Why You Should Do Supersets? (part 1)
Supersets are use quite often in turbulence training workouts - but why?
Before we can try to figure out why supersets are so popular and beneficial to use in turbulence training workouts, we have to look at exactly what they are in the first place.
A superset is basically just when you take two exercises, and perform a set of each, back-to-back, only resting after the set of the 2nd exercise has been done. So, if you were supersetting bench presses and dumbbell rows, you'd do a set of bench presses, then, without resting, do a set of dumbbell rows. You'd then rest, and start over, repeating until you'd done all your sets for both exercises.
Supersets can be for as many exercises as you like, though they're traditionally done with just two. Supersets that mate up three exercises in a row are known as "tri-sets" and when you go through four or more exercises, it's generally called a "complex" or "circuit".
So, what are the benefits of supersetting exercises?
There are multiple reasons why supersetting exercises is such a good idea:
1 - Time
Supersetting simply speeds up your workout. You are taking much less rest overall, so therefore, you're cutting that big chunk out of your workouts. Many times, a large portion of our workouts is just resting, so if you can reduce that, you might be able to reduce the overall length of your workouts by as much as 50%.
2 - Conditioning
Supersetting exercises is great to help boost your conditioning on many different levels - endurance, work capacity, cardio, and more. We just talked about how you are getting much less rest this way, but, if you're smart, you're still doing the same amount of work (sets, reps, weight used, etc). More work with less rest means better overall conditioning.
3 - Increased Local Recovery
One of the great things about supersetting is that you're always working, but while you're working, you're always resting.
You see, if you're smart, you superset exercises that work differing bodyparts. Supersets are many times used in the bodybuilding world to pair up exercises for the same bodypart (say a set of bench presses followed up immediately by a set of cable crossovers). This is for increased blood flow to the muscles, for 'pre-exhaustion', or to pair up a strength exercise with a movement more oriented toward flexibility.
However, if you go back and forth between bodyparts, you rest while you work.
Say that you do normally do 5 sets of bench press, then 5 sets of rows. To make things easy, say that each set (of either exercise) takes you 30 seconds to perform, and that you rest 60 seconds between sets.
In just a 'straight sets' approach, you'll have 60 seconds between each set of an exercise. You'll do a set of bench press, rest 60 seconds, then onto your next set. Repeat for all 5 sets. The same goes with your rows.
Now, let's say you superset the exercises. You'll actually get 90 seconds rest between sets of an exercise. You'd start with a set of bench press - that takes 30 seconds. Then a set of rows, which takes 30 seconds. Then you rest for 60 seconds. Then onto your 2nd superset.
Instead of having just the 60 seconds rest between sets of bench press, you also have a set of rows in there, inserting another 30 seconds of rest the chest, shoulders, and triceps get. So, again, like was said in the point about conditioning, while one muscle (or group of muscles) is working, another muscle (or group of muscles) is resting. Yet the body as a whole is working the entire time.
Pretty cool, huh?
Before we can try to figure out why supersets are so popular and beneficial to use in turbulence training workouts, we have to look at exactly what they are in the first place.
A superset is basically just when you take two exercises, and perform a set of each, back-to-back, only resting after the set of the 2nd exercise has been done. So, if you were supersetting bench presses and dumbbell rows, you'd do a set of bench presses, then, without resting, do a set of dumbbell rows. You'd then rest, and start over, repeating until you'd done all your sets for both exercises.
Supersets can be for as many exercises as you like, though they're traditionally done with just two. Supersets that mate up three exercises in a row are known as "tri-sets" and when you go through four or more exercises, it's generally called a "complex" or "circuit".
So, what are the benefits of supersetting exercises?
There are multiple reasons why supersetting exercises is such a good idea:
1 - Time
Supersetting simply speeds up your workout. You are taking much less rest overall, so therefore, you're cutting that big chunk out of your workouts. Many times, a large portion of our workouts is just resting, so if you can reduce that, you might be able to reduce the overall length of your workouts by as much as 50%.
2 - Conditioning
Supersetting exercises is great to help boost your conditioning on many different levels - endurance, work capacity, cardio, and more. We just talked about how you are getting much less rest this way, but, if you're smart, you're still doing the same amount of work (sets, reps, weight used, etc). More work with less rest means better overall conditioning.
3 - Increased Local Recovery
One of the great things about supersetting is that you're always working, but while you're working, you're always resting.
You see, if you're smart, you superset exercises that work differing bodyparts. Supersets are many times used in the bodybuilding world to pair up exercises for the same bodypart (say a set of bench presses followed up immediately by a set of cable crossovers). This is for increased blood flow to the muscles, for 'pre-exhaustion', or to pair up a strength exercise with a movement more oriented toward flexibility.
However, if you go back and forth between bodyparts, you rest while you work.
Say that you do normally do 5 sets of bench press, then 5 sets of rows. To make things easy, say that each set (of either exercise) takes you 30 seconds to perform, and that you rest 60 seconds between sets.
In just a 'straight sets' approach, you'll have 60 seconds between each set of an exercise. You'll do a set of bench press, rest 60 seconds, then onto your next set. Repeat for all 5 sets. The same goes with your rows.
Now, let's say you superset the exercises. You'll actually get 90 seconds rest between sets of an exercise. You'd start with a set of bench press - that takes 30 seconds. Then a set of rows, which takes 30 seconds. Then you rest for 60 seconds. Then onto your 2nd superset.
Instead of having just the 60 seconds rest between sets of bench press, you also have a set of rows in there, inserting another 30 seconds of rest the chest, shoulders, and triceps get. So, again, like was said in the point about conditioning, while one muscle (or group of muscles) is working, another muscle (or group of muscles) is resting. Yet the body as a whole is working the entire time.
Pretty cool, huh?
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