Discover How to Increase Muscle Mass With Extended Sets
There are plenty of the number of workout progams out there that it is tricky to know the best sets and reps.
Practically nothing beats a good burn and the pump that goes along with it. After a hard workout it is satisfying to get that pump, and have your muscles swell up . I know it doesn’t last for a long time but it feels good while it does. Outlined in this article are a few different techniques for getting that muscle pump it only a few sets As much of these techniques will burn, you’re going to love it anyway. You may love the results too much, these techniques aren’t to be used all the time because they are hard on your body and eventually slow your muscle growth.
There is a great amount of variety with all of these approaches. All of these approaches can be successfully done utilizing a bodyweight workout routine.
Build Muscle With Extended Sets Extended sets are methods of getting more reps done in you set once you have hit muscle failure. There are countless methods to do this: drop sets rest pause partial reps negatives tri sets Given that these methods are different they allow you to spur new growth in the event you stall in your muscle building. These will be very short but intense, get ready for an outstanding burn and pump. When muscle growth slows you can also use these methods to spur new growth.
Drop sets
Most people are familiar with this technique. It is one of the most common extended sets. All it takes is one or two sets. Quick and effective, maybe that is why this technique is one of the most popular To do a drop set start with a weight that you can do about 5 times. Rep out then cut back on the weight. You are going to repeat this, keeping the reps clean, going to failure and dropping the weight. The idea is to repeat this pattern until you reach your goal. Depending on the muscle group and the number of sets, 15 - 30 reps is a good goal. If you decide not to count reps and go until you hit a minimum weight, that is just as effective. One example of this is biceps curls. Be sure to use lots of small weights on the end of the barbell. Keep taking plates of until you are left with nothing but the bar. Play around with it. Hove fun, and experiment. See how little weight you drop for each set. See if you can get just as many reps each time you drop the weight. There are all kinds of different things to try.
Rest Pause If you like to go heavy this method is for you. You are able to get your reps in but the weight stays heavy. This method is like doing a bunch of sets within one set.
Rest Pause Method, How It’s Done In this example we are going to use the bench press. Put your eight or nine bench RM on the bar. Now this is where the fun begins. You’re going to get 12 reps with your nine rep max. To do this you’re going to do multiple sets of three or four reps. Start by doing three reps. Rack the weight and take a 15 second break. Unrack the weight in another three reps, rack again and rest. Repeat 2 more times for a total of 12 reps to make one set.
Partial Reps
This may be my least favorite method of extended sets. When you get tired, your range of motion will decrease. Think of squats, when it is easy and light people squat to the floor, then when they get tired and things get heavy they start to quarter squat. One popular exercise that uses this method is the board press. This will blow up your triceps. After you reach your reps add another board to the stack to shorten your range of motion. You can start doing regular bench, then add one board, then go to two boards, finally ending with 3 boards. All it takes is one set and your triceps are done for. Try two if you are brave.
Negatives
Be sure you have a workout partner or at least a spotter to use this method. With this technique you’re going to lift normally, until you reach fatigue. Once you hit that point your partner will help you lift the weight, then you finish the rep slow and controlled. Continue this approach until you can’t lower the weight under control. Because we are stronger lowering weight this method is possible.
Tri sets
This method requires you to do three different exercises in a row. You can think of this method as a superset on steroids. Keep the weight the same, but change your exercises throughout the set. Start with the hardest exercise. Hit your numbers and change exercises, moving to the next exercise in difficulty. After that set finish up with the easiest of the 3 exercises. Take this leg routine for example. Even though it is not a true tri-set like I have laid out, it is close enough that you will be able to get the idea.
First exercise - front squats. Push yourself here. Follow with back squats, don’t change the weight, just rack it and move the bar to your back. Hit your numbers here, drop the weight and burn out with sissy squats. Even though the sissy squats are the easiest exercise of the three they are too difficult to do with weight, so this is a bodyweight exercise. For a true tri set the weight would remain the same. Take a look at this true tri set using biceps. The three exercises you will use in order of difficulty. reverse curls regular curls, palms up hammer curls Because each one of these exercises gets easier you will not need to change weight. What is to be gained by using extended sets in your workout There are a couple of reasons extended sets work so well building muscle, they… recruit more muscle fibers time under tension
All good things do have a negative side. It is easy to over do it. This technique is hard to recover from. This isn’t something you would do all the time. When you do extended sets, be sure to limit the total number of sets and how often you do them. One or two sets per muscle group is plenty. To prevent burnout be sure to eat well and get lots of rest. Eating healthy tends to be boring nevertheless there are great balanced strength training meal options. It is advisable to follow a tough training session like this with plenty of fast digesting carbs in addition to healthy proteins. And consume a healthy bodybuilding meal.
We certainly have covered a handful of different variants of extended sets. Do not forget to include a few of these in your muscle building program for some variance and / or times when you desire a good pump.

