Dropsets are a great way to increase muscle mass, as they’re a quick and easy way to increase blood flow into the muscles, get the heart pumping, and most importantly, fatigue the muscles to ensure hypertrophy!.
WHAT ARE DROPSETS?
Dropsets are essentially a technique where you perform an exercise and then drop (reduce) the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure.
Dropsets work because in any given set, you’re only recruiting a certain amount of muscle fibers. By then stripping the weight down and going lighter, you recruit different muscle fibers, which should help the muscles achieve growth that couldn’t be achieved by sticking with the same weight.
Examples of a dropset with a cable bicep curl
- Set 1: Choose a weight you’d fail at 4-6 reps
- Set 2: Reduce weight by 2.5kg-10kg. / 8-10 reps
- Set 3: Reduce weight by 2.5kg-10kg. / 10-12 reps
- Set 4: Reduce weight by 2.5kg-10kg. / 12-15 reps
- Set 5: Reduce weight by 2.5kg-10kg. / 15-20 reps
Supersets can be great as a finisher to a regular workout. So if you’ve been training with straight sets, you could end the workout with a superset of the final two exercises.
Since your body is already tired from the rest of your workout, adding a superset will push your muscles even further. And with a superset as a finisher, you can keep to a moderate weight.
WHY PERFORM/BENEFITS OF DROPSETS?
- They help muscle growth. One way bodybuilders make their muscles bigger — hypertrophy — is through volume training. That is, doing lots of sets and reps, pushing the muscles until they reach failure — when they can’t physically do another rep. Supersets pack lot of volume into a short amount of time, giving your muscles less time to rest, forcing them to adapt and grow.
- They help you burn fat. By increasing the amount of work you cram into a workout, you’re burning more calories, along with building more muscle. The more muscle you have, the faster your metabolism is, burning more fat at rest. Supersets boost your metabolic rate by making your workouts more intense.
- They save you time in the gym. By structuring your workout with a series of supersets, you’re effectively getting your workout done in a much shorter amount of time. Provided you’re taking into account that you’ll need to take longer rests between supersets than between regular sets (and fuelling your body with good post-workout nutrition), supersets can be a great way to be more efficient when you’re time-poor.
GENERAL RULES
1st set should be heaviest. No rest in between drops sets. Walk down the rack selecting weights.
So, why not try a few dropsets with your next workout?
