Tråd: Superset by Chris Aceto

Are supersets - moving from one exercise to another with as little rest as possible – all they’re cut up to be? If you peruse some of the better bodybuilding magazines or read interviews with some of the best champions of the sport, past and present, you’ll find supersets to be a popular technique used to (supposedly) increase muscle growth.

How effective is the technique? I’d say on the whole, not extremely effective and at the very least, over rated. Surprised? Don’t be, though you probably need some clarity on what really makes muscles grow before you can understand how on earth, after all these years, super sets can be deemed, at best, to be only mildly effective.

Principle 1: It’s All About The Load

Muscles grow in response to loads. The more load you place on a muscle, the greater number of individual muscles fibers come into play in opposing the load. Quite simply, the greater number of muscle fibers that come into play - sometimes called "recruited"- the better your growth, progress and gains.

Many are under the impression "load" means sets, reps and exercise angles, but in reality, load is best determined by nothing more than the "weight" used. That is, 200 pounds is twice the load of 100 pounds. If you use 200 pounds for leg extensions, the load placed on the quads is twice that of 100 pounds. And in growth terms, we can generalize things a bit by saying twice the muscle fibers come into play to push and resist that 200 pounds than 100 pounds.

Repeat this mantra: The Greater the load, the greater the muscle growth. That’s the main reason Bev Francis revolutionized female bodybuilding. Her strength was stunning, often squatting 315 pounds for 10 reps! Likewise, we have Ronnie Coleman who just may be the strongest man on earth. How’s he built all that muscle? With over load. He’s relied on basic exercises using the heaviest weights possible – of course with the best form possible – to maximize muscle recruitment. Big weights, heavy weights are the foundation for growth and muscle overload. In response to overloading muscles, they respond by enlarging.

Principle 2: Gotta Be in the Right Rep Range

This one drives me crazy. When it comes to reps, you have to know what range is best for growth. Before determining that, let’s eliminate the rep ranges that are not effective in stimulating muscle growth.

First off, understand different rep ranges impart unique adaptations within muscles. Low rep ranges yield changes in strength, often with little changes in muscle mass. In other words, you can get stronger – dramatically stronger, and never gain mass. Take power lifters or Olympic Lifters as an example. They rely on lower rep ranges, generally fewer than 6 reps, and very often 2-4 reps, in order to impact strength. They use a specific rep range, anything with 5 reps and below, and the result is more strength.

Have you ever been to a power lifting meet? You’ll find some guys - and gals - with virtually no muscle, at least compared to a bodybuilder, lifting insane amounts of weight. The reason: by sticking with exclusively lower reps, the physical adaptation is primarily added strength without a corresponding increase in muscle mass. So while heavy weights – or "load" is the foundation for recruiting the maximum amount of muscle fibers, the rep range helps determine what happens with your body.

If you train with low reps, you get stronger and if you target the general area of 6 to 12 reps, you also add strength but the primary adaptation is added size. In order to grow, you have to focus on the load – heavy weights – in the right rep range and the ideal rep range that triggers an increase in size appears to be somewhere from 6 reps and no higher than 12.

Let’s discuss "higher reps" which I refer to any set employing 12 or more repetitions. The adaptation to 12 reps and higher is a gray area, though many refer to the range as muscle endurance. With muscle endurance, the adaptation is not strength or size, but an improved efficiency at performing reps. In other words, by hitting 12, 15 and 20 (or more reps) the muscles adapt by becoming better at doing higher reps.

Pain receptors for lactic acid, a by product of high rep training, generally re-set themselves higher, lactic acid is cleared more readily, the body becomes a little more efficient at breaking down glycogen to use as fuel, but, you don’t get bigger. In my experience, the only individual who will grow from higher reps is the genetic freak, the anabolic steroid user (they grow from anything) and the person who is a complete novice as any training stimulus that is brand new will result in mild additions of muscle mass. For the rest of us, high reps are a dead end.

Where do super sets fit in? They violate the 12 rep rule, meaning when you move from barbell curls to hammer curls and hit 10 reps on the first exercise and 10 on the second – it might feel like it’s doing something – but you’re better off not super setting and using a heavier weight on barbell curls in the 6 to 12 rep range failing somewhere in that range, rather than super-setting with a less than maximum load.

For growth; go with straight sets, use heavy weight and maintain the right rep range. The other bothersome part of supersets is the fact that they create so much lactic acid- more so than straight 6-12 rep sets – that local fatigue within the muscle further prevents you from using an appropriate load.

Supersets "burn" a muscle and the burn often short circuits maximal muscle contraction and force production. In other words, the burn inhibits your muscles from contracting as hard or as forcefully as possible. Lastly, supersets always downgrade your load selection. For example: if you can use 120 pounds on barbell curls for 8 reps, what weight will you choose if you pre-plan to create a superset using barbell curls followed by hammer curls.

Knowing you have to do around 8 reps on barbell curls followed by another 8 or more on hammer curls – and you know you have to ‘save something" for hammers, you’ll likely lower the load on the first exercise (barbell curls) to 70 or 80 pounds. If load determines muscle fiber recruitment, you’re already undermining your growth potential by choosing a sub-par weight to influence growth.

In closing, I’ll expect a deluge of testimonials challenging the idea that super-sets are overrated. That’s ok. I’ll wait for the logical explanation outside of the testimony that so and so used them and won the Arnold Classic.

Written by Chris Aceto

Svar fra kunnskapsrike Andrew42 fra et amerikansk forum:

SUPERSETS - The Great (but forgotten) Muscle Builder

Chris Aceto is asking for logical challenges? This one is easy. Quite frankly - he hung one of the most powerful muscle growth stimulators out to dry and is DEAD WRONG about it its potential efficacy for bodybuilders.

His two principles are generally correct. Where he failed his readers is in his DEFINITION OF TERMS and the missed opportunity to integrate those principles into a strategy that synergistically maximizes both ideas.....with heaven forbid....the very thing he was writing against - SUPERSETS!

Supersetting is the PRINCIPLE of performing two exercises "back to back" with a minimal rest period in between. It has several derivative PRACTICES - some more applicable than others (based on an individual's muscle fiber type).

The PRACTICE of performing two movements for the same bodypart "back to back" is called COMPOUND SETS. The PRACTICE of performing an isolation exercise before a synergistic compound movment is PRE- EXHAUSTION (and its opposite is POST-EXAHAUSTION).

Supersetting - when referred to as a BASIC PRACTICE (rather than as a principle) involves alternating movements that work OPPOSING muscles (antagonist/target) like biceps/triceps; chest/midback; delts/lats; thighs/hamstrings.

This BASIC PRACTICE isn't something Arnold, Franco Columbo, Sergio Olivia, Larry Scott, Bill Pearl, Frank Zane, Bill Grant (ad naseum) used to escape exercise bordedom - they ultilzed it to increase INTENSITY OF WORKLOAD and build more muscle in less time.

Let's see how we can use this broader definition to GROW MORE MUSCLE.

PRINCIPLE #1: Its all about the load

Andrew42 PRINCIPLE #1: Its all about the INTENSITY OF WORK LOAD (Load/Time)

Size and strength is not soley the result the amount of load but the amount of load performed in a UNIT OF TIME. That translates not only to a given set but a given WORKOUT as well. If one can use the same heavy weights; for the same or greater amount of reps in less time - the demands for muscle growth will be greater than if the time frame is extended.

How does one do that? Through ANTAGONISTIC SUPERSETS (i.e biceps/triceps).

As Arthur Jones observed in the November 71' issue of IRONMAN Magazine:

"Since working the triceps muscle also involves a far lighter form of work for the opposing muscle; the biceps - you can produce faster and better recovery by working your upper arm muscles alternatively - the slight amount of work provided for the biceps by working the triceps will cause the biceps to recover better than they would if they were rested entirely (and vice versa). Thus, by working the triceps heavily during the rest period between heavy sets of biceps, you will perform better during your second set for your biceps than you would if you did nothing between the two sets but simply rested.

With supersetting, rest periods actually have an effect exactly opposite to that which might be expected in this case and far better results will be produced in much less time"

The scientific phenemena at work here is a neurologic process called RECIPROCAL INHIBITION. When a muscle contracts, its antagonist both relaxes and STRETCHES . This mild stretching causes a unique form of muscle structure called the intrafusal fiber to signal the CNS to "fire back" with a more powerful muscular contraction for that muscle group for a SHORT TIME after.

This is your "WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY" where you can perform another exercise (for the opposing muscle) and equal or exceed the same numbers of LOAD x TUL/REPS you could achieve even by resting longer in between sets.

I have found this "reciprocol inhibition effect" to be the case with rest periods lasting up to as much as 60 seconds on most exercises (My sweet spot is about 20-30 seconds on average). For heavy compound exercises (like squats); the rest period will have to be slightly longer due to greater cardiovascular demands. That can be minimized though by performing the less cardiovascular demanding exercise first in the sequence (i.e leg curl before squats).

When experimenting with this principle - start at 60 seconds between sets of "opposing muscles". Experiment by reducing this time down 5 seconds per workout until you find the point where the LOAD x TUL/REPS equation decreases.

That is the WORKOUT TEMPO where you produce the MOST POWER (Load/Time) and provide the greatest stimulus for MUSCULAR HYPERTROPHY.

Balancing the benefits of RECIPROCAL INHIBITION with the drawbacks of cardiovascular fatigue is a bit "trial and error" but once you find your "sweet spot" the combination of FOCUS, PUMP, and POWER will be quite rewarding.

The other major benefit to this approach is HORMONAL. Much as been written about workout length in regardless to hormone stimulation/depletion with anywhere between 45 minutes to 1 hour most commonly prescribed as ideal beforing catabolic processes start to supersede analobic ones.

I too have found about 30-40 minutes to be a "cut off" point with a really interesting twist - with antagonistic supersetting I can do MORE SETS per workout and recover just as well as if I did lesser sets within the same time frame. Currently I am rotating "mini" SPECIALIZATION into my weekly routines and using 2 exercises per muscle group (with all sets performed for that bodypart as supersets).

On a two rotation its looks like this:

WEEK ONE

Workout A: Chest/Back Supersets

Chest Press/Row (30 seconds between sets)
Pec Dec Fly/ Reverse Fly (20 seconds between sets)
Movements for other major bodyparts (in antagonistic rotation but not supersets)

Workout B: Movements for major muscle groups
Biceps/Tricep Supersets

Example:

Barbell Curl/Tricep Extension (15 seconds between sets)
DB Hammer Curl/ Triceps Pushdown (15 seconds between sets)

WEEK TWO

Workout A: Quads/Hamstrings Supersets

Leg Curl/Squat (45 seconds between sets)
Still-Leg Deadlift/Leg Extension (45 seconds between sets)

Movements for rest of body

Workout B: Lats/Delts Supersets

Chin/Overhead Press (30 seconds between sets)
Pullovers/Lateral Raise (30 seconds between sets)

Movements for rest of body


An axiom of HIT is to always be on the lookout for ways to make your workouts "Harder but Briefer". Anatogonistic supersets fit that bill to a "t".

Sorry Chris - but supersets are the REAL DEAL and one of the most powerful techniques in all of muscle building.

They allow you to maximize load and reps within a given timeframe. Isn't that what muscle building is all about?

Andrew A.

Kjempe bra tekst! Takk for denne HIT, skulle gitt deg karma for dette, men må gi noen andre først

Lurte bare på en ting: Er HIT-trening en form for supersett trening, sånn røft sammenlignet?