Drop sets match traditional training for muscle growth in some studies but show slight superiority in others under controlled conditions.
Original: They Trained One Side DROP SETS vs NORMAL Sets
Evidence is mixed: some studies show equivalent muscle growth with drop sets, others show a small but statistically significant advantage for traditional training.
Quick Answer
Drop sets and normal sets produced practically equivalent muscle hypertrophy in trained individuals, with no meaningful difference in muscle thickness gains. However, drop sets reduced training time by 60% per session, making them significantly more time-efficient. The study used a within-subject design with electromagnetic cable machines, and the drop set protocol involved multiple load reductions (8% per drop) triggered by a 20% drop in concentric velocity, continuing until failure.
Claims (10)
1. Lifting weights until you can't do another rep, with fast upward moves and slow downward moves, helps muscles grow.
2. When you lift heavy, then quickly lift lighter weights without resting, you can grow muscles just as much as doing regular sets.
3. If you do more reps near your limit, you grow muscle just as well as doing more total reps far from failure.
4. You can grow the same amount of muscle in less time by using drop sets instead of regular sets.
5. Doing one long set with several weight drops is the fastest way to grow muscle without wasting time.
6. Doing more reps near your limit makes up for not resting between sets.
7. Shorter rest between sets works just as well for small muscles like biceps as it does for big muscles like legs.
8. Doing drop sets helps you do more reps with the same weight better than regular sets.
9. Taking longer breaks between sets helps your muscles grow more than taking short breaks.
10. Lifting heavier weights makes you stronger than lifting lighter weights, even if you do more reps.
Key Takeaways
- •Problem: People want to build muscle without spending hours in the gym every week.
- •Core methods: Drop sets with velocity-triggered 8% load reductions, normal sets with fixed loads to failure, preacher curls, kneeling lat pulldowns.
- •How methods work: In drop sets, you lift until your movement slows by 20%, then the machine automatically lowers the weight by 8%, and you keep going until failure—repeating this 2–4 times per set. In normal sets, you do fixed-weight sets to failure with rest between.
- •Expected outcomes: Both methods build muscle equally well, but drop sets take 60% less time per workout.
- •Implementation timeframe: Results were seen after 10 weeks of training 2–3 times per week.
Overview
The problem is how to maximize muscle hypertrophy while minimizing training time. The solution involves comparing drop sets—where load is reduced automatically after velocity-based failure cues—to traditional normal sets with fixed loads and rest periods. The video evaluates this using a within-subject, unilateral design over 10 weeks in trained individuals, measuring muscle thickness and time efficiency. Key methods include velocity-triggered 8% load reductions, multiple drop series per exercise, and comparison against standard 8–12 rep max training to failure.
Key Terms
How to Apply
- 1.Select two unilateral exercises: preacher curls and kneeling lat pulldowns (or equivalent isolation movements like dumbbell curls and cable rows).
- 2.Train one arm with normal sets: perform 4 sets of 8–12 reps to momentary failure on preacher curls and 2 sets on pulldowns, using a weight that allows you to reach failure in that rep range, with 2–3 minutes rest between sets.
- 3.Train the other arm with drop sets: start with an 8–12 rep max load, perform reps with maximal concentric speed and controlled eccentric, and when your rep speed drops 20% from your fastest rep, reduce the weight by 8% and continue to failure; repeat this 2–4 times per drop series (2 series for curls, 1 for pulldowns).
- 4.Use a machine or device that can automatically detect concentric velocity drop and reduce load (e.g., Tonal, or manually adjust weight with a partner using a pre-measured 8% reduction after each speed drop).
- 5.Alternate which arm is trained first each session to avoid bias.
- 6.Perform this protocol 2–3 times per week for 10 weeks, tracking total reps and time per session.
- 7.Measure muscle thickness (e.g., biceps/brachiialis) at mid-arm before and after the 10-week period to track hypertrophy.
After 10 weeks, muscle growth in the trained arms will be nearly identical between drop sets and normal sets, but each drop set session will take approximately 60% less time than normal set sessions, allowing for significant time savings without sacrificing muscle gains.
Additional Links
Claims (10)
1. Lifting weights until you can't do another rep, with fast upward moves and slow downward moves, helps muscles grow.
2. When you lift heavy, then quickly lift lighter weights without resting, you can grow muscles just as much as doing regular sets.
3. If you do more reps near your limit, you grow muscle just as well as doing more total reps far from failure.
4. You can grow the same amount of muscle in less time by using drop sets instead of regular sets.
5. Doing one long set with several weight drops is the fastest way to grow muscle without wasting time.
6. Doing more reps near your limit makes up for not resting between sets.
7. Shorter rest between sets works just as well for small muscles like biceps as it does for big muscles like legs.
8. Doing drop sets helps you do more reps with the same weight better than regular sets.
9. Taking longer breaks between sets helps your muscles grow more than taking short breaks.
10. Lifting heavier weights makes you stronger than lifting lighter weights, even if you do more reps.
Related Content
Claims (10)
Drop set training, involving multiple load reductions without rest until momentary failure, produces skeletal muscle hypertrophy equivalent to traditional resistance training with multiple sets.
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.
Performing resistance exercises to momentary muscular failure with maximal concentric velocity and controlled eccentric phase induces skeletal muscle hypertrophy.
The increased number of hard repetitions (within 2–3 reps of failure) in drop set protocols compensates for the absence of inter-set rest, resulting in equivalent hypertrophic outcomes compared to traditional training with longer rest intervals.
A higher proportion of repetitions performed within two reps of muscular failure enhances hypertrophic stimulus efficiency, producing equivalent muscle growth with fewer total repetitions.