Drop Sets

Bodybuilding drop sets to shock your workout

 

Drop sets are a great way to shock your body into growth and they can be used with just about any body part that you feel needs a good push. Adding shock training to your workouts not only helps you get over a plateau, it is also a great way to make your workouts a lot more interesting. Nothing is more boring then doing the same thing day after day and year after year. Spice up your workouts with drop sets and you may be pleasantly surprised by how your body responds.

I like to use leg exercises for a lot of my shock training examples so to stay true to form I'll use leg extensions as an example for drop sets. To start off the exercise, you will want to use weight that you can normally lift 8 to 10 reps with. Remember, all sets are preformed to failure so you are cheating if you can do 12 reps and you stop at 8. Start the exercise off by lifting the weight to failure (hopefully somewhere around 8 to 10 reps). Once you reach failure, without moving from the exercise machine, drop the weight 10 to 20 pounds.

Leg extensions are great for this example because in most cases you do not have to move from the machine to adjust the weight. Now, the same as before, execute the exercise to failure. Your legs should be burning by now but we still have one more step to complete. Drop the weight another 10 to 20 pounds and again lift the weights to failure. By the time you reach your final rep, there should be tears in your eyes and your legs should feel like they are about to explode. The good news is that set number one is now complete, the bad news is that you have to more sets to go. Now that set number one is complete, do a thirty second stretch on the quads and repeat the process for the next set. Three sets of these guys and your quads should be waving a white flag. Keep in mind that if you did this exercise at the beginning of your workout, you will still need to go on and finish the rest of your workout (squats, leg press or whatever exercises you do for your leg workouts)


In Conclusion

I know I use quad exercises a lot in my examples but you can perform the same steps for just about any body part. I also love to workout my shoulders with drop sets using dumbbell laterals. The key to this exercise to make sure you get your weight setup before hand. The last thing you want to do is to have to hunt for dumbbells in the middle of your set. I don't do these guys often but when I feel I need a pick me up to my workouts, drop sets are a great tool to wake up a lagging body part.