One popular bodybuilding method to enhance muscle and strength gains is to perform a “back-off” set. This involves performing a few sets of an exercise with heavy weight and low reps, and then concluding by removing a substantial amount of weight and performing the final set for a high amount of reps
According to a new study, this old-school bodybuilding method may offer great value. In the study, both groups of subjects performed heavy strength training on the leg extension machine. Half of these subjects, however, ended the session by reducing the weight and performing a high-rep set until fatigue. This group enjoyed greater improvements in strength and muscle gain.
Conclusions
This study lends further evidence to the growing body of research indicating the benefits of training at multiple rep ranges. What would be interesting to examine, however, is whether or not the same effects would be seen if the “heavy” sets and the “back-off” set were performed on separate days, or if the effect is stronger if the back-off set occurs immediately after the heavy set. That way, it would be possible to determine whether the benefits seen in this study were merely due to being exposed to multiple rep ranges, or whether there is truly something uniquely powerful about the “back-off” set.
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