Every type of set

Straight sets

This is the most common type of training method, this involves performing a set with a particular weight until you hit a certain amount of reps, then stopping and resting until your prepare for another set. Straight sets mainly rely on the tension and volume variables for muscle growth, which are the 2 most important variables for hypertrophy. Straight sets are easy to perform but they shouldn’t be performed after significant metabolite accumulation (such as after drop sets), as straight sets are usually performed with a large rest time, which will cause the removal of metabolites from the target muscle undoing the work of all the sets leading up to that metabolite accumulation. The accumulation of metabolites will also cause large amounts of fatigue reducing the tension and volume of the following sets, therefore it is best to do straight sets before any sets that produce large amounts of metabolites. Straight sets should consist of 66-75% of all working sets performed over a mesocycle, and other types of sets should only really be used if you are short on time, if you have connective tissue problems or if you're looking for some extra growth by temporarily changing up your training.

When resting between sets you must wait for target muscle recovery, synergist muscle recovery, nervous system recovery and cardiorespiratory system recovery. Target muscle/ local fatigue is the first to recover, as this may only take 10-20 seconds before you are ready to hit the muscle again for another 5+ reps. Synergist muscle fatigue is fatigue of non-target muscles, if these are not recovered before your next set the non-target muscles may be the limiting factor reducing how well you can hit the target muscle. Synergist muscle fatigue can recover quickly or slowly, it depends on the muscle which is fatigued and how badly. Nervous system fatigue is fatigue in the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous, this can inhibit your neural drive to your muscles reducing how much you can target them, it can take potentially days before you have completely regained neural drive. Nervous system fatigue also includes physiological fatigue, as if you don’t have the motivation to perform another set it likely won’t be as stimulative, it can take anywhere between 5 seconds to 5 minutes to regain the motivation to perform another set of a particular exercise. Cardiorespiratory fatigue kicks in after a big set, especially in exercises that require large muscle groups, such as the squat, so after a set, you should wait for your breathing rate to be nearly back to normal as you want your muscles to be your limiting factor and not your cardiorespiratory system. So, after a straight set take note of your recovery and when you feel your target muscle fatigue, synergist muscle fatigue, nervous system fatigue and cardiorespiratory fatigue have recovered to a good degree you can perform another set, this beats having a fixed time between sets you get to recover, instead, recovery can last anywhere between 30 seconds and 4 minutes. Remember that you don’t need to make a 100% recovery before another set this will only waste time, reduce the amount of volume you can train with unless you’re willing to spend hours upon hours in the gym and it will also undo the effects of the warmup sets increasing the risk of injury and decreasing neural drive, it only takes about 1 minute to be recovered by 90% for another set, but then about an extra 3 minutes to be recovered by 95%, after this getting back to 100% can take an hour or more, so it’s pointless aiming for it. Bare in mind that it is useful to track how long it takes to recover between sets to find out how your progress is going.
 

Supersets

There are 2 types of supersets, non-overlapping supersets and pre-exhaust supersets. Non-overlapping supersets involve performing a straight set for particular muscles and then directly after performing another straight set for unrelated muscles, this is useful to save time and it also may enhance performance and muscle growth stimulus for a certain muscle if you fatigue its antagonist beforehand, for example performing skull crushers then directly after performing a set of curls may help you perform better on the curls. Non-overlapping supersets may seem perfect but they cause a lot of systemic fatigue reducing mind-muscle connection and causing a decreased performance in back-to-back compound movements. Therefore non-overlapping supersets should only be used if you don’t have much time, in which case they should be used with mostly isolation movements. Pre-exhaust supersets involve performing an isolation movement for a certain muscle than straight after performing a compound exercise involving the same muscle. By doing this the limiting muscle in the compound movement ends up being the same muscle you targeted in the isolation movement, this is beneficial as there are more effective reps performed with the target muscle, and it also works the target muscle in a similar way to how a drop set does, giving you more of a pump and cell swelling, this will make it easier to get a good mind-muscle connection on the compound movement. Another benefit of pre-exhaust supersets is that it forces the target muscle to be the limiting factor during the compound movement instead of other muscles, and compound movements have been shown to cause more hypertrophy than isolation movements. The isolation movement should be done with whatever rep range causes the most local fatigue without causing too much systemic fatigue, this should usually be in the 10-20 rep range. The compound movement should then be done with over 5 reps so there is a good amount of effective reps performed, and likely under 10 reps as this allows for enough metabolite accumulation, whilst limiting systemic fatigue. Be aware though as pre-exhaust supersets can be very fatiguing to the target muscle so they should only really be used at the end of a workout and on muscles that can take and need extra attention. The rest period between supersets should go by the same rules as straight sets.

Myoreps

This is when you first perform a set, often in the 10-20 rep range, taking a short rest period, then performing another 5-10 more reps, then after this resting like normal before another set. Myoreps are best performed with isolation movements as compound movements can cause a lot of cardiorespiratory fatigue, inhibiting your performance. Myoreps increase the number of effective reps and hit the fast twitch fibres well because of this. Myoreps also cause a large amount of metabolite accumulation and cell swelling. However, myoreps can be painful reducing mind-muscle connection and they can be physically and mentally fatiguing. Myoreps may also slightly neglect the slow twitch muscle fibres as a large amount of volume is performed within 5 reps from failure, this may cause slightly suboptimal muscle growth. Slow twitch muscle fibres will still be hit though in the reps leading into 5 RIR of the first set and also the reps leading to and within 5 RIR of the myoreps, as there will be a large amount of metabolite accumulation inhibiting the fast-twitch muscle fibres ability to contract and therefore giving more volume to the slow-twitch muscle fibres. Even though myoreps are great they do not beat traditional straight sets and should only really be used if you’re limited on time, which most people are, they should also only really be used at the end of a session and only be used about one time per session.

Drop sets

This includes performing a set in the 10-20 rep range then taking a short break, only enough for the burn to fade slightly, and then performing another set in the 5-10 rep range at a lower weight, you can keep lowering the weight if you want but I would recommend dropping below 20% of your 1 RM. Drop sets work in a similar way to myoreps but they do a better job at hitting the slow-twitch muscle fibres, as there is more metabolite accumulation inhibiting fast-twitch muscle fibres abilities to contract and therefore giving more volume to the slow-twitch muscle fibres. Drop sets can be painful, reducing mind-muscle connection, and they can also be physically and mentally fatiguing. They therefore should be used sparingly at the end of a workout and only on isolation movements as performing drop sets with compound movements will greatly fatigue the cardiorespiratory system, and therefore likely be the limiting factor and not the target muscle. The rest between drop sets should be slightly less than in straight sets as to keep a good quantity of metabolites in the muscle.

Down sets

Say you want to stay in a certain rep range during an exercise but it is nearly impossible for you to do so as you have accumulated so much fatigue over a certain amount of sets, instead of just working in a lower rep range (which is a perfectly viable option unless the reps performed is below 5) you can drop the weight, this is known as a down set. Another alternative to a down set is switching exercises, for example, say you are aiming for 4 sets of squats but after just 2 sets of squats, you feel very fatigued switching to the hack squat for the last 2 sets may end up being less fatiguing and more stimulative for growth.
 

Rest between down sets has similar rules to that of straight sets, however, they're often used on fatiguing exercises (such as the squat or deadlift), therefore it is not expected that you will recover all the way to 95% or more, that will make dropping the weight pointless, instead, aim to be at least 85-92% recovered before starting a new set, this may take 1-4 minutes.
 

Giant sets/ marathon sets

This type of set includes setting a rep goal (for example 50 reps) and performing the number of reps necessary to get to this rep goal across multiple sets and resting in a similar way to the way you do in straight sets. Each set shouldn’t drop below 5 reps to stimulate hypertrophy optimally. Giant sets are useful if you want to train to a particular RIR without too much concern for counting reps or sets, if you want to focus on mind-muscle connection or for beginners so they can learn the correct form, as they can just stop the set when their form breaks down, even if this is above 5 RIR, as they can still experience robust growth by doing this. Giant sets are also useful if you can’t increase load at the rate which you would like to on certain exercises (such as rear delt flys), due to the different weights in your gym being too big of a jump, instead, you can just increase your rep goal every week. The main downside of giant sets is that it is difficult to monitor progress, so pay extra attention to progress on your straight sets hitting the same muscle.

Occlusion training

This is when bands are tied around parts of muscles and an exercise is performed. The bands will inhibit blood flow to the muscle so metabolites can’t be washed out as easily and they accumulate faster as there is a lack of oxygen to the muscle. Common places to tie the bands during occlusion training are in the upper arm for the biceps or just below the knees for the calves. Occlusion training leads to more metabolite accumulation and more cell swelling, it also causes more fast-twitch muscle fibre activation with lighter loads as they are activated sooner during the set in order to help the slow-twitch muscle fibres perform the movement. Occlusion training is performed in a giant set style and you should tread carefully with your proximity to failure depending on how your recovery is going. You can recover very quickly between sets usually 5-30 seconds when performing occlusion training as you only really get locally fatigued and not systemically. The main benefit of occlusion training is that you can get a decent growth stimulus with loads as little as 20% of your 1 RM, making them good for training whilst trying to recover from an injury or when extremally fatigued during a contest diet. Occlusion training can really only be used on certain muscles and they should only be used minimally and only at the end of a session.

Eccentric failure training

This is when you push yourself during a set to the point where you can no longer control the eccentric phase of a lift, this can be done with help from a gym partner helping you lift the weight during the concentric phase or by using momentum to complete the concentric phase when you can no longer complete it on your own. Eccentric failure training is very stimulative to muscle growth but it is also highly fatiguing. Eccentric failure training will need a lot of resources for recovery leading to suboptimal growth, it also decreases mind-muscle connection and it is hard to track progress for. Eccentric failure training should therefore only be used at the end of a session and only if you’re limited on time or are looking to temporarily change up your training in case there is a possibility of you getting some extra muscle growth. This type of training should also only be used on exercises where it is safe if you lose control of the eccentric phase of a lift.