How to build muscle efficiently with the drop set?

The drop-set is a well known intensification technique in bodybuilding. It makes it possible to accelerate sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. Contrary to classic sets, drop-set sets make the muscle fibres work in depth. It makes possible an optimized growth and an easier mass gain. However, it does not help to work on power or strength.

What is the drop set?

The drop-set, as well as other intensification, pre-fatigue or superset helps to make your session more difficult to achieve. However, unlike these two techniques. The drop-set should not be used in all your workouts. In fact, this type of training consists of first doing several short sets of weight training exercises at maximum load. Then, you will have to decrease the load from 10 to 30% to go to muscular failure. It is not necessary to carry out a drop-set on each series, but rather on the last series.

Why work in drop-set in a bodybuilding program?

• Be more effective in your sessions:
  This technique can cut your workout time in half, as it involves doing short sets. You will perform more sets, and therefore more repetitions in less time. You will therefore work your muscles more and in more depth. Therefore, if you are short on time, the drop-set is a perfect technique to shorten your session without sacrificing the quality of your work.
• Feel your muscles work:
  Decreasing effort is a great way to build muscle and feel your body working. It will also allow you to work the less developed muscles. Therefore, if you are looking for congestion, soreness and a taste of effort, the drop-set is the right technique for you.
• Fatigue the muscle and achieve muscular failure:
  By reaching your muscular limits, you will be able to properly fatigue your muscle fibers, which will then have to repair themselves and therefore grow. Obviously, it is not a question of trying to lift as much as possible and injuring yourself, but of trying to reach the maximum of your possibilities.
• Strengthen your mind:
  This technique not only allows for muscle hypertrophy but also improves your endurance. Whether it is muscular or mental. Indeed, you will have to push your tolerance to pain and your limits.
• Work muscular hypertrophy or muscle volume:
  For a muscle to grow, the fibres must be "damaged" so that they can repair themselves and grow in size. It is therefore necessary to shock the muscle, to work and lift weights to the point of muscular failure and to tire the muscle in depth. This is precisely what allows the muscle fibres to repair themselves by growing and to accelerate muscle development.
• Spare no fibre:
  Since this technique pushes you to do a large number of repetitions in a short time, the deepest fibers are worked. This is in contrast to single sets, which only work the superficial fibers. Soliciting the deeper muscles does not require you to lift a very heavy weight but rather to work with a light load and numerous repeated contractions.

How often should I use the drop set?

Decreasing-load work consists of performing an isolation exercise in two or three sets of 8 to 10 repetitions, the first of which will be at a load close to your maximum and the others at a lighter 10 to 30% load.

Therefore, at each of your sessions, a muscle group can be worked in drop set. But be careful, this technique is exhausting for the body and particularly for the muscle worked. It is preferable, if you train every day, not to use the drop-set at each session, respect a time of rest so that your muscular fibres recover as well as possible.

For example

If you are doing loaded squats and your 1RM is 180kg, you start at 70% of your 1RM, which is 125kg, for a set of 8 to 10 reps. After this first set, the only rest time you will take is the time to rest the bar, remove the load and then replace yourself, about 30 seconds if you are efficient. The load will then be reduced by between 12.5kg and 37.5kg (10 to 30%). You then perform the maximum number of reps until you reach muscle failure.

It is then possible to take again 30 seconds of rest and to carry out again a series with lighter load while going to the muscular failure. However, after two or three series, the worked muscular group will be exhausted, thus do not carry out drop set at the beginning of the sessions, but rather at the end to finish well and tire your muscles.

To learn more about the weight to use, you can read this article: How to choose your weights to build muscle properly?

Can the drop set be done at body weight?

It is perfectly possible to use bodyweight drop sets and not use dumbbells or weight bench. Calisthenics or crossfit can be the place to practice drop-set in order to improve one's mastery of the different movements and muscular endurance, two essential points in this type of sport.

No need for weights to set up the drop set. Instead of decreasing the load used, it will suffice to perform easier variations of the exercise performed. For example, for push-ups, start with "diamond" push-ups and then return to classic push-ups.

The drop-set is particularly effective in developing upper body muscles.

Important part for a crossfitter or someone training in calisthenics. Why is this important? Because both trainers rely on long sets of exercises such as dipsthe pull-ups...

This requires good muscular endurance, and the goal of both practices is either to improve your time or to improve the number of reps.

For example, for an exercise such as pull-ups, you can start with a series of 8 to 10 repetitions of maximum-amplitude pull-ups. This means starting with your arms relaxed and finishing with your chest against the bar, followed by a series of 8 to 10 repetitions of classic pull-ups, i.e. starting with your arms relaxed and finishing with your chin above the bar, without using any momentum, and finally finishing with a series of 8 to 10 "inverted bodyweight rows", i.e. elongated pull-ups with a bar or gymnastic rings.

This last exercise will be focused not on endurance but on muscle strengthening. It is possible to replace it by a more technical exercise that is more difficult to master, specific to crossfiters.
This example can obviously be applied to all bodyweight exercises. They will be very beneficial to strengthen your endurance and your muscles.

It is therefore a good method not only for crossfit or body weight trainingbut also for all other athletes to improve their performance.

Things to remember about drop sets

While drop sets are very effective in intensifying your workout, beware of overtraining. Be aware that drop sets are very taxing on the body, and you will often have to push yourself to your limits. Therefore, limit the drop set to once a week for a specific muscle group. This is true even if you are new to the drop set. Limit it to twice a week if you train every day. Otherwise, you will almost certainly injure yourself or overtrain.

It is also important to know that other factors come into play. The intensity of the training, the quality of your diet, your sleep time, your number of years of practice. Thus, this type of practice is not for beginners. This technique requires endurance and strength, which a beginner may not have. Of course, don't forget warm-ups before each session.

Do you want to build muscle? Follow a program established by a sports coach that will allow you to reach your goals?

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