Be a SuperWoman with A Super Set Program

How To Use Supersets & Alternating Sets In Your Workout Routine

When it comes to structuring the sets and exercises in your workout routine, there’s a ton of different ways you can do it.

Today however I want to look at 2 of those ways:

• Supersets
• Alternating Sets

The reason I want to combine supersets and alternating sets in one article is because they are somewhat similar, and that similarity tends to cause people to use those terms interchangeably as though they mean the same thing.

In reality however, supersets and alternating sets are definitely NOT the same thing, as there is one huge difference that separates them.

How big is that difference, you ask? Well, it’s big enough for me to consider one of those workout methods to be highly useful (to the point where I’d sometimes recommend it), and the other to be kinda dumb for most people (to the point where I’d hardly ever recommend it).

So, let’s now compare supersets and alternating sets and see which ends up being which.

Supersets

Supersetting involves doing a set of one exercise, and then immediately doing a set of another exercise right after with no rest in between.

So, you’d do a set of Exercise A, then go right into a set of Exercise B, then rest. You’d then repeat this superset again as many times as needed to complete your prescribed total amount of sets for each exercise.

Supersets Save Time

While supersetting has a handful of supposed benefits and purposes, #1 on that list is that it’s a time saver.

And, it’s true. Assuming the exercises are paired intelligently in each superset (more on that later), supersetting is guaranteed to allow you to get through your workouts a bit faster and save you some time.

By doing a set of one exercise and then a set of another exercise back-to-back without resting, there’s no doubt you’ll get done faster than if you structured your sets and exercises in a more traditional manner.

So, if you’re someone who doesn’t have a lot of time to work out or would just prefer to get done with your workouts faster (who wouldn’t?), supersets definitely have some appeal.

However, in general, I think 60-90 seconds between sets works pretty well in most cases (unless otherwise specified by your specific workout routine).

So for example, you might do something like:

• Bench Press: Set #1
• Rest 60-90 seconds.
• Seated Cable Row: Set #1
• Rest 60-90 seconds.
• Bench Press: Set #2
• Rest 60-90 seconds.
• Seated Cable Row: Set #2