supersets are called the performance of series of two different exercises in a row, but can they be effective for hypertrophy ?.
supersets are one of the oldest strength training techniques, but unfortunately, one of the most misunderstood and misapplied.
In one case, enthusiastic beginners and even intermediates often put together arbitrary exercises in an attempt to make their training more “intense”, making supersets and training largely some ineffective beyond simply fatigue.
There are some guidelines so that you can correctly design and use supersets in your training, as well as knowing how to establish a good periodization plan.
Superseries : “the classic approach”
The classic approach is a basic antagonist superset: for example a series of bicep curls and then a pulley triceps extension with no rest in between, or a bench press, followed by some seated rows.
It works by increasing your heart rate while promoting a bit of “balance” in your training, however, it is not perfect.
The problem with the classic supersets approach is that it tends to overlook issues like pre-exhaustion, reciprocal inhibitions, and spinal health.
If you are an athlete with some muscular or structural imbalance, these things can only create more problems in the future, then it is wise to analyze these problems.
Superseries with pre-exhaustion
The most common area where pre-exhaustion occurs (the moment before fatigue) is the core, that is, the abs and lower back.
It can be argued that there are very few “good” movements in which the core is not involved, at least indirectly, as it acts in many exercises and its responsiveness and strength should always be awakened when you prepare for big movements.
To avoid injuring those regions during supersets , you should evaluate your move selection and check if you are not overlapping the wrong moves together.
For example: a poorly done pre-fatigue superset would be:
- A1. Barbell front squat (or back squat)
- A2. Ab Roller (abs)
Another example is this superset that many use: a core isolation exercise combined with a great movement like squats, deadlifts, or standing presses. However, throwing a Swiss ball or a dangling leg lift does nothing more than decrease potential core strength.
Remember that exercise breaks down muscle tissue and the idea is to avoid doing it inefficiently during training.
Superseries : how to understand them?
Unlike Rest-Pause, where subseries are made between sets, in this case it is done between exercises: subseries and sequences between exercises.
The Superset or the triserie, in the end, is a Rest-Pause: the time to change exercise, 10, 20, or 30 seconds, will lead you to that goal of applying that rest to recover the phosphoric and ATP.
Now we analyze:
The supersets are like Rest-Pause, with the difference that you have the agonist series, that is, the agonist, and antagonist system.
I will also talk about something that depends a lot on the individual principle … the agonist, when we do a bench press, perhaps we are interested in pre-exhausting the pectoral with an exhaustion exercise, and then going to the bench press and having the pectoral pre -tired, because practically the triceps, supposedly, are weaker.
That’s a type of superset, and the superset on the contrary, which is to bench press first and then the isolation exercise.
It is not valid, at least for me, to focus on those two points because my triceps is bigger than my pectoral, so when you read about any of this, always keep your principle in mind.
Then, within the agonist supersets, it is clear to us that in the end they are Rest-Pause, with the difference that the sequence and the subset is between exercises, not between series.
Superseries agonists / antagonists
Within the supersets agonists, it can be done in two ways: first one isolation and then one compound, and then one compound and one isolation.
- Many of a bench press go to a higher press.
- It can be done but it is not ideal, because you are not taking advantage of the agonist superset, it does not make sense, it would be a mistake.
Raúl Carrasco wants to make it clear to us that all the systems that we are naming, that in the end you are seeing that it includes a Rest-Pause.
One of the benefits they have is the EPOC effect: increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood thanks to metabolic stress, to create more internal anabolic hormones and more oxygen, so that later, even at rest, our body burn fat.
Within the supersets , we have the antagonists, and here Sherrington’s law applies: he is a doctor who received a Nobel Prize for applying this law, especially in reverse psychology, which is called reciprocal inhibition.
What Raúl Carrasco will name below many years ago we had it as a fashion in front of our eyes, but the common supersets were always preferred, or perhaps someone did not explain it as specifically as it does Raúl Carrasco, who did not share these things previously.
Superseries antagonists: “analysis”
It is important and curious to know how antagonist supersets work under Sherrington’s law. Who knows Sherrington’s law very well? That within that is Law No. 1 and Law No. 2 but we are not going to get into physiology.
Now, who knows well reciprocal inhibition? … physiotherapists … a physio to relax the lumbar, your abdominal contracts, but we are not going to analyze what is Sherrington’s law or what is reciprocal inhibition of the supersets antagonists, because we are going to have to read it 20 or 60 times and we won’t really understand it.
Raúl Carrasco, simply analyzes things so that we understand it and this is ultimately what we all want.
Simply, when one muscle contracts, the other rests.
An example is that both when the biceps and the triceps are resting, the nervous system is always latent, and whether we want it or not, there is always something that keeps them in tension, especially for a flight, it always is.
Superseries antagonists: “curiosidades”
In what way would the biceps or triceps relax more, rest more ?. Raúl Carrasco wonders this because the more rest and more relaxation, the greater the recovery, and the greater the recovery, the greater the firing, fleeing, shooting or contraction power later.
Well, with an antagonistic contraction, the triceps is relaxed, but if the biceps contracts, my triceps will be even more relaxed and this is curious.
For this reason, the supersets are the ones that lead you to do a series of pectorals with a series of back row, a series of bicep curls, then to go to the triceps pulley .
What happens is that this law is the one that enters the head the hardest, but it is the one that has been studied the most in what increases strength, because thanks to reciprocal inhibition, the antagonist muscle recovers better.
It is curious, and although it is not a series, it is not a system very often, but it is like that, it is used more in physiotherapy and psychology, but this is how it works muscularly: one for biceps, one for triceps.
Superseries antagonists: “el differential”
The difference is that simply between each antagonistic series, in this case, when we are working the biceps, it is as if the triceps received a paranormal rest, a rest above normal.
Raúl Carrasco came up with another example to explain this:
- The triceps rested.
- It is idle but not disconnected; It is like a refrigerator, many times the pump is on but it is always on.
- But if we really wanted to rest that motor, then we would practically shut it down.
But the way you take that maximum recovery or relax more, is with contractions: you relax more, you recover better, the nervous system recovers more, ATP regenerates faster and the next series triceps is handled with more weight and we will have more speed and more concentration.
Superseries antagonists: more efficient?
There is even a way that reciprocal inhibition in antagonist supersets works better, and it is that, for example, in a series of biceps, our partner in the negative offers resistance in the concentric, apart from weight.
Here, the antagonist muscle still tends to relax more, and when we go directly to the triceps pulley, we will realize that the force is higher than if we do it in a conventional way, because those 30 seconds that we have been doing triceps, thanks to the reciprocal inhibition, it is as if we had rested 3 minutes.
In another example, with a femoral and quadriceps antagonist supersets:
- We are going to a series of femoral and another of quadriceps.
- It happens that in this series of femoral the quadriceps, due to reciprocal inhibition or reciprocal elevation, relaxes a lot and when you put it on an extension machine, you get incredible power and strength,
- During that time that we have been giving the femoral those 40 seconds under tension, it has been 40 seconds that they have been able to contract the quadriceps and so on simultaneously.
If there is more nervous rest, there is less stress in general, and if there is less stress that muscle is capable of better resynthesizing ATP.
The muscle that is recovering is the antagonist, it is the femoral. In this scenario, we must realize that all nerve innervations are at stake and if contractions (biceps) are made, practically our nervous system in general is not being stressed in all parts equally, only there, in the triceps not.
Superseries and the Nervous System
In other words, here it would be necessary to understand a little how the nervous system works, which practically nervously gives frequencies, megahertz, electrical intensity so that the muscles move, depending on where we need it.
Apart from the fact that the nervous system is on, when we apply this law, the antagonist muscle in which we are working, a rest or a higher recovery is applied.
This is practically a law, like Newton’s second law, that is, it is a bit of a twist and Raúl Carrasco in his speech about superseries named it so that we know a little how it works.
He also indicates that he would not apply this law in his training, unless his triceps were too loaded, too sore, swollen, because he does not see it as very practical when it comes to hypertrophy.
In the video it is named after the law, more than anything, because there are supersets agonists and antagonists, and within the antagonists Sherrington’s law is applied, which is reciprocal inhibition.
Superseries: “final advice”
With the exception of some compression movements, it is recommended to do pulling exercises before pushing exercises, especially with the back and chest.
In contrast, when you are about to superset of the lower body, it is advisable to consider the correct firing pattern of the posterior chain muscles.
The whole point here is to use supersets intelligently, to encourage the muscles to do the right thing, using one movement to help the other.
In other words, the key is to train intelligently, thinking about the way our body functions as a unit, and this is essential for efficient training.
Therefore, if you are an athlete with good technique but still suffering from joint stress and chronic pain, the answer may lie in the way you decide to combine your exercises.
Do you want advice? Trust our experts
Finally, according to a study published in the Legion Athletics magazine, supersets affect testosterone and growth hormone levels.
Put this information to good use and you will take advantage of the potential of your muscles … your body will thank you …
Do you think you are training correctly?