Train Like a Madman

This is Arnold; he was strong. Yes, we all know that, as we've seen the movies...but where did the big muscles come from?

There are many paths to big muscles, but one of Arnold's biggest [not so secret] secrets was his usage of 'supersets', or 'antagonist sets.'

A superset is very easy to perform [on paper], takes a lot of effort and mental fortitude, and adds a massive amount of volume to your workout. Arnold often credits his 'pump' to supersetting. Here is [my take] on how you should perform supersets:

Key Terms: Antagonist Muscles

Antagonist Muscles are polar opposite muscles. Think: biceps - triceps, back - chest, etc.

The key to supersetting is to create a high tempo workout. There is essentially zero rest in a superset based workout. Often times you will see people in the gym sitting, chilling in between sets, 'resting'. Supersetting doesn't subscribe to this.

A high tempo workout wants to repurpose your rest time into an efficient time. Imagine it like this:

3x10 biceps curls. You just performed your first set. Now what? You have essentially two choices: rest, or use another body part. The antagonist muscle in this case is the triceps. Immediately after your 1st set of curls, if you are supersetting, you should quickly move to a triceps exercise; triceps extension would be a good idea, another 1x10[x3].

So now you just kicked out 10 reps of triceps, your arms are on fire. What now? Oscillate back to curls immediately, and perform another 1x10. After, back to triceps, 1x10. Your biceps plan of 3x10 just got supplemented with 3x10 triceps, upping your total volume to 6x10, working every muscle in your arms multiple times in multiple ways. Had you just curled, you would have performed a fraction of the volume.

Every muscle group has antagonist muscles, thus supersetting is always an option. The added benefit of supersetting is that tempo increases the intensity of your workout, giving you an all around better workout with more effort.

Effort is the key to unlocking all growth in fitness. Without effort, your results will stutter. Supersetting is the classic method for inserting superior effort into any workout.

David Katz