Tip Drop-Blocks for Maximum Growth Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness Training Tip Drop-Blocks for Maximum Growth If your main goal is hypertrophy this new progression model will help you build slabs of muscle Take a look by Christian Thibaudeau September 14, 2016March 25, 2022 Tags Tips, Training The Key to Gains The true key to growth and gains is progression. Find a way to progress in the gym and you'll get bigger and stronger. Now, "progress" doesn't necessarily mean adding weight. After all, simply adding as little as 5 pounds per week on a lift would lead to a gain of 250 pounds in a year, 500 pounds in two years, 750 pounds in three years... you get the picture. And it can't be about adding reps either since there's a limit to how much you can add. Otherwise, you'd have tons of guys bench pressing 225 pounds for 200 reps. "Find a way to progress" means that your training sessions should be gradually more demanding. Making every week progressive in difficulty will ensure progress. This too is part of progressive overload. The body can sustain such a progressive demand in training stress for 4 weeks. After that, you'll need to start a new "block" from a lower intensity level and ramp back up over the next 4 weeks. This is one of my favorite 4-week blocks for hypertrophy-focused training. I'm currently using this approach with stellar results and so are my two training partners. I call it the "drop-block" because it's based on the drop set method. Here's the type of drop set I use: Start with a weight that's challenging for 6 reps. Drop the weight by around 25% and immediately perform 8 additional reps. Drop another 25% and perform a final 10 reps. Example We'll use a starting weight of 225 pounds, which means that our drops will be roughly 55 pounds: 225 x 6 170 x 8 115 x 10 This is called the "6-8-10 drop set" and it's one of the most powerful muscle-building methods I've experienced. Now that you understand the type of drop set to use, here's how to organize the progression model during the 4 weeks block. On each of the weeks, perform 4 work sets per exercise. While you can add weight from week to week, if you don't this isn't a problem because the progression model is built on an increase in intensity via a higher ratio of drop sets. Week 1 3 sets of 8 reps 1 x 6-8-10 drop set Week 2 2 sets of 8 reps 2 x 6-8-10 drop sets Week 3 1 set of 8 reps 3 x 6-8-10 drop sets Week 4 4 x 6-8-10 drop sets Note that you use more weight at the start of the first 6-8-10 set than for the sets of 8 reps. It's possible that when you have more than one 6-8-10 set you might have to reduce the weight from set to set. That's fine if it's necessary. Week 2 Dumbbell Bench Press Starting With 65 Pound Dumbbells Set 1: 65 x 8 reps Set 2: 75 x 8 reps Set 3: 85 x 6, 60 x 8, 40 x 10 Set 4: 75 x 6, 50 x 8, 30 x 10 This is a progression model, not a program. It can be integrated into pretty much any muscle-building plan. A good approach is starting with one big lift trained for heavy sets of 4-6 reps, then do 3 exercises for a muscle using the drop-block approach. But it could also be integrated as the assistance work in a program like 5/3/1. Or you could make it into a pure muscle-building plan where your 4 exercises for a muscle group all use this model. Regardless of how you use it, this is a fantastic way to rapidly build new muscle. Get The T Nation Newsletters Don' t Miss Out Expert Insights To Get Stronger, Gain Muscle Faster, And Take Your Lifting To The Next Level related posts Training 4 Simple Leg Workouts for Growth They’re simple, but they’re not easy. Check out the workouts that’ll cure your flamingo legs. Legs, Training John Meadows April 30 Training The Tao of Martin Rooney Too often we get lost in the insignificant stuff. We need to step back and look at the big picture. What are we trying to do? Grow bigger muscles and become indestructible, of course. Bodybuilding, Training Nate Green December 9 Training Tip Do Jump Squats with Judo Push-Ups Get ready for 150 reps of fat-burning pain. Here's how to do it. Tips, Training Chad Waterbury February 13 Training Train at Home Get Better Gains Home Gyms Beat Commercial Gyms Training Christian Thibaudeau September 21