Contrast Set Training: The Hidden Key to Muscle Growth

What many people don’t realize about hypertrophy is that it’s basically isolated conditioning, supplemented by higher caloric intake to make muscles grow.  In most movements in the gym, muscles often benefit from increasing work capacity and overall cumulative volume, to ultimately fully fatigue a muscle by the end of a 60 minute session.  And truth be told, under that umbrella, there are many ways to skin a cat and that one less popular method that’s worth its weight in gold is the use of contrast set training.

Contrast set training is a fantastic way to make muscle fibers not only fatigued, but accomplish more than they would during a traditional set of work. Learning the ins and outs of contrast sets can be just the trick you needed to get past a nagging plateau.

Contrast Set Training: The Science

In simplest terms, contrast sets create one loaded movement (usually compound in nature), and parallel it by following it up with a simulation of the same movement pattern, unloaded. This second effort will “trick” the fast twitch muscle fibers and their high threshold motor units into overfiring, since they needed to recruit more wholly to move the heavy load that just preceded it. It’s a way to get much more out of every set

Common Exercises For Contrast Set Training

As mentioned above, big lifts are a definite way to go when it comes to contrast set training, and you’ll receive the most bang for your buck by following that directive. Recommended movements to capitalize on can be broken up into a chart, accompanied by their recommended pairing.

Of course, the above are just examples of movements that would fit a contrast set, and there are others that can also suffice, as long as the mimic the movement pattern of the first exercise.

The Rules of Contrast Set Training

Contrast sets ask a lot out of a lifter’s energy expenditure, especially due to the compound nature of the lifts used. With that said, being fresh when attempting contrast sets goes without saying. Schedule these towards the beginning of your workout, and treat them as the general volume of your training session. Don’t exceed more than 2 to 3 exercises that use this method.  In practice, there are two general ways to approach rep ranges where contrast training is concerned:

CNS Priming: Low-High

Going heavy with your loaded movement (think of a 2-5 rep max), and instantly following it up with 8-10 unloaded reps is a great way to make the nervous system light up and prep your muscles for the latter portion, without inducing too much microtrauma. For strength trainees and athletes, this is an excellent directive to make sure the muscles don’t get overfatigued and reduce overall performance and efficiency.  Olympic coaching legend Charlie Francis employed this method with the fastest man in the world back in the late 80s (before it was even coined “contrast set training).

Hypertrophy/Conditioning: High-High

Simply put, doing 10 reps of both loaded and unloaded brings lactic acid and two sets of energy systems into the picture, conditions the muscles, and approaches muscle failure much more effectively and completely. For people looking to make their muscles grow, this is your best bet.

In both cases, rest for 3 minutes between sets. Focusing on 4-6 sets in both cases is a smart pointer.

Don’t use contrast sets year round. Use them at key points within your training year to break a plateau or sharpen up your performance.  You’ll turn into a stronger, more muscular and powerful machine with an athletic edge.