Supersets in Bodybuilding Effective or Not
Want to gain muscle in all areas of your body? Why not try supersets? It's a clever technique that will help you achieve your goals in a short time. Is this clever method really safe? Is it a technique reserved only for certain groups of people or can anyone do it? In short, what are supersets? Let's try to give clear and precise explanations to these questions.
WHAT ARE SUPERSETS?
Supersets is a technique used in bodybuilding that consists of intensifying training sessions with a sequence of several exercises. This intensification of training aims to work antagonist-agonist muscle groups without resting time between exercises.
The term superset is currently used to define chained exercises. The term superset is currently used to define chained exercises, but there are several intensification techniques that use chained exercises as a principle. For example, bisets, a training method that focuses on the succession of two exercises to work the same muscle group. There are also trisets, which follow the principle of chaining exercises. The latter consists of 3 exercises, hence "tri".
All these techniques allow to shock the muscles so that they evolve quickly.
In order to understand the usefulness of supersets in a workout, let's first look at the definition of an antagonist and agonist muscle group.
HOW TO KNOW THE AGONIST AND ANTAGONIST MUSCLE?
To simplify things, the agonist muscle acts and the antagonist muscle undergoes when you perform work during the session.
For example, during a biceps/triceps superset exercise with elbow flexion, it is the biceps that works during the muscle contraction in the concentric phase, because it is the muscle that is in action. It is therefore the agonist muscle. On the other hand, when the elbow extends during the eccentric phase, the triceps becomes the agonist muscle and consequently the biceps the antagonist
So you can quickly understand that the role of a muscle is not to be antagonist or agonist. It depends on the action you choose during your exercise.
To help you in your exercises, here is a small summary of the agonist/antagonist muscles according to the movement:
- Action: elbow bent / Antagonist: triceps / Agonist: biceps
- Action: elbow extended / Antagonist: triceps / Agonist: triceps
- Action: elbow flexed / Antagonist: quadriceps / Agonist: ischio, calf
- Action: knee extended / Antagonist: ischio, calf / Agonist: quadriceps
- Action: trunk flexed / Antagonist: lumbar / Agonist: abdominals
- Action: trunk extended / Antagonist: abdominal / Agonist: lumbar
WHY SHOULD YOU DO SUPERSETS? WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
You have already seen the usefulness of supersets. It is a technique that is often used by athletes and most often by bodybuilders in order to exercise all parts of the body in succession. In this way, they increase their muscle volume in a very short period of time defined during the training sessions.
There are three main reasons why bodybuilders are so keen on this type of training.
To save time
The first reason that motivates the protagonists of this practice is the time saved thanks to this technique. Supersets allow you to train intensively over a period of time for a rapid gain in mass.
To shock the muscles
The second advantage that explains the effectiveness of supersets is the ability of this technique to cause muscle stress. Indeed, muscles not used to working in such an intensive way will be boosted for a more efficient increase of muscle fibres.
There are two types of stress in bodybuilding: mechanical stress and metabolic stress. The first stress consists of doing a short but heavy series of exercises, while metabolic stress involves longer but light exercises.
To increase muscle mass
Finally, the third reason is the desire of the exerciser to develop a certain targeted muscle group with the aim of increasing the mass of that specific body part.
WHO CAN WORK IN SUPERSET?
As we have already mentioned several times, this technique is very intensive. It is therefore more suitable for experienced people who can master the movements and who can handle the difficulty of the workouts better. This method is suitable for both men and women who already have a minimum of experience in weight training.
Remember that supersets consist of a series of exercises without breaks, which could be very difficult for beginners. Beginners will not be able to cope with the pace and weight of the workout.
However, if a beginner is motivated to train in this way, he or she should be supervised by an experienced trainer who can guide the movements.
HOW TO TRAIN IN SUPERSET?
To get the results you want from superset, you need to focus on the muscle groups you want to develop and train. A combination of two antagonistic exercises is useful for this.
The best way to work in superset is to opt for sets of exercises that favour polyarticular movements with the aim of training as many muscle groups as possible in a short time.
If this is your first attempt at superset training, here is a practical guide that can be done both at home and in the gym:
- Week 1, try 5 sets of 8 reps
- Next weeks, do 5 sets of 6 reps + 2. 5kg in weight (depending on your musculature)
The more the weeks go by, the more you will find your rhythm. You can then add the number of sets and the number of reps to intensify your training even more. However, in order not to stress your muscles too much, it is best to always keep the same weight of load.
As far as rest time is concerned, this depends mainly on your endurance. To avoid catabolism, and maximize your muscle recovery, vary the breaks from 1 to 2 minutes.
