Drop Sets, Best way to workout for bulking? How much better than regular sets?

E

enz660

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I just read about Drop Sets earlier today and it seems that the first Mr. Olympia as well as Arnold Schwarzenegger used this method to bulk up. It seems very VERY stressful, I was wondering if someone could explain to me the best technique to this when you go to the gym alone.

Say I start doing biceps with 40 pounds dumb bells, then i fail with those at around 6 reps, then How much weight should I drop & how much time should I wait between the change in weight, and how many reps should I be aiming for when this lesser weight?
 
Drop sets are just a tool in the tool box that Arnold used for bulking. Bulking required calories; how much you eat will have the impact you're looking for over drop sets, forced reps, angles of impact, and other neat terms.
 
But if you want some guidance on drop sets themselves, well its upto you how you do them you can play about with them.

Personally when i do a drop set ill first do something like 2 sets of 8 with a weight that really pushes me, and then for the final set ill put more weight on so that i manage around 4-5 reps with a spotter and then knock the weight down a bit so i can then push a further 10 reps or so out. Its a ****ing awful feeling when doing it.....but i love it :)
 
Usually you're dropping at least 10% of the weight for each subsequent drop-set, but it really depends on the individual.

also remember that Arnold used anabolic steroids to pack on some of his muscle.
 
Drop sets are simply another method of adding extra intensity to your weight training session. As we all know, intensity is the secret ingredient to building strength and muscle mass. Intensity, is the measure of how hard we work at something IE: weight training.

The more intensity you introduce to your body, the harder your force it to work. To compensate, the body will adapt to this stress by: 1) Getting stronger; And 2) Building Larger Muscles.

Drop sets, like adding more weight to the bar, is another way of forcing your body to work harder - Increasing the intensity. Personally, I do drop sets with dumbbells because I usually workout alone. For example, on the shoulder press, I'll start out with about 80% of my maximum and do 8 repetitions. I never go to failure on this first set. I'll do another 4 sets afterwards, dropping 15% of my weight with each progressive set.

In your case, you might want to lighten your initial load to 35 pounds and do 8 repetitions. From there, drop 5 pounds until you are at 10 pounds.

Here's a tip: take a 5 second rest in between sets - Sort of a combination of rest/pause and drop sets - Works great.

Here's a tip: On your last set, aim to go to failure. This is a tough set but it's worth it.

Check out this web page for more information on drop sets - It goes into a lot more detail.

building-muscle101.com/drop-sets-for-muscle-growth.html

Also, you may want to take a look at the giant set, which is basically "down the racks" with dumbbells.

building-muscle101.com/dumbbell-shoulder-workout.html

All the best,

Blake
 
Drop Sets

I must say, I find these really effective. Blast yourself with some hardcore negatives (you will need a partner for those) and then kill off the muscle with a drop set as follows:

Where possible, I usually do these on a smith machine because it's easier to keep good form for every rep, which is very important.

On your 1st set, apply your 1 rep maximum weight and aim to complete 1 full rep, then try for one more rep (essentially you want absolute failure so don't worry if you can only manage an inch of movement and a grunt!).

Do not take any rest aside from the few seconds it takes to remove 10Kg (5Kg each side) and immediately jump into another set and perform reps to failure. (it is likely this will only be around 3 reps but however many it is, always try for one more, even if you can only manage a few inches!).

Keep removing 10Kg, jump straight into the next set with no rest and push to absolute failure on each weight until you only have 10Kg left on the bar for your final set. Pump this to failure also (you might get a surge of strength on the last set so maybe even 5 or 6 reps) and you will feel one hell of a pump!! I usually struggle to remove my shirt afterwards!!

Late comers to the gym will think you are a right pansie... until you finally manage to remove your shirt so they can see the results!!
 
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