Drop Sets – Everything You Need to Know for Muscle Gains

A drop set is an advanced type of strength training that can bring big muscle gain in a short amount of time. Before trying drop sets, make sure you understand how to use the technique safely. While there are some serious benefits, it’s easy to overdo drop sets and cause more harm than good. 

What Are Drop Sets? 

A drop set is a training strategy that takes the muscles to failure by continuously “dropping” (reducing) the weight until the client can’t complete any more reps (1). You perform a set of reps to failure, drop to a lower weight and complete another set to failure, and then drop to an even lower weight, again completing reps to failure. You would typically complete two or three drops per cycle but not more than three. 

So, what is failure? Imagine those times in the gym when you’re working on a set of reps, but you can’t complete it. You get to a point where your muscles simply can’t take you through one more rep and you have to stop and rest. This is failure. 

Here’s an example of a drop set for bicep curls: 

• Start with a set of dumbbells that’s pretty heavy for you, maybe 15 pounds, that only allows you to complete 6 to 8 reps. 

• Use the 15 pounds to complete as many bicep curls as you can before reaching failure. 

• With no rest time in between, grab a set of 12 pound weights and perform another set of curls to failure, maybe 10 or 12 this time. 

• Again, with no rest, drop down again to 10 or 8 pounds and complete a set of reps to failure. 

The idea with drop sets is to increase the time your muscles are under tension and to progress without adding bigger weights. 

When it comes to increasing muscle size (hypertrophy), drop sets have shown to be an effective technique. However, it’s important to know that more research is still required to determine whether or not drop sets are more effective than some other weightlifting strategies (progressive overload, high training volume, etc.) that have shown to increase hypertrophy (1)(2).

If you want more muscle mass and strength in your biceps, check out this biceps exercise guide. 

What Are the Benefits of Drop Sets? 

There are several benefits to training this way. Just keep in mind that the drop set is an advanced type of strength training that’s not appropriate for beginners.

You’ll See Major Muscle Growth Fast

If hypertrophy is your goal, you’ll want to try drop sets. Muscle hypertrophy is one of the main reasons people turn to drop sets. By putting more stress on the muscle, you can get big gains in size over a shorter period of time. 

In a study that compared drop sets to standard sets, researchers proved that the drop sets had more muscle growth. The first set fatigues certain muscle fibers. By immediately performing additional sets with lighter weights, the muscle is forced to recruit larger, fast-twitch fibers, which helps in building muscle size. 

Learn more about muscle fiber types and how to train them here. 

Drop Sets Improve Muscle Endurance

Drop sets are also a recipe for making gains in endurance. Muscle endurance is how long your muscles can keep going with an exercise. By training to fatigue and continuing on with lower weights and no rest, you push and build endurance.

They Help Break Plateaus

It’s easy to reach muscle growth and strength plateaus once you get into a regular strength training routine. Anything you can do to change up your workouts and challenge a muscle group in new ways will help to break that gains plateau. 

Drop Sets Are Efficient

Try adding drop sets on days when you’re short on time. You can get more of a workout in less time by working a muscle to fatigue without rest between sets. A study of drop set training compared to traditional sets found that not only do drop sets improve muscle endurance and strength, they do so in less time than standard training. 

Are There Any Risks of Doing Drop Sets for Resistance Training? 

Drop sets can be a safe way to build muscle, if you know what you’re doing. It is not a training technique recommended for newbies. There are risks if you don’t do it right. 

At best, you can overdo drop sets resulting in no gains or even muscle loss. At worst, you can get injured by doing drop sets too often, with the wrong kind of exercise, or with poor form. 

Because you fatigue the muscles, overdoing drop sets can actually hamper muscle size and strength gains. Getting to the point of fatigue also makes it more difficult to maintain good form, which means risking injuries if you get sloppy.

How Often Should You Incorporate Drop Sets?

A common strategy is to use the drop set in the last set of an exercise. It is possible, however, to use drop sets for more than one set of an exercise. But, you wouldn't want to do drop sets for every set of every exercise during a workout.

You, also, would not want to have clients doing drops sets every day of the week. Drop sets are exhausting and can cause a lot of stress that requires periods of recovery. It may be possible to use drop sets more than once a week but do so cautiously. Drop sets are intense, so, if you overuse them in a workout or within a training program, you may find yourself with a client who is burned out, has muscle damage, or experiences other negative side effects. (2)

Although there are a variety of ways to implement drops sets, a study from Schoenfeld and Grgic in 2017 provided some potential recommendations on training variables for a drop set strategy:

• Load reduction: 15-25% each drop

• Rest intervals: minimal

• Volume: 1-3 drops in the load

• Tempo: 1-3 seconds for both concentric and eccentric contractions (can be > 4 seconds but this will decrease total volume) (2)

How Much Weight Should My Client Start With?

The starting weight depends on your client’s goals and abilities, the exercise, and the drop set method you intend to use. A good starting point for core lifts is typically around 75-80% of their 1RM, but this can be higher. Clients should be starting with a heavy weight (likely a weight where they struggle to complete 6-8 reps). (3)

Are There Other Options for Weight Reductions?

If the load reduction recommendations from Schoenfeld and Grgic don’t work for your client, you may want to explore other strategies. How much the weight is reduced is dependent on the client, the type of exercise, client goals, and the type of equipment used (dumbbell, kettlebell, weight machine, barbell, etc.). The following list includes a few additional drop set methods that can help you determine the best fit for your client. 

• Wide drops sets: larger reduction in weight (often 30+% reduction) and commonly used for larger muscle groups. 

• Tight drop sets: smaller reduction in weights (often 5-25% reduction) and commonly used for smaller muscle groups.

• 6-20 method: complete 6 reps at a heavy weight. Cut the weight in half and complete 20 reps at the “half” weight. 

• Rest pause: A heavier weight is lifted until failure (typically around 6-8 reps) and then a short break is taken (typically around 20-25 sec.) and then the client attempts the same weight again (for 3-4 sets) until failure. It is also possible for the weight to be reduced, and the pattern repeated after 2-3 attempts to failure.

The muscles will burn as they fatigue, so the ability of the client to control the weight may become more difficult. Because of this, safe spotting techniques are essential. 

How to Use Drop Sets Safely and Effectively

First, if you are still new to weight training, start with traditional sets. Once you’ve built some strength and have a good grasp of proper form or have hit a plateau, you can safely benefit from adding drop sets. Here are some tips, ideas, and safety considerations as you get started: 

• Avoid compound exercises. Compound movements like squats are best done as strict sets. Doing these big movements to exhaustion repeatedly is risky. It’s too easy to lose form and get injured. The risks of injury from poor form are much less significant with isolated movements like a bicep curl, lat pulldown, leg extension, or shoulder press. If you want to try a compound exercise, use a machine for safety. 

• Start small. Working to fatigue is beneficial to a point. It’s possible to do more harm by doing too much. No workout should be made up entirely of drop sets. Sprinkle a few into a workout that otherwise consists of strict sets. Start with just a couple of drop sets one or two times per week. Also strategize placement. For instance, avoid doing a drop set of leg presses before a squat set. Your legs will be too fatigued to do the squats properly. 

• Set up weight before starting. To be effective, you need zero rest between sets. Choose your weights in advance and line them up from heavy weight to lighter weight before beginning the exercise so you can quickly move from one set to the next. 

• Watch your form. Completing a set to muscle failure means stopping when you can no longer complete a rep with proper form. You might be able to hike that weight up one more time, but if you can’t do it with the right form, there’s no point. You won’t get the benefit of the lift, and you could hurt yourself. 

• Make the right drop. When dropping from one weight to the next, aim for a decrease of about 15% to 25%. Drop too much, and you’ll do an endless set of reps. Drop too little, and you won’t be able to get through more than a couple of reps. Ideally, you should be able to do 8 to 12 reps in each dropped set. 

• Prioritize recovery. As with any type of strength training, gains in drop sets come during the down time. Avoid doing the same drop sets two days in a row and give yourself plenty of recovery time. Don’t forget to recover with adequate nutrition and sleep too. 

Drop sets can be a great way to make fast gains. Just be sure to do it safely. This is an advanced training technique, and it’s easy to overdo it. If you’re a trainer, help your clients learn drop sets in a safe and controlled way. 

Learn about drop sets and so much more through the ISSA’s Certified Personal Trainer – Self-Guided Study Program. It’s affordable, self-paced, and everything you need to become a professional trainer. 

References

1. Roberts, B. and Tzur, A. “The Drop Set – Scientific Review and Practical Advice.” The Science of Fitness. 2018. 

2. Schoenfeld, B. and Grgic, J. “Can Drop Set Training Enhance Muscle Growth?” Strength and Conditioning Journal. Dec. 2017. 

3. Howe, L. and Waldron, M. “Advanced Resistance Training strategies for increasing muscle hypertrophy and maximal strength. Part 1: Accumulation Methods.” Professional Strength and Conditioning Journal. 2017.