ED ROE COACHING
Training / FAQ
STRAIGHT SETS OR SUPERSETS, WHICH IS BETTER AND WHEN
WOULD YOU USE ONE VERSUS THE OTHER?
A straight set is when I do three sets of 10. I do a squat by itself, I take a break, and I come back to it. A superset is when I superset that squat, or that movement pattern with another exercise. So instead of it saying for example, number one on your program is barbell squat, it would say, 1A is a squat, 1B is a jump squat. So you might do a heavy loaded squat and then do a jump squat afterward. That’s a really good performance technique that a lot of people use.
So, which is better is an irrelevant question because it depends. It depends on many factors. If we’re talking about sports performance, we may want to superset certain things to kind of create that post potentiation phase or that activation phase. It’s kind of like using a strength movement supersetted with a power movement. I always look at those kind of like a bow and arrow, you’re pulling it back before explosive movement occurs. Or like you’re loading a spring and then you’re letting it rip. Certain things like that work really well.
Now there are supersets for hypertrophy, which are usually done as antagonists. Antagonist supersets are where I do an opposite movement pattern. These are very beneficial when we are trying to create shorter rest periods, we’re short on time, we can’t get our volume in. So if we have a really long program and it takes us two hours, well we can superset things and we can make it a little bit more efficient, so we can get through our volume throughout the week faster. In this case, antagonist supersets are really, really good. And I use them quite a bit for fat loss clients to keep rest periods shorter, to keep them somewhat of a metabolic factor involved but also because a lot of people don’t have time to spend hours and hours in the gym.
So a good example is if we look at the volume requirements for hypertrophy to build muscle, we would probably be in the gym for two hours a session because there’s a lot of volume. And volume is a key driver of growth. So we need to stay in the gym for quite a while. But if I can superset things, I can either be in the gym less days per week, or I can be in the gym just as many days, five, six days a week, but I can keep those sessions a little bit shorter. So, in that case, I do antagonist supersets. And this is where I would do a bench press supersetted with a barbell row, or an overhead press supersetted with a chin up, a barbell curl supersetted with a skull crusher, or a tricep push down.