a penny — no matter which method you use.
Even though drop sets don’t build much more muscle overall, they do it faster — you get the same tiny muscle gain in less time, which is great if you’re short on workouts.
The study didn’t include many women or elite lifters, so we can’t be sure these results apply to everyone.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.