Supersets are used by lifters from all walks of life. Bodybuilders will use supersets to increase their total time under tension when working for hypertrophy gains. Recreational lifters will use supersets to decrease their total workout time and increase their work capacity. And athletes will use supersets to capitalize on strength and power adaptations. Needless to say, supersets have a wide range of applicability.
No matter who you are, supersets can be useful when programmed with intent. A superset refers to two exercises performed back-to-back, with little or no rest in between. The practice can help to cut your workout time roughly in half, since you're only resting once you've finished two moves, rather than taking time between every single set for just one exercise.
If creating quick workouts meant to build muscular endurance and metabolic conditioning in the weight room is your goal, supersets will be your best friend. You can use supersets in the broadest sense and stack any two moves to simply cut down on your workout time.
If you're extra savvy, you can select complementary exercises that target opposing muscle groups in order to make your workout more efficient. You might, say, aim at combining moves where you push with moves where you pull; an example of this would be an overhead press with a pullup. You're resting the muscles that you depend on to push the barbell while you're doing the pullups, and vice versa, so there's very little wasted time involved—with all the work you'd get by performing the moves in a more standard format.
The most obvious time to implement supersets is when you want to cut down your workout time. Be careful to remember that not every move is ideal to be part of a pair, however. While it's not a bad thing to value your time and program your workouts to be as quick and efficient as possible, you should never design a routine built around heavy lifts with speed as your number one priority. If you're going to perform compound exercises with large loads, you'll need proper rest time between sets to fully recover for the next set.
Sometimes, deciding which moves you'll be able to perform to the best of your ability in the superset format is something you need to determine on your own. Not sure [if I could], and I'd contend there are diminishing returns there, so I generally don't recommend or program that. Instead of front loading the big lifts like back squats, bench presses, and deadlifts with accessory moves that will ultimately sap your performance, give them your full attention. Then, partner up corresponding exercises that don't require as much rest for recovery.
You pick an exercise and set of weights and do the exercise for 10 or more repetitions reps. You rest for 30 or more seconds, pick up the weights again, and do another set. Bodybuilders were lifting weights for individual muscle groups to make them as big and strong as possible.
The fitness world took that approach and adapted it for the regular exerciser who was trying to get fit and lose weight. The fitness world has expanded and learned that there are more methods of training and ways to lift weights that will give you the results you want without the same old boring straight-set training.
Exercises in supersets can be for the same muscle group—such as doing an overhead shoulder press followed by a lateral raise—which is the most intense way to use supersets. Because you're working the same muscle group, those muscle fibers get more time under tension. Increasing that time under tension means you're optimizing muscle growth and getting the most out of your workouts.
Supersets can also involve working different muscle groups or even using different activities, such as a strength exercise followed by a cardio exercise. It's a good idea to change your strength workout every six weeks to avoid plateaus, and supersets offer a great way to completely change what you're doing. Supersets are an excellent choice if you're ready for a change. You may be surprised at how many options you have when it comes to supersetting. Some of the basic supersetting training methods include:.
This involves two exercises for the same muscle group. The first exercise is often an isolation move , which targets one muscle group, and the second is a compound movement , which targets multiple muscles. An example is doing leg extensions, which target the quads, followed by squats. The quads are tired, but the other muscles used in squats glutes, hamstrings and inner thighs are fresh.
Post-exhaustion supersets are the opposite of pre-exhaustion. You start with the compound movement and follow that with the isolation exercise. An example is the bench press followed by dumbbell flies. This is a tough way of training since you're putting together two compound exercises, requiring more energy and strength. Compound exercises are those that work several muscle groups at a time. In this type of training, combine two isolation exercises, which work one muscle group and one joint rather than multiple joints and muscles at the same time.
An example is doing dumbbells flies followed by a cable crossover. When you do two exercises that target opposing muscle groups, one muscle gets to rest while the opposite muscle works. You can pair back and chest, biceps, and triceps, hamstrings, and quadriceps, etc.
These moves can be training either the same body part for example, two chest exercises or two different ones a chest and a back exercise. This first week will employ the former, where each major muscle group will be thoroughly exhausted before moving onto the next body part. These four workouts will pair opposing muscle groups with each other for example, chest and back , the one exception being calves, which will be performed similar to week 1.
Not only will this save you time in the gym, but you should be stronger on the second exercise of each superset, as research has shown that a muscle will be stronger if preceded by a contraction of its antagonist. This is an added benefit that could result in strength gains on top of your fat-burning ambitions. This was solved by choosing back and shoulder exercises on day 1 that more or less mirror each other, and likewise on day 4 for chest and back.
And whereas on days 2 and 3 the program calls for four supersets, days 1 and 4 employ only three each, so as not to overtrain the shoulders. Similar to week 1, each triset will focus on a single body part three chest exercises or three back exercises, for example , as opposed to combining multiple muscle groups in a given triset. Adding a third exercise will further increase intensity and calorie burn. During this week, we incorporate a broad spectrum of reps, going as heavy as four reps and as light as 20, which will hit upon strength, hypertrophy and endurance in each triset.
These are technically three different exercises, but the movement pressing the weights up toward the ceiling remains virtually the same. The order in which you do the exercises in the extended set is crucial.
In the aforementioned example, notice how the toughest variation of the three incline is done first, and the easiest decline last. Imagine if you did exercises in the opposite order, from easiest to hardest. In addition to boosting intensity, extended sets offer the benefit of targeting a wide variety of muscle fibers in the course of just one set via changing of angles. Ready to get fit?
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