Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

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TABLE 8.4 Time to Completion for a Full-Body Workout Plus Two
Isolation Exercises With a Circuit Structure
Movement
1a: Upper body pull 00:20
Rest: move to lateral raise 00:50
1b: Lateral raise 00:20
Rest: move to upper body push 00:50
1c: Upper body push 00:20
Rest: move to stir the pot 00:50
1d: Stir the pot 00:20
Rest: move to lower body movement 00:50
1e: Lower body movement 00:20
Rest: move to upper body pull, repeat exercises a-e for 4
rounds
Duration (min)
00:50
Duration before repeating an exercise 05:50
better than passively sitting. With all those points in mind, the recommended
rest periods for maximal strength and hypertrophy are as follows:
• Maximal strength and hypertrophy: 5 to 7 minutes before repeating an exercise
• Hypertrophy: 3 to 5 minutes before repeating an exercise
Drop Sets
The aforementioned examples show how much more efficient a circuit structure
is compared with straight sets for a given amount of exercise. So it will surely
seem strange that one of the times I program straight sets with my athletes is
when they’re short on time. Let me explain.
For each movement pattern I program drop sets, which are three or more
sets of the same exercise performed with 30 seconds’ rest, or less, between each
set. Since 30 seconds is well short of what’s necessary for full recovery of the
ATP-PC system, it is an incomplete rest period. In the drop set method, each set
is taken to momentary muscular failure in order to elicit muscle damage, and
the incomplete rest periods create metabolic stress. This accomplishes two of the
three key mechanisms for hypertrophy. Indeed, drop sets have been shown to
be an effective muscle builder when you’re short on time (Fink et al. 2018). We
continue with the aforementioned example of four sets of each movement pattern,
with each set lasting 20 seconds. The drop set workout takes 10 minutes and 30
seconds to complete compared with 13 minutes and 10 seconds for the full-body
circuit, as shown in table 8.5.
At this point you might think that drop sets are an ideal way to train all the
time. But this method has two shortcomings. First, it is very taxing on your
system because all three sets are taken to momentary muscular failure. That is fine
once every two or three weeks, but it’s not an ideal way to manage fatigue and
maintain optimal hormonal levels over the course of months (Fry and Kraemer
1997). Second, drop sets require you to decrease the load or the repetitions with