A single set, is it possible?

[Creation]

Hello guys, I'm new here.

I've been running my whole life but I'm new to bodybuilding.

I've been reading a lot of stuff to make sure I was heading in the right direction with my training but a lot of things seem to be conflicting.

I read on bodybuilder.com (I'm pretty sure it was there) that it was possible to train smaller muscles (i.e. not the back) by using a single set.

From my understanding, the article said that you had to do the following (example with bench press):

Begin at 130, do as many repetitions as you can. Change the weight to something lighter (without stopping), say 120 and do the same thing. You keep repeating this pattern until you can't lift anything or have run out of weights.

Is it true? Would it work?

[#8]

If you are just starting out into lifting then yes this will work effectively for a little while. After a few weeks you will want to incorporate more rest time in between and advance the amount of weight you can lift, if that is your goal.

What you are talking about doing is not technically "one set", its called drop setting, or super setting. It will work for you if you perform the exercises correctly and you eat enough to rebuild the muscle you trained.

[cog]

IIRC,Texas A&M had their football team follow this approach a few years back for legs,the difficulty was in determining what failure actually is.They had a squat machine setup,I think it started heavy, heavy negatives,stripping,once a week.They felt this brought results,and a lot of pain.

[O-Train]

IIRC,Texas A&M had their football team follow this approach a few years back for legs,the difficulty was in determining what failure actually is.They had a squat machine setup,I think it started heavy, heavy negatives,stripping,once a week.They felt this brought results,and a lot of pain.

They just did heavy negatives? Or they started with heavy negatives and worked down through to lighter weight until they achieved concentric failure?

[Felinecougar]

Alot of pain?

[cog]

They just did heavy negatives? Or they started with heavy negatives and worked down through to lighter weight until they achieved concentric failure?

Started with a regular squat,iirc,about 5 or 6 reps,then negatives.They experimented with many variations,truly determining absolute failure was open to debate.Yes,a lot of pain.I can't recall the exact routine,set would take a few minutes.Once a week.

[Creation]

Thank you for the answers.

@#8:
Out of curiosity, what's a ''little while''? A week, a month? Just a rough approximation would do. Perhaps it would help if I posted a picutre.

[moh2010]

It's called low volume, high intensity training. It's Dorian Yates favorite...

You can use rest/pause, dropsets, forced reps, negative...

The rest/pause technique look like this:


Incline bench press
warm up no.1 135X8
warm up no.2 185x3-4
Working set 225x8-10(to failure)
take 20sec rest and try to do 2-3 more with the same weight
take another 20sec and try for 1 or 2 reps, with the same weight...

And that's it

Do the same with Db flat press or hammer strength chest press

and then pec deck.

that's it for chest!

[TopHatPlus]

The issue that i see with this which i have desperately avoided is my beloved warm ups. doing a few sets, usually 3-4 in a low 3-5 rep range work myself up to my max then pumping the max till failure. To me failure is when you are no longer able to lift it without substantial spotting. I also find the best way to up my weight and reps is having a variety of workouts for one muscle group. ie. to up my reps from 3 reps @ 150 lbs on the rope to 5-7 reps i started doing weighted dips. Doing 5 reps, 3 reps, 3 reps, with 2x 45 lbs handing off you made the world of difference and because its such and intense lower peck/tricep/fore arm workout it was also been quite use full for my bench press as well. I think doing what you suggested will not build you mass as fast as you will gain endurance. It depends on what you want.

[Praetorian]

You will not build any significant muscle training with one set or by doing drop sets consistently. The problem being that the beginner and intermediate BB requires much more time under the bar because "intensity" ie total focus and total weight used for that single set is way too low. It takes years to develop the ability to utilize the required muscle fibres in one set to make it effective as well to get to a certain weight where this is even possible. BB starting out ie years 1-5 need to get stronger and be able to move significant weight in order to put on serious size...that means training the power movements and doing straight sets. Yes the odd drop set etc is great for a change up but it wont be the determining factor.
I dont care how intense you think you are training with 135lbs on the bench your chest will still be non existent...you need to move some heavy iron to build thick dense muscle period.
P

PS. for an advanced level athlete one set to all out failure can be effective if utilized correctly

[cog]

I might add that the squats were done with a setup like I have seen Fred Hatfield use,it has a lever operated by another person outside the setup,he can increase the force applied easily.Or decrease it.