Burnout sets are a great way to increase blood flow to the muscles. The goal for burnout sets is hypertrophy or muscle growth. The volume of sarcoplasmic fluid into the muscle cell increases. It is the type of hypertrophy used for bodybuilders who care little about strength compared to an athlete or an Olympic lifter. Burnout sets are simply lifting a heavy weight continuously until the muscle is completely fatigued.
Concept
The concept of burnout sets is to pump as much blood as possible and increase the sarcoplasmic fluid in the muscle cell. Bodybuilders will perform burnout sets until their muscles are useless. After an exercise is performed to failure the weight can be decreased and the exercise done again until the muscles once again fail. There should be no rest during the burnout sets. There is no set limit of how many continuous sets can be performed. The goal is failure and pain threshold and motivation become the deciding factor of limitations.
Exercises
The most common burnout sets are for the smaller muscle groups such as the biceps, triceps and the calves. This does not mean larger muscle groups and exercises cannot be performed with burnout sets. The exercise itself does not matter as long as the concept is applied. The weight should be somewhat heavy to fail at 12 reps or less. To burnout the biceps simply find a desired weight which will cause your muscles to fail at about 10 to 12 reps. Place the weight down and immediately pick up a slightly lighter weight that will cause your muscles to fail again at about eight to 10 reps. Continue the same pattern until you run out of dumbbells or your arms just can't handle any more. For bigger exercises such as bench press and squat be sure to use a spotter. It is also wise to have a few partners to strip the weight from the bar as quickly as possible for the next burnout set.
Body Weight Exercises
Body weight exercises are not off limits if the concept is to increase volume of fluid to the muscle cell. Decrease the difficulty of the exercise instead of dropping the weight of the exercise. Perform decline push-ups, followed by regular push-ups and finally burnout with incline push-ups. Because of the angle and gravity the decline push-ups are the most difficult and incline push-ups are the simplest. The muscle groups are basically the same and it feels as if the weight was slightly dropped on a bench press.
Form
Do not sacrifice form for more repetitions. Take advantage of the fact that burnout sets allow you to cheat by dropping the weight to continue. There can be a point that the muscles are so fatigued that correct form is impossible regardless of dropping the weight.
Warning
Burnout sets can be dangerous because of the fatigue. Form can be sacrificed leading to potential injury. Blood pressure can increase especially from leg exercises such as squats and overhead exercises such as the shoulder press. It is wise to train with a partner especially for squat and bench press exercises.
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