Supersets: An Intense Weight Lifting Technique to Build More Muscle

Is this scenario familiar: you go to the gym, it’s chest day. You do three or four sets on the flat bench. Then you do a few more sets on the incline bench. And you finish it out with some dumbbell flyes or cable crossovers. Maybe another exercise here or there, but that’s about it. It’s not a horrible way to go and it can still be beneficial, but it can get boring and cause the plateau effect that is feared amongst new and experienced lifters alike. So how can you mix it up? Well, there are actually a lot of ways that you can change what you are doing. One way, probably the most common way, is to incorporate supersets into your daily routine.

Super-setting is essentially when you do one exercise then immediately do another. This can be done with the same body part or to do a push-pull set with incorporates pushing and pulling (think lat pulls and bench press) to accentuate each other. In this case I will go over super-setting that involves the same body part. Try some of these the next time that you work out. Odds are that it will be hard and it will burn, but it is worth it.

Legs:

Try starting out with the leg press, setting the weight to something that you can handle for about 15-20 reps. After you finish, immediately go to the leg extension machine and do 15-20 long, slow, squeezing reps. If you don’t feel the burn out of this one, you aren’t pushing yourself hard enough.

Hamstrings:

For this one start with a set of stiff-leg deadlifts. Make sure that you are keeping your legs locked or nearly locked and your back flat. You should feel a good deep pulling in your hamstrings. Try to keep your reps at about 15-20 with a weight that doesn’t put too much strain on your lower back. Immediately do a set of 15-20 lying leg curls.

Chest:

Start out by doing either flat, incline or decline barbell bench press. Set a weight that you can only do for about 10 times, it’s important to get a certain degree of fatigue out of your muscles. Immediately grab a pair of dumbbells an go into a set of dumbbell flyes. In this case it is more important that you go a gradual and controlled range of motion, squeezing your pecs hard to get a deeper burn. Rest for about a minute or less and repeat.

Back:

Try wide grip pull ups (palms out away from you) – one a pull-up assistance machine if necessary. Do 8-10 reps and follow it with close grip (palms towards you) lat pulldowns for the same number of reps. This combination of outside and inside targeting is hardcore when it comes to hitting a large and powerful muscle group.

Shoulders:

This is one of the best for getting a true burn out of your shoulders. Set up a military shoulder press with a weight that you can do for about 20 reps. Make sure that the weight isn’t too heavy, reps are more important than weight here. Follow it up immediately with 20 dumbbell lateral raises. You will probably feel the burn right away, but push yourself, it’s an intense way to train a tough muscle group.

Triceps:

This one is nice because it can be done on one piece of equipment. Start out with a set of barbell close grip presses for about 8-10 reps. The weight should be heavy enough that getting a 10th rep is hard. Go immediately into as many bench dips as you can. The number that you can do isn’t as important as doing as many as possible and getting the deep burn.

Biceps:

Start this final one with a set of incline dumbbell curls, again 8-10 is good. Follow it up with standing straight-bar curls. The added weight that you can move with the straight bar will hit this muscle group very very hard. And when it comes to gaining muscle, the more you move, the more you grow.

I hope that these superset suggestions help you to spark your workout routine. Also, don’t feel limited to these workouts. Try your own and see what works best for you.

“Everybody wants big muscles, but no one wants to move no heavy-ass weights.”
– 8-time Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman