Ever overheard bodybuilders and gym-veterans talking about special techniques with random sounding names like negatives, pyramids and drop sets? Ever wondered what the necessity of such techniques is? Well, here's the deal: your body is lazy. It's literally designed to take the path of least resistance, it likes to keep things the way they are, and if it can get it away with it, it will avoid change at all cost. Case in point: hypertrophy. Hypertrophy, or muscle growth to you and I, happens not in response to a desire, but a demand. If we want to add inches to our arms, we have to give our bodies a very good reason to do so. In fact, we have to prove to our bodies that those inches are an absolute necessity – and this is done by lifting progressively heavier and harder.
We all get the progressively heavier part — bigger dumbbells, more plates on the bar et cetera. But when it comes to making our gym sessions harder — in an intelligent and safe manner — it can be a little more confusing. After all, how can you be sure that you’re training hard enough? And how do we even quantify hard training?
This is where techniques like drop sets come in.
Studies have shown that in order to elicit muscle growth optimally, we need to be getting as close to muscular failure as possible – the point at which you can't perform anymore reps. In fact, the research suggests that sets that don’t get to within 3-5 reps of this point don’t even move the needle on muscle growth. So, if you’re stopping at 10 reps using a weight you could probably hit 15 with, you’re stopping short of that sweet spot and short changing your gains.
If you find yourself unsure that you’re hitting those vein-popping upper limits of your muscle pumping potential, then using occasional intensifiers — special techniques whose sole purpose it is to take you to failure, and beyond — can give you an insight into how hard you could be training while also catapulting you directly into that coveted growth-zone, and tasking you to stay there. One eye-bulging drop set at time.
What is a Drop Set?
A drop set, some times styled as 'dropset' or descending set, involves completing your regular set before quickly reducing the weight and continuing on with the lower load. The drop in load allows you to keep on working, increasing fatigue and metabolic stress — one of the main drivers of muscle growth— as well as potentially allowing you to stimulate parts of the muscle that respond better to higher reps, that you might otherwise be missing.
You can perform multiple drop sets in a row, gradually getting lighter until you’re left with nothing but an empty barbell, or reach the bottom of the dumbbell rack, which, if done right, should now feel like the heaviest ‘bells you’ve ever lifted.
While a great way to score more reps in the growth zone, we should make it clear that simply performing more reps at a lighter weight isn’t a one-stop-shop for muscle growth. Progressively heavier weights are still the swoly grail of gains. So, ensure you work up to an appropriately heavy weight first, possibly only deploying a drop set on your final, heaviest set, and using the technique sparingly for only one or two movements in each session.
What Are the Benefits of Drop Sets?
Drop sets can be performed without a spotter
Unlike other intensifier techniques, drop sets can generally be executed without a partner or spotter.
Drop sets build muscle, faster
Because of the inherent lack of rest time, a typical drop set can see you performing a huge amount of volume (total reps and sets) in half the time that performing the same work as 'straight sets' would have taken.
Drop sets are safer
Working at a higher intensity – but using lighter weights – can help to mitigate injuries associated with pushing too hard with heavy weights.
Drop sets are simple to perform
Drop sets are incredibly simple to perform on 'pin-loaded' resistance machines, where dropping the weight is as simple as moving a pin.
Drop sets can stimulate more muscle growth
Drop sets allow you hit parts of the muscle or muscle-group that respond better to higher reps, without sacrificing the stimulus of heavy weights and therefore build more strength.
Drop sets build muscular endurance
Working at higher reps with minimal rest promotes muscular endurance, meaning you're getting stronger, for longer.
How Do I Perform a Drop Set?
Now you know why you should perform drop sets, and when. But what does a drop set look like in practice? Let's take it to the gym...
You’ve worked up to your heaviest set of bench press, a mixture of 20, 10 and 5 kilogram plates adorn either end of your barbell. You crush a big five, absolutely grinding out the final rep.
Now, immediately rack the bar, hop up and peel some of the weight plates off, almost down to a weight you know you could perform more than 10 reps with. Lay back down, take the bar out of the rack and perform as many reps as possible with the lightened load.
Hop straight up and peel the remaining plates from the bar, almost down to your warm-up weight, maybe just the barbell remains, get back under the bar, take a deep breath — finish with as many reps as possible at a fraction of your starting weight.
A Drop Set Example
Tricep Pressdowns
6 reps at 100kg
8 reps at 80kg
10 reps at 60kg
15 reps at 20kg
*Minimal rest between sets
Are Drop Sets Effective For Muscle Building?
A recent study into the effects of drop sets on muscle growth concluded that when volume was equated for (ie. the same amount of sets are performed) "There was no significant difference in hypertrophy measurements between the drop set and traditional training groups", however the groups utilising drop sets completed the work in around half, and in some cases a third, of the time. It's reasonable to say then, that for the time strapped amongst us, drop sets are a powerful tool for getting in and out of the gym, pronto, without compromising gains.
What Are The Down Sides of Drop Sets?
Although the science backs up that drop sets are an efficient method for building muscle in a hurry, it should be noted that this comes at a cost. Drop sets are hard, really hard. In fact they can be so hard that performing too many drop sets, especially using big compound movements, early on in your workout, can have a less than favourable knock-on effect to the rest of your workout. A 2021 study concluded that the neuromuscular fatigue generated by drop sets actually decreased performance in the lifts that followed, and could even slow down recovery time. This could potentially be mitigated by using drop sets sparingly, towards the end of your training session, and only using lighter, single joint movements. An example of this would be performing a short series of drop sets to train your biceps and triceps at the end of an upper body workout, once your compound movements and larger muscle groups have been sufficiently worked using straight sets. At this point your muscles are already thoroughly warmed-up, and beginning with a heavy set of curls, moving directly into drop sets is a great way to quickly work in some direct arm work without compromising the rest of your session.
Best Drop Set Workouts to Build Muscle
Here's a collection of the best drop set workouts that will help build muscle.
- The 4-move drop set workout that will carve out a bigger chest
- Supersize your legs with this lower-body drop set workout
- This mechanical drop set workout builds a bigger back and biceps in 3 moves
- Test your power with this drop set workout
- The drop set workout for massive back gains
More Muscle Building Techniques
- Use ‘Forced Negatives’ to Train Beyond Failure for Muscle Growth
- Use the Mechanical Dropset Technique for a Bigger Back and Biceps in Just Three Moves
- Go Slow to Get Strong with Eccentric Training
- Use The Post-Exhaustion Superset Method for a Huge Hypertrophic Pump
- Gain Time and Muscle with 'Non-Overlapping Supersets'
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With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.