Drop Sets, Rest-Pause, Myo-Reps, Supersets and Lengthened Partials

What the evidence actually shows

Muscle growth follows hard sets: how many you do each week and how close to failure they finish. When studies give two groups the same amount of hard work, one with normal sets and one with drop sets, rest-pause or supersets, growth comes out about the same. A 2023 meta-analysis of drop-set studies (Sødal and colleagues) found similar muscle gains to traditional sets, in less training time. A 2019 systematic review of advanced techniques (Krzysztofik and colleagues) reached the same verdict for the group: useful for trained lifters, mainly because they save time or add volume, not because the method itself is special. Lengthened partials are the one exception with a case for more growth per set, and that case rests on a handful of small studies.

If your sessions run long, these techniques let you keep your weekly sets in less time. If a muscle is behind, they let you add work to it without adding another exercise. Every one of them costs more fatigue per minute than a normal set, and none replaces progressive overload. Most weekly volume should still come from straight sets; how many sets per muscle has the targets.

Drop sets

Take a set close to failure, cut the weight, and keep going with as little rest as it takes to move a pin or grab the next dumbbells. One or two drops is enough. Three or more mostly adds fatigue and very light reps.

The rules: the first segment is a normal working set at your usual weight and rep range, finished at 0 to 1 reps in reserve. Each drop is 20 to 30% lighter. Rest between segments is under 10 seconds. Machines and cables suit drop sets because the weight changes with a pin.

Worked example, the last set of leg extensions on a day that normally has 3 sets of 12 to 15:

That is 26 reps in about 90 seconds. In the log, write it as 60 × 12, 45 × 8, 35 × 6. Progress the top set exactly as you would a normal set: when it reaches 15 reps, add weight. The drops follow.

Keep drop sets off squats, deadlifts and barbell presses. Grinding a barbell to failure while fatigued is where technique breaks down, and those lifts already carry the most fatigue in the week.

Rest-pause

A rest-pause set is one set broken by very short rests. Pick a weight you could lift for about 6 to 12 reps, stop 1 rep short of failure, rack it, take 15 to 20 seconds, and do as many more reps as you can with about the same effort. Rest 15 to 20 seconds again and repeat once more. You get two extra mini-sets at a heavy weight, because a short rest restores just enough to keep going.

Worked example on a machine chest press:

Fifteen reps at 70 kg in about a minute and a half. Log it as 10 + 3 + 2. Progress the total: when it reaches 18, add the smallest weight jump the machine allows.

In a six-week study of trained men (Prestes and colleagues, 2019), rest-pause matched traditional multiple sets for strength, with leg muscle gains at least as good. It is one small study.

Myo-reps

Myo-reps were popularized by the Norwegian coach Børge Fagerli. They are a rest-pause variant built for lighter weights and higher reps. The opening set, called the activation set, is 12 to 20 reps finished 1 rep short of failure. Then you take 3 to 5 deep breaths, roughly 10 to 20 seconds, and do a mini-set of 3 to 5 reps. Repeat the breaths and mini-sets until you cannot reach the mini-set target, or until you have done 5 mini-sets, whichever comes first.

Worked example, cable curl at 25 kg (55 lb), mini-set target of 4:

Thirty reps in about two and a half minutes. Three straight sets of 12 with 90 seconds of rest take about four and a half minutes for 36 reps. When the activation set reaches 20 reps, or you get all 5 mini-sets, add weight.

There is very little research on myo-reps by name. The case for them borrows from rest-pause studies and from the time-efficiency argument, so treat them as a convenient way to finish isolation work, not as a proven upgrade. They suit low-risk isolation work: lateral raises, curls, triceps extensions, calves, leg curls.

Supersets

A superset is two exercises done one after the other, then a rest. Three kinds, and they behave differently:

• Opposing muscles (bench press + row, curl + pushdown). The safest and most useful. One muscle rests while the other works, and performance stays close to straight sets.
• Unrelated muscles (lateral raise + calf raise, leg curl + cable crunch). Same idea; handy when two stations sit side by side.
• Same muscle (fly straight into a machine chest press). This is a fatigue technique, not a time saver: the second exercise gets weaker. Use it rarely, and never with a heavy barbell lift second.

Worked example: bench press and chest-supported row, 4 sets each, about 40 seconds per set.

About eight minutes saved, and each muscle actually gets a little more rest, because the other exercise fills part of the gap. The 2021 review on time-efficient training by Iversen and colleagues recommends supersets, drop sets and rest-pause as ways to cut session time without cutting volume. If heavy pressing suffers anyway, go back to straight sets for the first exercise of the day and superset the rest; the rest between sets guide covers the timing in more detail.

Lengthened partials

A lengthened partial is a rep done only in the stretched half of the movement: the bottom half of a calf raise, the first half of a leg extension with the knees bent, the top half of a pulldown with the arms long. It is the newest idea here and the only one with evidence pointing to more growth per set, not just more efficiency.

The studies: Pedrosa and colleagues (2022) had people do leg extensions in only the bent-knee half of the range, and their quads grew at least as much as with full range, and more than with only the straight-leg half. Kassiano and colleagues (2023) found the same pattern for calf raises in the stretched half. A 2023 meta-analysis on partial versus full range of motion (Wolf and colleagues) found the two broadly similar for growth, with a possible edge for partials at long muscle lengths. These are small studies, mostly on the legs, so the safe reading is "at least as good as full reps, maybe better", not "replace everything".

Two ways to use them:

• As the whole set. Standing calf raise, 3 × 10–15, every rep from a full stretch to halfway up.
• Added after the full reps. Leg extension at 50 kg (110 lb) for 12 full reps, 1 rep left, then 4 to 6 reps in the bottom half until you cannot move it. This is a cheap finisher: no weight change, no extra set to count.

Use them on machines and cables where the stretched position is safe to stop and reverse in. Skip them on barbell bench, squats and deadlifts. A related idea needs no technique at all: pick exercises that load the muscle at long lengths, like the overhead cable extension and the seated leg curl already in the upper/lower program. Studies by Maeo and colleagues found both grew their target muscles more than a pushdown-style extension and the lying leg curl.

Where they go in a week

Here is the 4-day upper/lower split with techniques placed on the slots that suit them. The heavy barbell work does not change.

That is four technique sets a week, each on a different muscle, and each the last set of its exercise. Counted the way the next section explains, chest, quads and hamstrings each gain about one set a week and shoulders stay level, since the myo-rep cluster replaces two straight sets. The same pattern fits a push/pull/legs week: techniques on the last isolation exercise of each day, never on the first compound lift.

A 6-week block with techniques

Techniques stack fatigue quickly, so phase them in across the block rather than starting at full dose.

Week 5 is the hardest week, which is why week 6 is easy. The RPE and reps-in-reserve chart shows how to judge effort. Failure on a technique set should mean the weight stops moving with clean form, not that you twist to finish.

How to count them

There is no agreed rule for counting a drop set or a rest-pause set toward weekly volume. Ours is deliberately conservative:

• A drop set, rest-pause set or myo-rep cluster counts as 2 hard sets.
• A superset counts as 1 set for each exercise, the same as if you had done them apart.
• Lengthened partials added after a full set count as nothing extra. A whole set of partials counts as 1.

The reason to count at all: if you add three drop sets to a muscle already at 16 sets a week, it is now at about 22, and you will feel it in the next session even if the log says "3 exercises, same as before".

If this happens, do this

• If your main lifts drop in reps after adding techniques: remove the technique sets from the day before that lift first. If it keeps happening, halve the technique sets for the block.
• If the top set of a drop set falls below the rep range: it is too heavy. Take 5 to 10% off the top set; the drops follow.
• If the second myo-rep mini-set is already short: rest a little longer (5 breaths, about 20 seconds), or lower the mini-set target from 5 to 3.
• If elbows or knees ache: techniques on curls, triceps and leg extensions are the usual cause. Drop them for those exercises and keep straight sets.
• If sessions still run long: superset first. It costs the least fatigue for the time it saves.
• If you are in a calorie deficit: use supersets freely, and cut drop sets and myo-reps to about half, since recovery is slower when you are eating less; cutting without losing muscle covers the rest of the training side.

Questions people ask

Are drop sets better than normal sets for muscle growth?

Not when the amount of work is equal. Studies find similar growth. Drop sets get there in less time, which is their real advantage.

What is the difference between rest-pause and myo-reps?

Both break one set with short rests. Rest-pause usually uses a heavier weight, 6 to 12 reps, with 15 to 20 seconds between mini-sets. Myo-reps use a lighter weight, a 12 to 20 rep opening set and mini-sets of 3 to 5 reps after a few breaths.

Do supersets build less muscle?

Supersets of opposing or unrelated muscles build about the same, because each muscle still gets enough rest. Supersets of the same muscle make the second exercise weaker, so use them sparingly.

Do lengthened partials work better than full reps?

Possibly, for some muscles. Studies on leg extensions and calf raises found as much or more growth from the stretched half as from full range. Most of the evidence is small and on the legs, so use them as an addition, not a replacement.

Can beginners use these techniques?

Supersets, yes, to save time. The rest are not needed in the first year or two, while adding weight to straight sets still works.

Where these numbers come from

• Sødal and colleagues, Effects of Drop Sets on Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (Sports Medicine – Open, 2023): similar growth to traditional sets, in less time.
• Angleri and colleagues, crescent pyramid and drop-set systems vs traditional training in well-trained men (European Journal of Applied Physiology, 2017): with volume matched, no extra growth or strength from drop sets.
• Krzysztofik and colleagues, Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods (International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 2019).
• Prestes and colleagues, rest-pause vs traditional multiple-set training in trained men (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2019).
• Iversen and colleagues, No Time to Lift? Designing Time-Efficient Training Programs for Strength and Hypertrophy: A Narrative Review (Sports Medicine, 2021): supersets, drop sets and rest-pause as time savers.
• Pedrosa and colleagues, partial range of motion at long muscle lengths on the leg extension (European Journal of Sport Science, 2022); Kassiano and colleagues, the same for the calves (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, 2023); Wolf and colleagues, partial vs full range of motion meta-analysis (International Journal of Strength and Conditioning, 2023).
• Maeo and colleagues: seated vs lying leg curl (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, 2021) and overhead vs neutral-arm triceps extension (European Journal of Sport Science, 2023).
• Schoenfeld and colleagues, Dose-response relationship between weekly resistance training volume and increases in muscle mass (Journal of Sports Sciences, 2017).