Supersets are a training method that pairs exercises for agonist and antagonist muscle groups or movements, such as biceps and triceps or horizontal push and horizontal pull. These involve performing a set for each muscle group or movement back to back with little to no rest between exercises.
Supersets will generally allow a greater amount of work to be performed over a set period of time. Because of the limited rest between exercises.
Supersets has the potential to increase strength in the lifts and there are are methods to increase this potential even further. Research has found that a muscle will be stronger if preceded immediately by a contraction of its antagonist. For example, when you do a superset of barbell rows and bench press, in that order, you will be potentially stronger on the bench press. This is due to a degree of neurological limitations created by antagonist. When bench pressing using straight sets, for instance, the back muscles inhibit the contraction of your pecs to a degree. Doing a set of barbell rows shortly before the bench press decreases this inhibitory effect, potentially increasing your strength on the bench press. To enhance this effect the barbell row can be performed at lower intensity then the bench press to decrease total neurological load.
Superset may increase muscle recovery. This may only be a small factor in recovery however when you alternate sets of triceps and biceps, you increase blood flow to those muscles because when you’re doing curls, your triceps are still contracting, which increases blood flow to them and aids in recovery. This helps your body remove waste products and damaged muscle tissue as a result of exercise.
Writing in Program Design
When writing supersets in your program we utilize the Letter/number method to illustrate how the exercises should be performed.
Example:
A1. Bench Press (Superset)
A2. Barbell Rows
A1 is performed first followed by A2 and then repeated as the program dictates for reps, sets, tempo, rest periods and any other related instructions.