Friday, 20 July 2012

Supersets: What and Why

Supersets involve switching between two (or more) different exercises with no rest period in between.
Why? Because it means you are:
  1. maximising your gym time (less time, better results, woo)
  2. keeping your heart rate up
  3. burning more calories NOW and for a longer period afterwards
  4. keeping yourself focused on what you're doing by minimising time to get distracted!

What does this look like in action? You have options. You can work the same muscle group in different ways. So...

Set ONE: Chest press from bench with dumbells x 10
Set TWO: Wide grip push-ups on the floor x 10

Push up
Repeat these two exercises three times EACH without resting between sets

Dumbbell Chest Press

Even the slightest change in positioning the muscles forces them to work differently and engage more and different muscle fibres - greater strength and endurance gains.

Working an upper body muscle group and then supersetting with a lower body exercise - this forces the blood to rush from the upper to the lower body and back again, which BURNS more energy and forces the heart rate up  for great cardio fitness gains. So...

Set ONE: Narrow grip deadrows with a barbell x 10
Set TWO: Plyometric lunges x 10 (5 per leg)
Repeat these two exercises three times EACH without rest between sets

Plyometric lunges

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