- Home
- Muscle Building
- Learn the Simple Secrets of Supersets for More Muscle Now
Fitness Articles
For Fitness Publishers
Learn the Simple Secrets of Supersets for More Muscle Now
- By Gregg Gillies
- Published 02/19/2006
- Muscle Building
- Unrated
Learn the Simple Secrets of Supersets for More Muscle Now
There are quite a number of effective muscle building techniques and weight lifting tips you can use in your lifting programs. By putting together a plan and implementing these muscle ideas in an effective manner, you can create a variety of weight training routines that will help you to gain muscle mass as quickly as your genetics allow.
One of the best weightlifting tips you can use is a variation of the superset technique. If you're not familiar with supersets, here's a quick rundown.
A superset is when you perform two exercises back to back with no rest in between the exercises. There are a number of different versions of the superset. One is called pre-exhaustion. This is when you perform two exercises for the same muscle. The first exercise is an isolation movement, such as flyes for the pecs. Then you perform a compound movement for the same muscle. In this case you would use the bench press.
By performing a superset in this manner, you pre-fatigue the muscle you are working (in this case the pecs) and then hit it hard with a compound movement that allows other muscles that are still fresh to help the pecs (in this case the delts and Triceps) work even harder. This manner of superset is designed to help overcome weaker muscles in an exercise so you can work the main muscle group harder. In this example, a lot of times the weaker triceps will give out on the bench press before the stronger pecs are effectively trained.
Another variation of this muscle building technique is post-exhaustion, where you perform the exercises the way I described above but in reverse. So using this weightlifting tip, you would peform the bench press and then go to the flyes. This version allows you to use heavier weights on the main exercise, in this case the bench press, and then use the isolation exercise to up the intensity and further work the muscle. I've always preferred this verisio to the typical pre-exhaustion method. Call it ego, but I would rather drop the weight on use on flyes than I would on my bench press.
Another variation would be to take a brief 30 second rest between the two exercises. This gives you a lot of the positives of the muscle building superset but helps to minimize the main negatives, which is stopping the set short from Aerobic exhaustion before working the muscles efficiently, and the fact that you need to reduce the weights on the second exercise.
A very effective muscle building alternative to the mass training techniques above is performing supersets of antagonistic muscle groups, such as back and chest, biceps and triceps, Quadriceps and
your knees and straighten your legs at the hips. Climbing, hiking uphill, running and cycling all work the hamstrings.'); return false">Hamstrings, etc. In the case of the chest and back you could superset bench presses with bent over rows.One of the best weightlifting tips you can use is a variation of the superset technique. If you're not familiar with supersets, here's a quick rundown.
A superset is when you perform two exercises back to back with no rest in between the exercises. There are a number of different versions of the superset. One is called pre-exhaustion. This is when you perform two exercises for the same muscle. The first exercise is an isolation movement, such as flyes for the pecs. Then you perform a compound movement for the same muscle. In this case you would use the bench press.
By performing a superset in this manner, you pre-fatigue the muscle you are working (in this case the pecs) and then hit it hard with a compound movement that allows other muscles that are still fresh to help the pecs (in this case the delts and Triceps) work even harder. This manner of superset is designed to help overcome weaker muscles in an exercise so you can work the main muscle group harder. In this example, a lot of times the weaker triceps will give out on the bench press before the stronger pecs are effectively trained.
Another variation of this muscle building technique is post-exhaustion, where you perform the exercises the way I described above but in reverse. So using this weightlifting tip, you would peform the bench press and then go to the flyes. This version allows you to use heavier weights on the main exercise, in this case the bench press, and then use the isolation exercise to up the intensity and further work the muscle. I've always preferred this verisio to the typical pre-exhaustion method. Call it ego, but I would rather drop the weight on use on flyes than I would on my bench press.
Another variation would be to take a brief 30 second rest between the two exercises. This gives you a lot of the positives of the muscle building superset but helps to minimize the main negatives, which is stopping the set short from Aerobic exhaustion before working the muscles efficiently, and the fact that you need to reduce the weights on the second exercise.
A very effective muscle building alternative to the mass training techniques above is performing supersets of antagonistic muscle groups, such as back and chest, biceps and triceps, Quadriceps and
While these are all effective muscle building techniques, one that you may find even better is the following. When utilizing antagonistic supersets, consider taking your typical rest between sets. So instead of supersetting with no rest between sets, you go back and forth with rest, like you would with straight sets.
Let's say your typical weight training workout for back and chest consists of 5 sets of the bench press followed by 5 sets of bent over rows. Now, if you were using supersets, you'd perform one set for the chest and then do one set for the back with no rest, then rest for 2 - 3 minutes and repeat this five times.
Instead of utilizing the superset technique in this manner, you would do one set of the bench press, take your normal rest, then do a set of bent over rows, take your normal rest, and repeat until finished. In other words, you would stagger your sets. You wouldn't really be doing a typical superset so much as switching back and forth between bench presses and bent over rows with a normal rest period.
What's the advantage of this mass training tactic? For one, you won't get winded as you might in a more traditional superset, especially when performing big, compound exercises for body parts like the chest and back. You'll also be able to use heavier weights and you'll concentrate better because you won't have the tendency to rush as you might in a typical superset.
You can also adjust your training to your goals. You can change the amount of time you rest between sets to focus more on strength and power or pure muscle building and mass gains.
These muscle building techniques have a unique advantage when performing the antagonistic muscle group version. Whenever you work a muscle group, it's antagonist works to some degree as well. For example, when you work the biceps with Barbell or Dumbbell curls, you're also working the triceps, especially when you resist the weight on the way down. Think about it. Lowering the weight on a barbell curl is effectively the same motion as a reverse grip tricep pressdown.
When you do a bent over row, it's like the negative of a bench press. When you do the negative on the bench press, it's like the positive part of the rep on the bent over row.
That bit of work helps the antagonist muscle recover faster. Consider how you recover faster from a run by walking as opposed to dropping to the ground and lying still.
By using these antagonist supersets, you'll also find yourself stronger on each exercise, because of the extended rest. Using the example above, you'll get a lot more rest between sets of bent over rows when using this version of the superset than you do when you do straight sets.
These superset weight lifting tips are awesome for gaining muscle mass and strength. You can use these superset variations in any weigh trainng split.
Try these superset muscle building techniques for six to eight weeks and watch your muscle mass and your strength shoot forward. After six to eight weeks of hard training, you'll want to back off a bit and then switch to a completely different weight training routine.
Gregg Gillies is the founder of Build Lean Muscle.com
His articles have appeared in Ironman Magazine. He has written two books and is a regular contributor to Body Talk Magazine. Grab a copy of his free ebook Fast Mass! at Build Muscle
Spread The Word
Related Articles
Comments 
Article Options
Most Popular Fitness Articles
