Turn Up The Heat

Six ways to go the distance in your workouts — and beyond — with this hardcore finishing technique.

- Michael Berg

Feel the burn," of course, refers to the deep-down ache you feel in a working muscle as lactic acid builds up to searing levels, at some point leaving you unable to continue a set.

Chasing that sensation is the goal of "burn sets," which tack a final, excruciating set using lighter weight to achieve utter muscle failure onto the end of a bodypart workout. But the question remains, How effective are burn sets and how can you get the most out of this technique?

We tapped Dave Looney, Ph.D., CSCS, an ORISE research fellow at the U.S. Army Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, Massachusetts, and an expert in the exercise physiology field, to find out.

Rule No. 1: Know the difference between a drop and a burn. 

Drop sets and burn sets are terms often used interchangeably, but there are nuanced differences between the two. “Drop sets are consecutive sets performed with progressively lighter weights with little-to-no rest periods between sets,” explains Looney. “For instance, you start with 100 pounds, do it as many times as you can, then drop the weight immediately to 80 or even 50 pounds, and continue repping,” he says.