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Muscle Booster Super Drop Sets (SDS) Program Overview

Boost muscle size and strength, while igniting fat loss, with this super-efficient 6-week training plan.

Muscle Booster Super Drop Sets (SDS) Training Program

When designing programs, I like nothing better than taking multiple techniques and having them work together to maximize muscle and strength gains and spark fat loss. 

In this particular routine, two proven methods collide like never before to become an ultra-efficient training tool I call Super Drop Sets. In just six weeks, this high-intensity program will be the muscle booster you need to get bigger, stronger, and leaner, one set at a time.

What are Super Drop Sets?

As the name implies, Super Drop Sets combine a pair of intensity-boosting techniques – drop sets and supersets – to essentially wrap three brutal sets each of two different exercises into one, with little rest along the way.

For example, you’ll do a set to failure on a chest exercise, followed by two drop sets for that move, then immediately do the same thing for a back exercise. After finishing a round of Super Drop Sets in this manner, you’ll move on to the next exercise pairing. The SDS method is so intense and so efficient that it only takes one set!

Why are Super Drop Sets so Effective?

Each exercise in the SDS protocol gets three sets total, in succession, with little to no rest – one initial set, plus the two drop sets. The fatigue created in the muscle cells by these three sets (each taken to failure) turns on chemical messenger systems within the muscles that boost anabolic hormone levels, activate growth factors in the cells, and lead to higher muscle protein synthesis (MPS).

When you combine that with periodization (as I do, and which I explain below), it changes the stimulus to keep the results coming. In addition to driving muscle growth, the SDS technique is also great for fat loss. Supersets for opposing muscle groups have been shown to increase calorie burning during and after workouts by over 30%.

Drop sets increase calorie burning as well. Research shows that the shorter the rest periods between sets, the greater the calorie burn during the workout. And few techniques involve shorter rest periods than drop sets. The added intensity of the drop sets will also help you burn extra calories when the workout is long over and you’re recovering.

How to do Super Drop Sets

I gave a brief rundown above of how Super Drop Sets work, but let’s get into the method more specifically.

First of all, we’re typically pairing two opposing muscle groups in SDS – i.e., chest and back, biceps and triceps, abs and lower back. The main exceptions to this rule fall on Workouts 2 and 5 in the program, where shoulders are paired with legs and traps are paired with calves. These are obviously not opposing muscle groups; rather, it’s upper body and lower body. Not a traditional superset pairing, but nonetheless effective and time-efficient.

Regardless of what exercises are paired together (I’ll call them Exercise #1 and Exercise #2 as I walk you through the technique), here’s how you’ll do each bout of SDS:

  • Perform one set to failure on Exercise #1, immediately followed by one drop set to failure, then a second drop set to failure, on that same exercise.
  • Then, move immediately to Exercise #2 and do the same thing: one set to failure, followed by two drop sets to failure.
  • You’re now finished with your first round of SDS and can move to the next pair of exercises. Yes, you’re doing just one SDS per exercise. Trust me, it’ll be enough.

SDS Weight Selection

How much weight you drop on each drop set is critical to doing SDS correctly. The bottom line is this: You have a prescribed rep range for each exercise (8-10, 12-15, 2-4, etc.), and the goal is to hit that rep range with the initial weight as well as on the two drop sets.  

For example, on chest and back day, you might start with the bench press. Let’s say you’re using 225

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