Decreasing Training Time With Drop Sets
Why and how I’m using drop sets in my resistance training
In recent years, it’s become clear that resistance training has more to offer than just aesthetic benefits. From unparalleled reductions in mortality (I) to mitigating the risk of elderly fractures (II) and improving healthspan across one’s lifetime, resistance training – like lifting weights – provides immense health and fitness benefits. In a previous post, I addressed the minimum effective dose to reap much of the benefits of resistance training, for which I suspect the time commitment is likely less than you think. Yet, I figure many of you are interested in further optimizing your time in the gym, whether it be to avoid 2-hour training sessions while increasing your volume or simply because you don’t want to spend any more time exercising than is needed to reap most of the benefits. For this reason, I’ll share one of my top tactics for increasing my time-efficiency in the gym without sacrificing my muscle gains: drop sets.
Bottom Line Up Front
I utilize drop sets – lifting until failure at a given weight then immediately lowering the weight and continuing the set to failure several times – to increase my training volume without simultaneously increasing the length of my training sessions.
Though the research is unclear regarding whether drop sets increase muscle growth to a greater extent than traditional sets, it seems that they at least induce equivalent amounts of hypertrophy and require significantly less time in the gym. (III, IV, V, VI)
When using drop sets, I typically implement them as the final set for a given exercise using the following protocol:
Conduct a set to failure, aiming for 5-10 reps.
Immediately reduce the weight 10-25% and complete another set to failure
Immediately reduce the weight 10-25% again and complete one more set to failure.
As I covered in the Muscle Mania Series, mechanical tension and metabolic stress are the two main mechanisms for inducing muscular hypertrophy, or growth; consequently, both training volume (i.e. sets x reps x weight) and proximity to failure (i.e. how much effort you put into each set) are pivotal training variables for making gains in the gym. The former dictates the total load placed on the given muscle during the training session, while the latter determines the total metabolic stress induced in the muscle tissue during each set and across the training session.
Lifters typically utilize traditional sets, whereby they complete a set somewhere near failure – the point at which they cannot lift the weight again with proper form – rest a couple of minutes, complete another set, and repeat the process until they hit their target volume. In this protocol, you can increase your mechanical tension by increasing the weight and adding more sets over time, and you can up your metabolic stress by bringing each set closer or all the way to failure. However, adding more sets means adding time to the training session, and you can only train so close to failure using this method.
Drop sets, whereby you conduct a set to failure followed immediately by several sets at lower weights, is one solution to these limitations, in that it condenses volume into a shorter time period and allows you to lift beyond the traditional limit of failure. In the process, the additional repetitions add mechanical tension and increase the metabolic stress built up in the muscle. Importantly, research suggests that this method is at least as effective as traditional sets when volume is equated, and it eats up significantly less time in the gym. (III, IV, V, VI)
There is no specific prescription for how many drops to use nor for how much to reduce the weight during each drop, but the most common protocols I’ve seen involve 1-3 drops consisting of 10-25% decreases in weight. Here is how that might look:
Set 1: 100 lbs to failure.
Set 2: 85 lbs to failure
Set 3: 70 lbs to failure
The entire drop set would consist of all three of the sets listed above, conducted immediately after one another with no rest in between.
Personally, I like to keep the first set on the heavy side, so I fail close to 5 reps and the follow on drops still leave me at a weight that is fairly heavy. If I use a lighter weight to start, I sometimes find the weight is not sufficiently heavy during the second or third drop sets to induce a useful stimulus. In addition, I mostly utilize drop sets for isolation movements (i.e. curls, extensions, lateral raises, etc.) as I feel I’m at a greater risk of injury if I train beyond traditional failure with more technically demanding compound movements (i.e. back squat, bench press, deadlift, etc.). In terms of modality, it’s easiest to conduct drop sets on cable machines – where you can quickly switch the weight by moving the pin – or by “running the rack” where you can easily move from one set of dumbbells to the next.
Importantly, I save drop sets for the final 1 or 2 sets of the final 1-3 exercises in a training session, as utilizing them in the first sets and/or exercises may decrease my performance in the follow on sets and exercises due to accumulated fatigue. I avoid this because it could ultimately decrease the total mechanical tension I acquire across the training session.
Drop sets have been particularly useful for me recently, as I’ve been increasing my training volume, and tossing a drop set in on set 3, 4, or 5 saves a lot of time in comparison to completing 6+ sets for several exercises in a session. In addition, I’ve found drop sets helpful when I’ve been in a rush and only had time to complete a couple of sets for my last exercises. In these scenarios, I bang out drop sets in a circuit, moving from one drop set to the next on my last few exercises. This allows me to condense the volume for those final exercises in 10 minutes while still achieving a meaningful stimulus.
Whether it be topping off your already high volume or concentrating your few sets per session, I think drop sets will help you save time in the gym while also breaking up the monotony of using traditional sets day in and day out. Let me know what you think in the comments below if you try them out or if you already have experience using them.