Compound sets have to be one of the most effective training techniques ever invented, short, sweet, and intense. There are a number of grouping categories which include supersets, trisets, and giant sets. I will discuss a few of the best combination scenarios and how they apply in real world training. Before I begin I want to make it clear that this is a very intense form of training and carries with it the risk of overtraining if abused, having said that this is a very fun and exciting way to train, allowing for a super pump and deep and immediate growth stimulus. You won’t have to wait long to start seeing real increases in muscle size, if you avoid certain pitfalls.
For any not familiar with compound sets, they are the grouping of two to six exercises together with zero rest between them. The exercises can be for different muscle groups as in a whole body circuit for general fitness purposes, this is best accomplished with giant sets of four to six exercises, either repeating the set grouping two to three times or using a grouping of different exercises for each cycle to hit the body from as many angles as possible within two to three four to six exercise giant sets.
I mention this version of giant sets first because used in this way it is an incredible combination of aerobic and anaerobic exercise but not a great muscle builder. However giant sets done for muscle growth are at the other end of intensity scale. We will start with supersets, there are two versions. In the first version you work exactly opposing muscle groups such as biceps and triceps, chest and back, shoulder exercises that involve a push or pull aspect, quadriceps and hamstrings, in this version the calves have no opposition to speak of given that the tibialis muscle on the shin of the lower leg is hopelessly out muscled by the calf muscles.
This version plays off the antagonist relationship between opposing muscle groups, as one muscle is shortening and contracting, the opposing muscle is lengthening and extending, and vise versa, working to stabilize the joint and control speed of movement throughout the range of motion, thus working together to make movement possible. As you move from a push to a pull movement, say going from a tricep pushdown to a barbell curl, the arm muscles change roles and both are kept under tension for an extended period of time, sharing the increased blood supply and time under tension growth stimulus. The same is true for chest and back, front and back of upper legs, and push and pull actions of the shoulders.
Good exercise combinations are incline barbell bench press and wide grip pulldowns, overhead barbell press and barbell upright row, barbell squat and stiff leg deadlift, barbell curl and cable pushdown. The second version is markedly more intense and begins our ascent up the ladder of intensity. This version consists of coupling two exercises back to back for the same muscle group. There are a few things to remember when building exercise combinations with this version, the first being awareness of the amount of target muscle involvement, negative muscle fatigue, and exercise similarity.
These factors can make or break the effectiveness of your efforts. The whole point of using an intensity principle is to address weakness in an area of a muscle group and correct it. This takes an honest assessment of deficiency and intelligent exercise selection and sequencing. The first exercise should be the more spot specific and isolated of the two chosen, not being too similar in angle of pull or amount of involvement of the surrounding related muscle groups assisting the prime mover muscle group.
If the two exercises are too similar in these respects you will experience negative muscle fatigue. What is negative muscle fatigue? It is the degradation of the usable muscle strength of the related helper muscle groups to push you beyond normal positive failure to absolute muscular failure. This happens when you either put a basic compound movement before a more isolated movement or doing two compound movements back to back.
When you do this the related helper muscles are too fatigued to handle a significant amount of weight on the second exercise and ends up being ridiculously light, making it a pumping movement at best. Examples of these are, barbell row and T-bar row or close grip bench press and dumbbell kickbacks. Better combinations are incline dumbbell bench press and cross bench dumbbell pullovers, straight arm pulldowns and barbell row, seated calf raise and standing calf raise.
Next in intensity is trisets, the grouping of three exercises back to back for a muscle group. The rules are basically the same as with supersets with the exception of certain muscle groups that have multiple angle functions where you can insert a more isolated basic movement between two more direct effect movements such as on shoulder, chest, back, and some leg groupings.
Good combinations are parallel bar dips, flat dumbbell flys, and dumbbell pullovers, straight arm pulldowns, wide pulldowns, and close under grip pulldowns, behind the neck barbell press, dumbbell tricep kickbacks, two hands on a single dumbbell overhead frenchpress, and close grip bench press, leg press, leg extension, and barbell squat.
Next in line are giant sets which should be reserved for chest, back, and thighs only. For giant sets to be successful sequencing is everything. good combinations are leg adductions, lying one leg curls, two leg curls using same weight, and stiff legged deadlifts, incline dumbbell flys, incline dumbbell bench press, flat dumbbell flys, and dumbbell pullovers.
On super sets do one to two cycles of two to three different combinations for chest, back, and thighs. One to two cycles of one to two combinations for calves, front and side deltoids, and triceps, and one to two cycles of one combination for rear deltoids, biceps and hamstrings. On trisets do two to three cycles of one combination or one to two cycle of two combinations for chest, back, and thighs. One to two cycles of one combination or one cycle of two combinations for calves, front and side deltoids, and triceps. One to two cycles of one combination for rear deltoids, biceps, and hamstrings.
On giant sets do one to two cycles of one to two combinations for chest, back, and thighs. If you must you can do one to two cycles of one combination for calves, front and side deltoids, and triceps. One cycle of one combination for rear deltoids, biceps, and hamstrings. Keep the reps between six and ten for upper body and between eight and twelve for lower body. Rest two minutes between cycles and if you split your muscle groups into separate workouts, work the whole upper body in one of the workouts so the deltoids have a fighting chance at recovery and avoid overuse injury. Give compound sets a try, you will not be disappointed.
My name is Steve Sawyer, I am a ISSA certified personal trainer and I have been involved in the field of natural bodybuilding, health, and fitness for over 30 years. I have written hundreds of training programs for any number of physical goals ranging from losing weight and getting toned up to making serious gains in muscle size, and strength. I have an in depth knowledge of the inner working of how the body responds to training stimulus, extensive knowledge of kinesiology, biomechanics, anatomy and how they apply to exercise selection and performance. I have conducted exhaustive research and experimentation on any number of training programs, principles, styles, splits, philosophies, contradictions, psychological aspects as well as variations in hand and foot placement, angle of pull, body positioning, order of exercises and muscle groups, specific spot emphasis within a muscle or muscle group to attain balance and symmetry, troubleshooting problems in training stubborn muscle groups, mental blocks, and diet. Besides this I have built numerous exercise machines including power racks, smith machines, 45 degree leg presses, hack squats, high/low pulley machines, lat towers as well as a few multifunction home gym machines. I have also invented unique exercises and variations of exercises to hit areas of muscle that remained unaffected by conventional approaches due to body structure deviations in angle of pull and skeletal/muscular leverage. I am available for one on one training to help you reach your goals.
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