Drop sets increase growth hormone

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(Dan Moore @ Oct. 17 2006,13:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The response in GH seen in this study doesn't say it was because of drop sets it could very well be an artifact of increased work...</div>
This is a problem with interpreting most studies that I see. They don't control all the variables enough to make it easy to draw a conclusion about what variables are causing the results observed.

I like the saying &quot;correlation does not necessarily imply causation&quot;. For an example from another area entirely, think of your local news. Imagine your local talking head announcing &quot;along with the increase in crime, officials have noted an increase in gun purchases&quot;. Well, are people buying guns to commit crimes with (unlikely), buying more guns and since they are handy using them in crimes of passion, or buying more guns because crime is rising and they are scared?

This is just a made up example, but illustrates how you have to be careful when two things are correlated to not make assumptions about what is actually causing what.
 
Drop sets are stupid. I want to lift big weights, and put my muscles under proper tension, not fatigue my muscles into oblivion.

But then again that is why I do Max-stimulation training and not 'fatiguing, train to failure, and then do a drop set, and then keep doing drop sets until your muscles explode and leak fluid on the gym floor and you pass out-training.' Or HIT in other words.
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Sorry, I was a bit crude there. Whenever I think of drop sets, I think of Arnold's old Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. In it he recommends an 'advanced' technique called 'running the rack.' 'Running the rack' is extremely fatiguing drop sets, you start by pressing heavy dumbells overhead for delts, let's say 100s overhead (since it is for advanced guys only), you do reps until you can't do anymore. You then put down the 100s and grab the 95s and do more reps until you can't do anymore, you then grab the 90s and continue this until you hit failure pressing the 15s! If fatiguing the hell out of your muscles was the secret to hypertrophy (and back then, the bodybuilders thought that it was), then this method is sheer genius. But since science is demonstrating that progressive loading, and time under tension is the key, regardless of fatigue, then this method is sheer madness, as the extreme fatigue will only damage your muscels and make recovery take much longer.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Drop sets are stupid.</div>

Oah there boy, these guys have their place in proper training such as what we do.

The HIT gang does not feature around here anyhoo, and...research is saying something although faulty (some of it anyway) we should just &quot;keep it behind one hear&quot; for now, it may come in handy sometime in the future.

I agree though with Dan, nothing is showing any benefits of more testosterone being produced by using drop sets, and yes, if you are using rest, then that is not a drop set anyway!
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As many research papers are...lacking the whole approach...only one small area of this issue was looked at.
 
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(Dan Moore @ Oct. 17 2006,20:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Few problems, women generally have a higher GH release than men especially after exercise and yet women do not generally have larger skeletal muscle mass so how important is it?

2. The response in GH seen in this study doesn't say it was because of drop sets it could very well be an artifact of increased work, this is one reason why GH response is generaly higher in endurance training than resistance training.

3. The second set isn't exactly a drop set as they still (I am assuming) used the same 3 minute rest between the Strength and subsequant set. Drop sets are an immediate subsequant set used to induce metabolic fatigue so this hardly justifies drops.</div>
1. I think one of the reasons for this is that women have 20 times less testosterone than men. It’s hard to build significant muscle with low testosterone levels. I have also read that women respond better to HIIT training than men for fat burning. The reason is they burn more fat because they release more GH. I don’t know if this is a fact though.

2. Yes, that may be true. Studies show that high volume, multiple sets is more effective at increasing growth hormone. Studies also show that short rest between sets increase GH.

3. As I interpret the study, one group used 5 regular sets with 90% 1RM, and 3 min rest between the sets. The other groups did just the same, but immediately after the last set (no rest), they did another set. One group lifted a set of 50% 1RM, one group a set of 70% 1RM, and one group 90% 1RM. The 50% 1RM group got the best GH secretion.

(The headline says: A single set of low intensity resistance exercise immediately following high intensity resistance exercise stimulates growth hormone secretion in men.)

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(Totentanz @ Oct. 17 2006,21:27)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
But either way, you aren't going to notice anything from increasing your own growth hormone.  The only way to get noticeable effects from growth hormone is to inject it, and that's not exactly legal.</div>
You say that naturally increasing HGH levels won’t have any benefits? Where did you read this?

I read an article by Bryan Haycock that almost said the opposite; Using GH won’t do you any good, but getting the body to naturally secrete more GH shows positive effects.

(http://www.mesomorphosis.com/articles/haycock/growth-factors-03.htm)

Here is a good article about human growth hormone, and how to naturally increase it:

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/human-growth-hormone.html
 
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(Bahiana @ Oct. 18 2006,15:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">You say that naturally increasing HGH levels won’t have any benefits? Where did you read this?</div>
I meant just what I said - you aren't going to notice any effects unless you inject GH, and even then probably only if you are deficient already or are using very large amounts.
 
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(Totentanz @ Oct. 18 2006,19:03)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Bahiana @ Oct. 18 2006,15:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">You say that naturally increasing HGH levels won’t have any benefits? Where did you read this?</div>
I meant just what I said - you aren't going to notice any effects unless you inject GH, and even then probably only if you are deficient already or are using very large amounts.</div>
Or in combination with other substances.

What's not understood by many is that the changes seen in most of the hormones aren't the sole cause of hypertrophy, yes they contribute but aren't the only factor. To ignore the principles that are known to induce hypertrophy in favor of trying to manipulate small hormonal changes IMO is going in the wrong direction.

&quot;If you build it they will come&quot;
 
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(Totentanz @ Oct. 19 2006,01:03)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Bahiana @ Oct. 18 2006,15:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">You say that naturally increasing HGH levels won't have any benefits? Where did you read this?</div>
I meant just what I said - you aren't going to notice any effects unless you inject GH, and even then probably only if you are deficient already or are using very large amounts.</div>
I was just wondering if this was your opinion, or a scientific fact... if it is, maybe i'll just &quot;drop the drop sets&quot;
But then again, they do have other benefits...

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(Dan Moore @ Oct. 19 2006,14:18)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">
What's not understood by many is that the changes seen in most of the hormones aren't the sole cause of hypertrophy, yes they contribute but aren't the only factor. To ignore the principles that are known to induce hypertrophy in favor of trying to manipulate small hormonal changes IMO is going in the wrong direction.

&quot;If you build it they will come&quot;</div>

Yes, don't get me wrong. I like to get the real training in first, and then I add something that might give added benefits.

I mentioned this before in another thread too:
&quot;I also like to get all the &quot;real sets/reps&quot; in, with the same progressing weight. If I use drop sets I can easily reach the specified rep range, but I don't feel this is right as I am using lighter weights to reach my reps. I think more of it as getting metabolic work done.&quot;

The same goes for nutrition; I eat what I need to grow or lose fat, but I tweak it for optimal hormonal changes.
 
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