Here’s everything you’re gonna wanna know about this workout staple.

What Is a Superset?

But when it comes to choosing exercises, things get a little hairy.

“Really, that’s not the case.

With an intelligently designed superset workout, it’s possible for you to have a goal in mind.”

And we’re not justtalking about being sore.

A prime example of this would be doing a biceps curl and a triceps extension.

The main perk of adding these to your workout is that your muscles will recover faster in between sets.

Then there’s thecompound set(agonist superset),where both exercises work the same muscle groups.

Doinga push-upand a dumbbell bench press is a good example of this.

These babies are the ones that will target one zone and get it burning stat.

Some trainers even argue that you shouldn’t call these superset workouts at alljust compound sets.

And there are alsounrelated supersets, which is where the two exercises use totally different muscle groups.

Here, a good parallel would be lunges and biceps curls.

you’re free to hammer out quality reps of both without feeling super fatigued.

Here are some superset workout ideas from Rusin.

Want to boost your PR?

Try an activation-based compound set.

The idea is that before a big lift, you activate certain relevant muscles with a set ofexplosive exercises.

Let’s say you’re trying to boost your squat performance.

Then, you superset that with your heavy squats.

“It’s a way to artificially over-perform.”

Here’swhy you shouldn’t be afraid to lift heavy.

Want to target a specific muscle?

Try a pre-fatiguing exercise.

Let’s say you’re squatting to your heart’s content but not seeing the booty gains you want.

Or you could target those muscles specifically with this no-squat, no-lunge booty workout.

Avoid These Superset Workout Mistakes

1.

Don’t kill your core.

Supersetting anything with core work seems like a safe bet, right?

Doing core work in between will actually fatigue the posture stabilizers of the spine, says Rusin.

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2.

Gravity is acting on your body literally every second of the day.

But doing certain exercises (especially when you add weight) naturally compresses your spine.

This basically means back pain and/or injuries are in your future.

Here, dips, pull-ups, glute bridges, or anything hanging would work best.

Don’t do back-body stuff second.

“The rationale behind that is that the posterior chain is usually stabilizing musculature,” he says.

So, what are you waiting for?

Get out there and go forth and school some people with your superset knowledge while you are at it.

And, yes, we just gave you an excuse to be a weight room snob.