Final Intense Blast for More Mass?

In my series on Mr. America and biomechanics expert Doug Brignole’s training evolution, I referenced his unconventional higher-rep training…

It’s interesting that at one point he was doing a drop set on the last set to “finish off” the target muscle:

“On the final set I start with 10 reps and follow that with two or three drop sets.”

What he’s saying is that he would do a 10-rep set close to failure, reduce the weight, and immediately do another set; then reduce it again and rep out one last time. Is that effective?

If you’ve been following the latest research, you’ll realize that it can do more harm than good. Incidentally, I used the past tense above because Doug discontinued drop sets…

I think he realized that finishing with drops was only doing damage, not helping him grow…

Paul Carter, hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley’s colleague, said in a recent IG post (liftrunbang1): “There’s literally no good reason to ever do a finisher [like drop sets] in your workout.”

Remember that the first set is the most hypertrophic by far. Each set after that has diminishing growth returns…

And by set three or four, the growth stimulation flat-lines. That’s due to cumulative fatigue and mounting damage….

So if you do a drop set after say three sets, all you’re doing is piling on the trauma—which can drain your recovery resources post workout, making it difficult for you to recover and grow before you train again.

Carter says, “Each set you do decreases your ability to recruit the largest fibers…Each set has fewer stimulating reps in it, and at some point the amount of stimulating reps becomes next to nothing, but fatigue continues to climb.”

Do your last set in normal fashion—stop a couple of reps short of failure and resist doing some type of multi-set intensifier. All you will do is amplify damage and fatigue.

Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.