Breakdowns.
Plate Stripping.
Down the Rack.
Running the Rack.
Up the Stack
Triple Drops.
(kidding!)
Drop it like it’s…what?
These are all different names for drop sets. One of my favorite variations of exercise.
What is a a drop set, you ask?
According to Muscle & Fitness, “Drop sets are essentially a technique where you perform an exercise and then drop (reduce) the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure. Called the “multi-poundage system”, this method was discovered in 1947 by Henry Atkins, who was the editor of Body Culture magazine.”
It continues, “The reason why drop sets work is that in any given set you are only recruiting a certain amount of muscle fibers. By then stripping the weight down and going lighter you recruit different muscle fibers, which should help the muscles achieve growth that couldn’t be achieved by sticking with the same weight.”
Nice! I do enjoy me some good drop sets and try to incorporate them whenever I can.
Today’s workout was mainly quad focused, with some calves thrown in. And I only had 40 mins, so it was short-ish.
I named this workout after my brother because he introduced it to me and I have no idea what to call it. I’m sure there is a name for it, so if you know it, please let me know!
The “Andy Smith” Leg Press Upset/Dropset is one of my all time favorites. Because I love to torture myself. LOL! Not really. So I start with 45s on each side and do 10-12 reps, then I add 25s on each side and do another 10, then add another 25 and try to eek out 10 (usually 8). So that’s 3 sets so far with about 10 seconds rest in between to add plates. Then I immediately go back down. So for the 4th set I take off the 25 and the 5th set I take off the last 25 and rep out until failure on the 45s. So it’s 90/140/190/140/90.
That’s where I’m at right now having taken 5 weeks off. I used to be able to add another 25 and do 90/140/190/240/190/140/90. My goal is to work back up to that. I’ll get there eventually.
Oh, and here’s last night’s dinner that fueled it:
Yum!
Do what makes you happy.
Including drop sets.