Drop sets, myo reps and every other set type, explained.

A set with a fixed weight and rep target, performed with controlled tempo and full range of motion. It is the foundation of your training volume.

How to do it

1. Pick a weight you can lift for the target reps with good form.
2. Lower under control, drive up, and stop the set at your planned effort (RPE).
3. Rest, then repeat for the planned number of sets.

When to use it

Always. Most of your sets, and every heavy main lift, should be standard sets.

A lighter set performed before your working sets to raise temperature, rehearse the movement and groove the pattern, without causing fatigue.

How to do it

1. Start with an empty bar or a light weight for 8–10 reps.
2. Add weight in steps while dropping the reps (for example 50% × 5, 70% × 3, 85% × 1).
3. Stop well short of fatigue, then move on to your first working set.

When to use it

Before the first heavy exercise for a muscle group. Later exercises for the same muscle need fewer warm-ups.

You take a set to (or very near) failure, immediately reduce the weight by 10–30% and keep lifting to the next failure, with no rest in between. Usually one to three “drops” in a row.

How to do it

1. Lift your normal working weight until you cannot complete another clean rep.
2. Reduce the weight straight away, by about 20%, with no rest beyond the time it takes to change the load.
3. Lift to failure again. Repeat once or twice more if you planned several drops.

When to use it

On the last set of an isolation exercise or machine movement, where changing the weight takes seconds: cable work, leg extensions, lateral raises, curls, pec deck.

Watch out. Very fatiguing for the time it takes. Keep it for the final set of an exercise; one drop set per muscle per session is plenty to start with. Avoid it on heavy barbell compounds, where a fast weight change is awkward and technique breaks down.

A chain of sets at one constant weight where each set has one rep fewer than the one before (10 → 9 → 8 → 7 …). They are labelled D1, D2, D3 …

How to do it

1. Choose a weight and a starting rep number you can reach on the first set.
2. Rest your usual time, then do the next set with one rep fewer at the same weight.
3. Continue until you reach the reps you planned to stop at.

When to use it

To accumulate quality volume at a heavy weight without grinding every set to failure. Works well for strength-focused accessory work.

A main set taken to or near failure, followed by a very short rest (15–20 seconds) and a few more reps, often repeated two or three times. The brief pause lets you recover just enough to keep the muscle working under load.

How to do it

1. Do a set to or near failure.
2. Rest 15–20 seconds, racking the weight if you need to.
3. Lift the same weight again for as many reps as you can (typically 2–4).
4. Repeat the pause once or twice more.

When to use it

To get a lot of hard reps into a short time on a machine or dumbbell movement, when you are short on time or one all-out set is all you plan.

Watch out. It is demanding on the nervous system. Do not stack it across every exercise in a session.

Each rep includes a deliberate stop, usually in the stretched or bottom position, for two to five seconds. It removes the bounce out of the bottom, so the muscle has to produce the force on its own.

How to do it

1. Lower under control to the hardest point of the movement, such as the chest on a bench press.
2. Hold still for the planned 2, 3 or 5 seconds, staying tight.
3. Drive up without bouncing and repeat for every rep.

When to use it

To build strength out of the bottom position, clean up technique, or get more from lighter weights.

Watch out. Use lighter loads than for touch-and-go reps. Pausing makes the same weight feel much heavier.

You do one “activation” set of 10–15 reps close to failure, rest for about five deep breaths (10–20 seconds), then do several mini-sets of 3–5 reps with the same weight. The mini-sets are performed while the muscle is already fatigued, so nearly every rep is a hard, effective rep.

How to do it

1. Activation set: 10–15 reps to failure or RPE 9, with a weight you could normally do about 12 reps with.
2. Rest for five deep breaths, around 10–20 seconds.
3. Do a mini-set of 3–5 reps with the same weight.
4. Repeat the breaths and mini-sets for 3–5 rounds, or until you can no longer reach 3 reps.

When to use it

When time is short. One myo-rep set takes a few minutes and replaces several normal sets. Best on cables, machines and isolation work where you can reset instantly.

Watch out. Stay with stable movements that are safe to take close to failure. Heavy free-weight compounds and anything that loads the lower back are poor choices.

Reps through only part of the range of motion, such as the bottom half of a curl, performed once full-range reps are no longer possible. Partials in the stretched (lengthened) position are especially popular for growth.

How to do it

1. Take a set to failure with full-range reps.
2. Without resting, keep going with half-range reps in the strongest or the most stretched part of the movement.
3. Stop when even partial reps stall.

When to use it

To squeeze extra work out of a muscle on the end of a set, particularly on machines and cables.

Reps that emphasise the eccentric (lowering) phase. Muscles are stronger when lengthening than when shortening, so you can lower more than you can lift. A negative is a slow, controlled lowering of 3–5 seconds, often with a weight above your normal limit.

How to do it

1. Get the weight to the top, with a spotter, a machine, or by using both limbs to lift it.
2. Lower it slowly and under full control, taking 3–5 seconds.
3. Reset and repeat for a few reps.

When to use it

To break through a strength plateau or to build size with fewer reps, usually near the end of a session.

Watch out. Heavy negatives cause a lot of muscle damage and soreness. Use a spotter for anything heavy, and do not use them every session.

When you reach failure under your own strength, a spotter gives just enough help to get past the sticking point so you can complete a few more reps.

How to do it

1. Perform the set until you cannot complete another rep unassisted.
2. Your spotter lifts just enough for you to finish two or three extra reps.
3. Control the lowering on every forced rep.

When to use it

Occasionally, on safe movements with a trusted spotter, such as a machine press or a dumbbell press.

Watch out. Needs a competent spotter, and is very taxing. Do not use it on a regular basis or on lifts where failure is dangerous.

When strict reps stop, you use a small amount of body momentum to get past the hardest part and then lower the weight slowly and strictly.

How to do it

1. Do strict reps to failure.
2. Use a small, controlled swing to start the lift past the sticking point.
3. Lower the weight slowly. The lowering is where the muscle works.

When to use it

On safe isolation movements, such as curls or lateral raises, as a finishing technique.

Watch out. Keep the swing small. Using the lower back to heave the weight is how people get hurt.

A series of sets in which weight goes up and reps go down from set to set (a pyramid), or weight goes down and reps go up (a reverse pyramid).

How to do it

1. Start with a lighter weight and higher reps.
2. Add weight and reduce reps on every set, finishing on your heaviest set.
3. For a reverse pyramid, start with the heaviest set and reduce the weight each time.

When to use it

To combine heavy and moderate work in one exercise, and to warm up progressively into the top set.

A classic biceps-curl finisher done as one continuous set of 21 reps: 7 reps in the lower half of the range, 7 reps in the upper half and 7 full-range reps.

How to do it

1. Do 7 reps in the bottom half of the movement.
2. Straight away do 7 reps in the top half.
3. Finish with 7 full-range reps.

When to use it

As a pump-focused finisher on curls, leg extensions or triceps pushdowns.

Watch out. Use around 50–60% of your normal curl weight.

A drop set without touching the weights. At failure you switch to a variation that is easier to lift, such as a different grip, angle or stance, and continue with the same load.

How to do it

1. Start with the hardest variation of the exercise, for example an incline dumbbell press.
2. At failure, move straight to an easier position, such as a flat press, with the same dumbbells.
3. Finish in the easiest variation if you planned a third step.

When to use it

When there is no time or room to change the weights, such as with fixed dumbbells or a loaded barbell.

You fatigue a target muscle with an isolation movement and go straight to a compound exercise that trains it, so the muscle is the limiting factor and not a weaker helper.

How to do it

1. Do a set of the isolation exercise, such as a pec deck fly.
2. Move to the compound exercise straight away, such as a chest press.
3. Expect to use less weight on the compound than usual.

When to use it

When a smaller muscle (like the triceps in a bench press) tends to fail before the muscle you are trying to train.

A high-volume density protocol in the spirit of German Volume Training: 20 sets of the same lift at 60% of your one-rep max, with strict rest intervals.

How to do it

1. Work out 60% of your estimated 1RM for the lift.
2. Do all 20 sets with that weight, resting for the same short, timed interval every time.
3. Keep every rep clean. If form breaks down, stop.

When to use it

In a short, dedicated block for one lift, when you want to push volume.

Watch out. A great deal of work for a single lift. Do not run it alongside other heavy training for the same muscles.

Complete as many repetitions or rounds as you can inside a fixed time cap, for example 60 seconds or 10 minutes. The result is your score.

How to do it

1. Set the time cap and start the clock.
2. Work through the prescribed movements, at a pace you can sustain.
3. When time is up, record your reps or rounds.

When to use it

For conditioning, benchmark tests, and finishing a session. Also as the last set of an exercise to test progress.

At the start of every minute you perform a prescribed number of reps. Whatever time is left in that minute is your rest. As the work takes longer, rest shrinks.

How to do it

1. Pick the movement, the reps per minute and the total number of minutes.
2. Start the clock and complete the reps as fast as you can with good form.
3. Rest until the next minute starts, then repeat.

When to use it

To control pacing and rest, to practise a skill under mild fatigue, or to do a fixed amount of work in a fixed time.

The work is fixed (for example 100 reps or a set list of movements) and you try to complete it in the shortest possible time. The stopwatch is your score.

How to do it

1. Define the exact work to be done.
2. Start the stopwatch and begin.
3. Stop the clock when the last rep is done.

When to use it

For conditioning and for measuring progress: repeat the same workout later and try to beat your time.