Sets within sets are the key to outrageous muscle growth. You see people go with high volume, you see people go big weights but for real muscular development you must find the middle ground between high intensity and high volume, the place where big weights and high reps cross over, bodybuildings in zone THE TRIPLEDROP SET!!!
The beauty of the triple drop set is that it allows you to use your best poundage’s and use them in a manner that actually will build muscle as well as your ego, you can still get that impressive bench in and keep the muscles under tension long enough to build muscle.
Your Muscles don’t count plates, they only recognise the intensity of the contraction required to lift the weight, as fatigue and failure set in it becomes impossible to lift the starting weight and the same intensity of contraction is required to lift a lighter weight. Try it for yourself; do a set to failure then reduce the weight by 20% and go immediately again. See; it feels the same as the heavier weight, that’s because the fatigue has set in. by continually reducing the weight by small enough increments you can prolong the set to the point you are left unable to lift your arms. Now that’s complete failure.
Of course training needs to be progressive, if you do the same thing week in week out you will look the same. Bodybuilding is a matter of crisis and adaptation. It is the manipulation of the body’s primal instinct for survival. The training produces trauma and the body grows muscle to adapt. If you want to keep growing muscle you need to keep increasing the level of trauma. The level of trauma can progress in several ways you can increase the poundage, the volume or the intensity.
Naturally you can’t just jump in and start hammering away; you need to lay the groundwork first. The German volume system is the ideal way to build up muscular endurance; it involves only the basic exercises and doing them once a week.
The East Germans pioneered the Volume systems most people use today, it started with the progressive high volume system where a set number of reps and sets were used and the weight increased by small increments over a set period of time.
It made for a straightforward regimented style of training, somewhat tedious but enormously effective and indeed the forefather of the Pyramid system.
10 sets of 10
In this system you start with a basic exercise and poundage that is 20kg less than what you can perform a maximum of 10 reps with. With this poundage you perform 10 reps for 10 sets. The next week you raise the weight 2.5kg and perform the 10 sets of 10 again. By week 6 you should be doing 10 sets of 10 with a weight somewhere near what you could only get one set of 10 with.
Exercises
Chest: Bench press
Quads: Squat
Back: Bent over row
Hamstrings: Leg Curl
Shoulders: Military press
Arms: Barbell curl; French press
The key to this style of training is all else must be constant. Your rest between sets must be the same you can’t take longer because it’s getting harder and you don’t need to slip in extra exercises.
Now you’re ready to start really training.
The Program!
Chest
Pec Deck 2x warmup + 3 Tripledrop sets
Incline Bench Press 3 Tripledrop sets
Flat Flyes 3 Tripledrop sets
Back
Bent over row 2x warmup + 3 Tripledrop sets
Lat Pulldowns 3 Tripledrop sets
Cable Row 3 Tripledrop sets
Legs
Leg Extension 2x warmup + 3 Tripledrop sets
Squat or Hack Squat 3 Tripledrop sets
Leg Press 3 Tripledrop sets
Hamstring Curl 3 Tripledrop sets
Single leg
hamstring curl 3 Tripledrop sets
Shoulders
Side Laterals 2x warmup + 3 Tripledrop sets
Military Press 3 Tripledrop sets
Upright Row 3 Tripledrop sets
Bent over side 3 Tripledrop sets
Laterals 3 Tripledrop sets
Arms
Standing Barbell Curl 2x warmup + 3 Tripledrop sets
Concentration Curl 3 Tripledrop sets
Preacher Curl 3 Tripledrop sets
Tricep pushdown 3 Tripledrop sets
French press 3 Tripledrop sets
Overhead Tricep Extension 3 Tripledrop sets
Looks simple but it is a real heartbreaker; the harder you push each tripledrop set the greater your results will be. The only thing that can hold you back is your pain threshold the tendency will be to quit from pain rather than failure you can’t let this happen you must push each set to maximum failure. You can see that we have implemented a pre exhaust isolation movement before the main compound movements to help isolate the target muscles.
Your starting poundage of each exercise should be whatever you can get a single set of 10 with, and the drops should be of around 30%, the starting weight of each successive triple drop set will be progressively 15% lighter; with enough time to catch your breath between sets.
The next week you should aim for 2 more reps per set; and repeat week by week until you reach 15 reps per set.
Then increase the weight 5kg then off you go from 10 again!
This is a hard system I recommend you keep to this for 10 weeks have a week off then start again with the 10 sets of 10 with a heavier weight. |
