WHAT THE HELL IS A
JAPANESE DROP-SET?
Japanese drop-sets, or back-off sets, refer to performing one final set of
25 reps at either the end of your workout, or as the last set of an exercise
performed after the primary sets have been completed. Japanese literature
suggests that this last set has a very positive growth hormone response, increases
blood flow to the muscle, therefore bringing in more nutrients, which increases
amino acid and glycogen uptake, and as a result leads to greater gains in muscular
endurance (anaerobic lactic capacity), and strength.
Japanese drop-sets can be used as a very effective plateau busting
technique for those training for hypertrophy, as they knock off the lower
threshold motor units after you’ve completed your high quality heavy work, and
further deplete glycogen storage.
PRACTICAL
APPLICATION
Here’s an example of a Japanese drop-set:
Exercise A – 4-5 sets, 4-6 reps
Exercise B (same exercise as exercise A) – 1 set, 25 reps
As you can see, there’s really not much to the Japanese drop-sets, and
they can easily be added to anyone’s current routine.
SO YOU THINK YOU
CAN LIFT?
For those who really want a challenge, and truly enjoy punishing
themselves (or their clients!) you can modify the Japanese drop-set by turning
it into an actual drop-set.
For example, traditionally you are performing the Japanese drop-set as 25
consecutive reps. A weight that you can get 25 reps with when you’re fresh at
the beginning of a workout is roughly about 60% of your 1 rep max (1RM), and
that’s if you performed it before all of the high intensity work, which
therefore means that the weight used it isn’t really a sufficient amount, if
you think about it.
But, if you were to start the set with the same amount of weight that you
were working with for your primary sets, as in your momentary 4-6 rep max, and
reduced the weight by a small percentage each time (5-15% depending on the fiber
type, as well as your goal) and attempted to perform as many reps as possible
(or AMRAP for short), you could get a much greater result (or just end up in
the hospital).
Here is an example of a Japanese drop-set with the intent to cripple
yourself (or a client):
Exercise A – 4-5 sets, 4-6 reps
Exercise B (same exercise as exercise A) – 1 set, 4-6 reps, reduce weight
by 5-15% and perform AMRAP, reduce the weight by another 5-15% and perform
AMRAP, and continue until you get to 25 total reps!
The percentage to which you reduce the weight each time is based on the
amount of reps you complete, as well as the muscles fiber type. Slow twitch
dominant muscles/individuals can get away with smaller drops (5%) each time and
still bang out a decent amount of reps, where as fast twitch dominant
muscles/individuals would need to reduce the weight by greater percentages (up to
15%) each time to get the same amount of reps. If you only reduce the weight by
roughly 5% for fast twitch dominant muscles, it may take SEVERAL drops to
complete 25 total reps that make up a Japanese drop-set, and you’ll probably
end up killing yourself (or client) in the process!
TAKE IT WITH A
GRAIN OF SALT
It’s not completely necessary to get exactly 25 reps during a Japanese
drop-set. The purpose is to simply promote a positive growth response. A
general rule is that the weight should be dropped by 50-60% while aiming for
10-12 more reps than you performed during your working set(s).
If your heavy sets consisted of more than 8 reps, performing a Japanese
drop-set becomes unnecessary and redundant, since performing 8 or more reps
will have accomplished the purpose of the Japanese drop-set anyway.
The amount of weight you’re using for your working sets should dictate how
much of a reduction you should make for the Japanese drop-set. Dropping the
weight so that you can get 25 total reps may mean you have to use a load that
is counterproductive to your strength goal (assuming strength is the goal if
using a Japanese drop-set). Therefore, there are some parameters to adhere to
for the greatest effect.
If you were using:
90-100% (1-4 RM) for your working sets, you should use 60-70% for the
Japanese drop-set and aim for at least 10-15 reps
80-90% (5-8 RM) for your working sets, you should use 50-60% for the
Japanese drop-set and aim for at least 15-20 reps
Should you reduce to 40-50% of 1RM, then you can expect to get 20-25 reps,
otherwise, as stated above, it’s not completely necessary.
how much time between your amrep sets? drop weight and continue or take 45s-1min rest?
ReplyDeleteGood question,
ReplyDeleteSince the goal is to accumulate as much metabolic fatigue as possible, the rest should be as minimal as possible to maximize the training effect. With that being said, since you are performing maximal efforts each time, it's likely that racking the weight, reducing it to the appropriate amount, getting back into position, and performing AMRAP could take up to 45 seconds (especially since you will probably feel like you are performing interval sprints).
So I'd say rest as minimal as possible, but that could be an entirely different amount of time based on the individual, their level of fitness, and also the exercise they are performing. For example, squats, and deadlifts would likely take longer to get in and out of position for then presses.
Thanks Ben for sharing this great post, good health and great body can only be achieved by hard workouts. Burning calories slowly increases the stamina of body. When you reach at a certain point, you'll feel that you've much power to consume for whole day. Many trainers use different techniques to benefit their clients. I believe it doesn't matter which technique you are using, what matters is how better you are getting after doing the workouts.
ReplyDelete