October Opposites: Superset

By Dalton Harris, CPT

Superset

Supersets are a great way to maximize your time in the gym, if you are on a time crunch.  Sometimes, it becomes difficult to hit multiple muscle groups in a short time period, but an easy way to do this is by utilizing a superset. 

What is a Superset?

A superset is defined as no rest in exercise transition combining two movements from opposing muscle groups in the same set.  An example of this would be doing a push movement such as a chest press followed by a cable row.  A common phrase you may hear that references a superset is push/pull, so many people follow a push exercise with a pull exercise because it often does work the opposing muscle group.

When to use a superset?

A superset can be used when needing to get out of the gym in a rush, and you can couple the last few exercises if they are opposing muscle groups.  These are also beneficial in bodybuilders because they want to fatigue the muscles as much as possible, so they often superset exercises in certain exercise sessions to get “the pump”.  For more novice lifters, superset exercises may be beneficial when doing accessory movements which are single joint movements, such as a bicep curl and triceps pushdown or a leg curl and leg extension.  If you are someone who does not enjoy cardio, supersets are often used in high intensity interval training to keep the heart rate up and to avoid fatiguing the same muscle group. 

Supersets are a great tool to utilize when exercising, but should not be used in every session, sometimes going for a maximal effort in certain lifts such as a squat, it may not be beneficial coupling another movement such as a Romanian deadlift because it will diminish the energy systems needed to produce another maximal effort lift in the squat in the next set. 

Below is a link to a video that gives some examples of superset exercises.