For some people, workouts are not to be rushed. Working out can be a time to let off steam and unwind. It’s an escape with no set time limit. Keep exercising until exhaustion sets in.
For others, it’s all about hitting a certain volume, and the schedule molds around the exercise plan. Need to get a 2-hour long run in? Find the time. Need to hit 30 sets in an arms session? Keep going until the last box in the workout plan is filled.
However, for many people, time is the greatest barrier to consistent exercise. Instead of building a daily schedule around a workout, they try to find time to squeeze in a quick session.
Kind of hard to meet fitness goals on a time crunch…or is it?
New research from the journal Sports Medicine shows the power of supersets and how they are a valid replacement for traditional resistance training sessions.
What are supersets?
Supersets are a strength training technique where two exercises are performed back-to-back with minimal rest. Instead of resting 30 seconds to 2 minutes, the traditional amount for building muscle, you immediately start a second exercise after completing a set of the first.
Which exercises you pair together depends on your goals. The study in Sports Medicine explored the effects of three different types of supersets — agonist-antagonist, similar biomechanical, and alternate peripheral supersets.
1. Agonist-Antagonist Supersets
The first type of superset pairs exercises that target opposing muscle groups. For example, the biceps and the triceps. When you bend the arm, your biceps contract (known as the agonist) while your triceps (the antagonist) relaxes. When you extend your arm, the reverse occurs. The triceps (now the agonist) contracts and the biceps (now the antagonist) relaxes.
If you pair a biceps curl with a triceps extension at the cable column, you can exercise one muscle while the other rests. So, instead of just sitting or walking around while your biceps recover for the next set, you are strengthening your triceps.
You can pair any agonist/antagonist relationship. Here are some common superset examples:
- Bench press and seated row
- Leg extension and leg curl
- Dumbbell forward raise and straight arm lat pulldown at the cable column
Keep in mind that you will experience general fatigue quicker than with traditional sets and rest. If you perform a bench press close to failure, you will impact your seated row potential simply by tiring your body. It won’t have a dramatic effect on your output, but it will be noticeable.
2. Similar Biomechanical Supersets
The second type of superset pairs exercises that involve similar movement patterns or joint actions, often targeting the same muscle group or synergistic muscles. For example, the bench press and dumbbell fly.
When pairing two exercises that target the same muscles, it’s common to start with a compound (multi-joint) movement and finish with an isolation (single-joint) movement. This allows you to maximize output on the first exercise.
Compound exercises create more metabolic demand, hit more muscles, and lead to greater gains in strength and muscle mass. It is typically best to choose an isolation movement that targets the muscle least taxed by the compound movement.
Take the aforementioned bench press and dumbbell fly example. Let’s say your triceps fatigue before your pectorals (chest muscles) during a bench press set and the triceps stop you from being able to perform any more repetitions. You would then use the dumbbell fly to bring your pectorals to fatigue; that way, the superset brought both the triceps and pectorals close to failure.
Research shows us muscle development is greater when you push the muscle close to failure. If your pectorals gave out before the triceps, then you would choose skull crushers or bent-over triceps extension as your second exercise for the superset.
Here are some other similar biomechanical superset examples:
- Squats (quads and gluteals) plus leg extension (quadriceps) or hip thrusters (gluteals)
- Deadlifts (hamstrings and gluteals) plus leg curls (hamstrings) or hip thrusters (gluteals)
- Pull-ups (lats and biceps) plus lat pushdown (lats) or biceps curls (biceps)
- Overhead Press (shoulders and triceps) plus lateral raises (shoulders) or overhead triceps extension (triceps)
After you complete your superset, rest for 1–2 minutes. You will still roughly double your volume over the same period of time as non-superset routines. However, you will need to lessen the load as you will fatigue quickly.
3. Alternate Peripheral Supersets
The final superset type pairs exercises that target upper and lower body muscle groups. For example, performing a set of squats followed by a set of overhead presses.
This is a cardiovascularly taxing rep scheme. If you perform a compound movement close to failure, you will be left short of breath and fatigued. Immediately following the set with another tough compound movement will fatigue the body further.
However, since you are alternating between the upper and lower body, the impact on the muscles will be minimal.
For this type of routine, you can keep the rest breaks between pairings shorter as well since the upper body is recovering while the lower body is exercising and vice versa. Again, the biggest limitation will likely be cardiovascular fitness.
You can limit the cardiovascular demand by pairing isolation movements or pairing a compound with an isolation movement. You have a lot of options with this type of superset.
Keep in mind that there may be some overlap with back muscles. Deadlifts are lower body and pull-ups are upper body, but they both target back muscles. There is no rule against that, just know the back will fatigue quicker with that type of pairing.
Here are some examples of alternate peripheral superset pairings:
- Squats and Pull-ups
- Bench Press and Deadlifts
- Push Ups and Hip Thrusters
- Seated Rows and Lunges
Which is preferred?
The Sports Medicine study compared traditional set prescriptions with the three superset types. All comparisons had similar total repetitions and volume load, ensuring those were not the reasons for the outcomes. The researchers explored mechanical, metabolic, and perceptual variables.
The researchers found supersets allowed for:
- Shorter session durations with increased training efficiency
- Higher blood lactate concentration during and after the exercise sessions
- Higher energy costs during the sessions
- Similar creatine kinase concentration after the sessions
- Similar surface electromyography, acute muscle swelling, blood pressure, and mean arterial pressure
- A higher rating of perceived exertion
- Similar perceived recovery
- Similar chronic adaptations in maximal strength, strength endurance, and muscle hypertrophy
In summary, supersetting provides similar outcomes to traditional rep schemes in less time.
But was one type of superset superior to another? Yes.
The agonist-antagonist supersets were the most efficient type, leading to a significant increase in the number of repetitions completed in a session compared with traditional sets. Conversely, the similar biomechanical supersets led to less volume load compared with traditional sets.
All in all, these are favorable results, but there are drawbacks to supersets. Namely, they induce more muscle damage and increase perceived exertion. This means more recovery time is typically needed.
For people choosing supersets due to time crunches, this may not be a bad thing, however. You can crush a couple of superset sessions a week and reach your goals.
Final takeaways and practical applications
Overall, it appears agonist-antagonist supersets are the best option for cutting down time in the gym without sacrificing results. If you are looking for a great total body workout and want to improve your cardiovascular fitness, give alternate peripheral supersets a try. And it’s probably in your best interest to forgo the similar biomechanical superset structure.
These aren’t the only ways to compress gym time and maintain total volume. I have previously written about drop sets and rest-pause (myo-reps). They are both research–backed strategies to build muscle and strength efficiently.
One important note: these strategies are not replacements for heavy, low-rep strength work. You shouldn’t superset singles, doubles, or triples.
If you are working towards a one-rep max or prepping for powerlifting, these techniques aren’t going to replace heavy sets with adequate rest. No rep scheme replaces the feeling of maxing out the weight you can move. They can, however, be used during a training block focused on building muscle and endurance.
Always make sure your workout plan matches your goals and intended outcomes.