When you're lifting weights at the gym and feel a burning sensation in your muscles, it’s a sign that you're challenging your body and pushing it to grow stronger. This burn is the result of the microtears in your muscles from the intensity of resistance training. It might sound intimidating, but these tears are normal and even important if you wish to see any real change in your athletic performance, strength, or gain muscle. These tears heal and rebuild, resulting in muscle growth and improved endurance.
But what if I told you that there’s an even better way to increase this muscle burn? A way to increase the intensity of your working sets without actually increasing the weight? I’m talking about drop sets.
Drop sets are an advanced weight training technique. And if you’ve never done them before, then they might look very easy to you, but if you actually do a drop set, you will realise just how hard lifting a 3 kg dumbbell might feel.
In this blog, we will tell you how you can effectively do a drop set, discuss its effectiveness and benefits, and look at whether drop sets have any disadvantages.
Table of Contents
- What is a Drop Set, & How To Do It?
- Why You Should Add Drop Sets To Your Training: 6 Benefits of Drop Sets
- Are Drop Sets More Effective Than Regular Sets?
- What Are The Disadvantages of Doing Drop Sets?
- Expert’s Advice
- The Final Say
- FAQs
- References
What is a Drop Set, & How To Do It?
A drop set, as discussed above, is an advanced weight training technique used to push your muscles to failure and increase muscle hypertrophy (muscle growth).
To do a drop set, you should first start a challenging weight (though not a top set) and perform as many repetitions as you can until failure (which is when you can no longer complete another rep with good form). Then, immediately put the weight away and pick up a lighter weight (lighter by 10-30%) and continue doing more reps until failure again. This process can be repeated multiple times, typically 2-3 "drops", until the muscle is fully fatigued and you cannot do any more reps, even with very light weights.
How to Do a Drop Set |
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Things to keep in mind while doing drop sets:
- Rest only briefly between drops, around a few seconds. The idea is to keep the intensity high by reducing rest time.
- Focus on form even as fatigue sets in. Without proper form, you risk injury, and the exercise may not be as effective.
- Drop sets can be intense, so incorporate them only once or twice a week to avoid overtraining.
Why You Should Add Drop Sets To Your Training: 6 Benefits of Drop Sets
There are several benefits of adding drop sets to your gym routine. Some of drop set workout benefits are:
1. Increased Muscle Growth
When you push your muscles beyond fatigue with drop sets and continue with lighter weights, you stimulate your muscle fibres even more intensely than regular sets. This promotes hypertrophy (muscle growth), which will help you see gains more quickly!
2. Enhanced Muscle Endurance
The extended sets consist of much more reps than regular sets. This helps with muscular endurance, helping you increase your stamina over time, as the muscles are forced to keep working despite fatigue.
3. Time-Efficient
With the minimal rest period in a drop set, you get to do more work in a shorter amount of time, maximising your workout efficiency, especially if you're short on time but want to push your limits.
4. Greater Muscle Pump
The continuous strenuous movement you go through in a drop set causes more blood to rush to the targeted muscles than in regular sets. This results in a more noticeable muscle pump, which can contribute to muscle definition post-set.
5. Variety in Training
Incorporating drop sets into your routine can help break the monotony of traditional sets by adding variety to your training.
6. Overcome Plateaus
If you're stuck in a hypertrophy plateau, drop sets can help push past that by increasing the intensity of your training, leading to new gains in strength and size.
Also Read: 5 Dynamic Functional Strength Training Exercises With Benefits And Routine!
Are Drop Sets More Effective Than Regular Sets?
Yes, drop sets can be more effective for muscle growth and endurance, as they increase time under tension and muscle fatigue, both key to hypertrophy.
Drop sets help push your muscles beyond their normal limits, leading to greater strength and size gains. This technique also enhances metabolic stress, contributing to muscle growth and improving muscular endurance by forcing the muscles to keep going even when fatigued.
While drop sets are highly effective for those aiming to build muscle and endurance, they may not be as beneficial for strength-focused goals or beginners. Even for muscle gain and endurance, drop sets should not be used every day. But when used sparingly and strategically within a well-rounded routine, drop sets can be a powerful tool to boost your fitness results.
Also Read: 28-Day Workout Challenge: Gym Workout Plan For Newbies To Get Started This New Year!
What Are The Disadvantages of Doing Drop Sets?
Apart from not being ideal for beginners, there are some other things you might need to consider before adding drop sets to your routine:
1. Increased Risk of Injury
Performing drop sets requires pushing your sets until failure. If not careful, this can compromise your form, increasing the risk of injury, especially if you're using heavier weights or performing exercises with poor technique.
2. Overtraining
Due to the high intensity, drop sets can lead to overtraining if done too frequently. Overuse without adequate recovery may cause muscle strain, fatigue, or burnout. To avoid this, incorporate drop sets into your routine only 1-2 times a week for each muscle group and don't use them for every exercise in every session.
3. Requires Longer Recovery
The intensity of drop sets demands more recovery time for the muscles to repair and grow. If not enough rest is given and if you don’t eat foods for muscle recovery, this can hinder muscle recovery and performance in subsequent workouts.
4. Energy Demanding
Because drop sets push muscles to their limits, they can be exhausting, potentially affecting your energy levels for the rest of the workout and reducing performance in other exercises.
5. Limited Strength Gains
Drop sets are excellent for muscle growth, but they may not be as effective for building maximal strength, as they focus on hypertrophy and muscular endurance rather than lifting heavier loads.
Also Read: Implement These 20 Bodyweight Training Exercises For A Good Workout!
Expert’s Advice
Drop set training is a great way to practice different muscle fibres and add some intensity to training. If you add drop sets to your routine, then I highly encourage adding lots of protein and other macros to your diet to ensure proper recovery.
Health Expert
Lavina Chauhan
The Final Say
Once you reach a certain fitness level, you can easily add drop sets to spice up your training. They are a great way to add an element to your exercise routine that will increase hypertrophy and muscle endurance. However, when doing a drop set, it’s important to maintain proper form throughout, even when you’re fatigued. If you’re unable to maintain your form, then you should end the set and take a short rest before continuing again.
FAQs
1. Do drop sets burn fat?
Yes, drop sets can help burn fat by increasing calorie expenditure and promoting muscle growth, which boosts metabolism.
2. Are drops good for building muscle?
Yes, drop sets are great for building muscle as they increase muscle tension and the time of tension.
3. How many drop sets should I do per day?
It’s generally recommended to perform 2-3 drop sets per exercise. You can adjust this based on your fitness level.
References
- https://www.issaonline.com/blog/post/drop-sets-everything-you-need-to-know-for-muscle-gains
- https://www.tonal.com/blog/drop-sets-build-muscle/#:~:text=Drop%20sets%20are%20a%20strength,near%20failure%20in%20less%20time.
- https://www.ladies-who-lift.com/training-glossary/drop-sets#block-yui_3_17_2_1_1664659831690_28449
- https://www.evolveyou.app/blog/what-is-a-drop-set-workout-benefits-examples
- https://www.menshealth.com/fitness/a19533244/metadrops/
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