By Dayne Hudson
Supersets are a great way to spice up training in the quest for new muscle growth.
Just like a new sauce on your steak, a change to your route to work - variety really is the spice of life and it's really no different in the world of fitness.
As you may or may not know, a superset is when you perform one set, immediately followed by another set, with little to no rest (1).
You might be targetting the same muscle group or even a different one.
But what many people don't know is that there's 5 of them!
1. COMPOUND SUPERSET
This is when you do two compound movements after another. A compound movement is one where you work more than ONE muscle group in that particular exercise.
An example of this is the leg press, which also works your hamstrings as well as your quads.
TRY THIS:
Performing squats, then supersetting with a set on the leg press.
Pay attention to form on the leg press and be sure to make sure that you’re controlling the weight and getting the most out of each rep.
2. PRE-EXHAUSTION SUPERSET
This is when you perform an isolation movement to begin with (like leg extensions) followed by a compound movement.
TRY THIS:
Smash out some leg extensions then go into a squat.
Ouch!
3. ISOLATION SUPERSETS
Isolating refers to working the one muscle on its own.
So the isolation supersets involve doing these back to back.
TRY THIS:
Triceps kickbacks backed up by some rope/v-bar push downs.
This will really test you!
4. AGONIST/ANTAGONIST SUPERSETS.
Using the arms as an example, when you do a bicep curl, your biceps are the agonist and your triceps are the antagonist, as they're opposing the action.
TRY THIS:
Start with a bicep curl and back it up with some skull crushers immediately afterwards to work your triceps.
But whilst you do this, your biceps get to take a bit of a break but they're still being worked.
This allows for an extremely good pump and tests your muscles in a way they're not used to being tested!
And the big benefit here is time.
You should be able to cut an arm workout in half by doing this particular type of superset.
FURTHER READING: WHAT'S THE BEST EXERCISE FOR GROWING YOUR BICEPS? FIND OUT HERE.
5. STAGGERED SUPERSETS
We all have that lagging body part.
The idea here is to squeeze in a set of whatever muscle group that might be, whilst training another muscle.
So say you're training chest but your weak link is your calves.
You'd pump out sets on the bench press and then perform calf raises in between those chest sets.
It's a great way to bring out those lagging body parts!
CONCLUSION
So give these 5 different types a run in an attempt to further your training!
NEXT WEEK: THE SCIENCE BEHIND SUPERSETS - THE LITERATURE INTO THE ABOVE
"Stay Fit, Stay Flexed!"
REFERENCES
(1) Pauletto B. Choice and order of exercises. Natl Strength Cond Assoc J 8: 71–73, 1986.
