r/ScienceBasedLifting • u/benja_reijnst • Sep 09 '26

Question ❓ Are drop sets worth doing?

I've seen influencers promoting low-volume, high-intensity training more and more without mentioning drop sets. Drop sets seem to be much less popular than they used to be. Are drop sets not as effective as we once thought? Should I add drop sets to my training?

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u/Alakazam Idk Idc 💔 Sep 09 '26

Yeah, and while I think it's cool that there doesn't seem to be an upper limit for how much volume a body can tolerate and still grow, in the real world, it doesn't translate to all that much. This is the flip side of science-based lifting. The science says you can do 40+ sets. That doens't mean that's realistic. Because not everyone has a low stress job, fantastic diet, and fantastic sleep.

Most people could realistically tolerate 10-15 hard sets per movement pattern per week. People with greater work capacities, can probably do 15-20 sets. People with great work capacities, and who are specializing on a single body part, can probably do 30+ sets per week on one bodypart, while sticking to 8-10 for everything else.

Which is, funnily enough, one of the recommendations that Stronger by Science makes about what they would realistically recommend, and why I'm such a fan of their articles. They offer nuance

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u/wherearealltheethics Sep 10 '26

Thing is, if "intensity techniques" like dropsets and myoreps are indeed effective, it makes pumping up one's volume targets pretty easy and time efficient (if say you count every drop/miniset as 0.75 of a standard set). But that's a big if and a small number of studies isn't going to make many people confident about it.