 First question is from Heidi Lynn Swisher. How do you do drop sets properly? Ah good old drop sets otherwise known as strip sets. This is where you do as many reps as you can with a particular weight Then it's called a drop set because you would put the weight down or drop it Grab a lighter pair of dumbbells or lighter weight and then squeeze out and then you go down and you can do this You know two or three four times some people do it more than that Well, they'll do down the ladder roll the goal all the way down the dumbbell rack I mean the proper way to do it a drop set first of all form is absolutely crucial With any set but especially with drop sets because drop sets are intensity based Like I explained, you know if you're doing as many reps as you can with let's say 30 pound dumbbells And then you you know you get to the 10th rep and you know you can't perform a 11th rep Then you put them down and you get the 20 pound dumbbells You'll get another three or four reps out And so form is very very important and the one tip I have for drop sets is to drop the weight a little more than you think when you when you go from one way to the other I I the mistake I would usually make as a kid would be I'd go down five pounds Which only gets you like a rep. Yeah, so I figured you know a bigger drop allowed me to squeeze out more reps It's an intensity technique. It's great for an incredible pump It's not something I would do on a consistent basis though And I would save this for more for advanced lifters Yeah, I'd say it for advanced or I'd save it for a hypertrophy phase of your program All right, so like a phase three in a lot of our programs I wouldn't be doing it in a strength phase And I do think that that's the most common mistake when you see somebody doing a drop set is They they drop down to a weight they can still do but then their form kind of goes out the window So it's like kind of defeating the purpose if you're especially if you're trying to target a specific muscle or get a pump In a specific muscle to not drop it enough weight that you can still concentrate on that muscle So I agree. I think that's the one rule. I would say as far as the time and Like the actual percentage of the load like I think that's just gonna depend on the person And yeah, I don't think it's that we're splitting hairs a difference if it's a 15 second or a 30 second difference between getting it It's you're gonna if you do three or four or five drop sets in a row like you're gonna get a pump I can't imagine doing this a bunch of times like it's definitely something you just do Occasionally for fun more than anything. I mean we used to do it just kind of reminds me of some of these old techniques Like even the 21s and all these, you know fun type of like hypertrophy Type of techniques and exercises to throw in but it's it can get sloppy and get away from you really quick That's exactly what happens of it as a kid. I abused it. I did it all the time I was constant if I do it now, it'll look like this where I'm kind of rushed in my workout and I don't have a lot of time and like less volume more intensity Yeah, or like I realized like like let's say I'm you know Finishing up and it's on one of my last exercises. I'm doing you know bench or something and I look at the clock I go shit I got to get out of here in 10 minutes or like that But I wanted to get you know a good lift on my bench And I just don't have the time to do five straight sets with rest periods like you know what I'll do is I'll do a drop set real quick on this and just at least get a really nice pump from it That's kind of how I would like insert it into my workout now if I have the time I'm doing a more traditional type of lift If I was rushed for some reason like that might be like a quick way Yeah, the benefit is you get the higher intensity. It's good for hypertrophy good for the pump You can overdo it very easily Form is where people always screw up because the idea is to get more reps And so you tend to see people do this and then their form starts to get sloppy. I I Probably do drop sets. I would say twice a month. Maybe at most I almost never do drop sets with a barbell Almost never and it's mainly because barbell exercises if I'm doing a bench press or a squat or a deadlift or overhead press I'm not working out with other people So that would I would have to load it with a bunch of tens I guess and throw one off and throw one off and get underneath it again I like a drop set to have really minimal rest dumbbells are better I get my three pairs of dumbbells and I go one two three That's the only instance like I would say you pretty much need a workout partner Yes, you know if you have a barbell and you're doing like a bench press where you're like stripping the weight off But other than that, yeah I probably wouldn't totally and they also lend themselves a little better to single joint exercises than they do to compound lifts I would not do a drop set for an exercise where Like for example with a deadlift the difference between a safe deadlift and a bad deadlift or a dangerous deadlift is small Right if your form is good safe if it's off a little bit it can become pretty dangerous or risky, I should say Unlike single joint exercises where if I'm doing a curl, I'm off a little bit. It's probably still safe So I don't like to do drop sets with complex compound lifts I like to do them typically with Isolation, you know single joint exercises that my favorites are like laterals Laterals are great for a drop set curls are great for a drop set cable exercises tend to be okay So push down try set press downs are good for a drop set You know any isolation exercise in general will tend to be good with a drop set but not Heavy complex I agree. Although I the last time I did it. I actually just did it on a bench press I did it on barbell, but I think something that's important too is that so when I'm doing a drop set I'm not so hung up on what I what I want to do rep wise, right? So if you're following like a you know, you're training 10 to 12 reps I'm not trying to do a drop set and also stay within my 10 to 12 reps I'm gonna take it to where I've the muscle fatigues I can't and I can't do another perfect reform it well So that's what it looks like so I might get under like the bench and let's say I do a set of 225 and then I drop down to say like 150 160 range or whatever and You know, maybe I get seven out and I can already feel my form wanting to go off like that's it I rack it like then I go then I go drop again. I drop down to 90 pounds again I'm pressing it out Maybe only get six of those before my form starts to go and then I rack again I'm not even though I could have potentially got 10 reps You know But I'm gonna roll my shoulder and arch my back and cheated cheated up just to get it up Like that's I'm shutting it down before that. That's how I would do it Also, usually don't drop down more than twice So I have done the run the rack drop sets where you're like you're literally starting at one end of the rack and you're stepping down Mass PED I believe there is there's a run the rack But that's way too much for most people I do I'll go, you know from one lift Excuse me from one way to another way to another way and that's it. Yeah, it's usually three and then I'm done I don't go any more than that. But yeah, the pumps can be intense It's really cool totally can be easily abused and like I said, I still I even now today And I'm trying really hard and consistent Twice a month is that the most that I would you know do them Hey, if you enjoyed that clip you can find the full episode here or you can find other clips over here and be sure to subscribe