I’ve heard some people talking to each other, saying things along the lines of, “Yo bro, you gotta do more weight on those drop sets, it looks like you’re lifting a bar with a couple of nickels attached to the ends!” I’ve been lifting since I was 13 and have never been a true hardcore lifter, although I have been getting more into it lately. I would hear the terms drop sets, pyramid sets and supersets, but I would never know what they meant. Lately I have discovered them by talking to people and doing my own research and have in fact implemented them into my workouts to spice things up a bit. If you are unfamiliar with these terms, then keep reading and you soon shall be!
DROP SETS
Drop sets are not where you lift heavy weights over your head and drop them on the ground, creating a sonic boom in the gym and causing everyone to hate you. No-no. Drop sets are where you take heavy weights at first, do as many reps of an exercise you can with them until muscle failure, and then drop the weight. Then you decrease the weight you were doing by 20% or so and do the same exercise until failure. Rinse and repeat for four sets or so. Be sure to stop if you begin to feel pain because it is important to listen to your body to avoid injuries. Doing drop sets oughta give you a nice pump that you can show off to all your friends.
PYRAMID SETS
If you see the phrase ‘Pyramid sets’ and are thinking climbing up and down some Egyptian pyramids, you’d be incorrect. Pyramid sets are similar to drop sets except now you are starting off with a low weight and doing high volume repetitions. You are increasing the weight and decreasing the number of repetitions with each set. Around the 3rd set, you should be hitting muscular failure, while the 4th set should completely fatigue you. Pyramid sets will definitely make you feel the burn!
SUPERSETS
I love doing supersets because you can work out at a rapid fire pace and limit fatigue. Picture working out your biceps and triceps. Your biceps do elbow flexion, while the triceps extend your elbow. So you can sit at a cable weight machine and do bicep curls, then with little rest, stand up and do tricep extensions on another machine. You can go back and forth working out 2 different muscle groups and limit fatigue this way, in that your biceps are resting while your triceps are working, and the triceps are resting while you are curling. I find myself getting a decent cardiovascular workout when I do these…or maybe I just haven’t been hitting the treadmill enough!
So these are 3 exercise techniques of drop sets, pyramid sets and supersets you can now incorporate into your fitness routine and hopefully blast through plateaus and achieve new heights!