Supersets vs straight sets. When to do which?

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

What does each do differently that the other doesn't in terms of muscle growth, strength/endurance increases, hormonal differences, CNS stress, etc?

 

[marmel75]

Stop worrying about this and start doing heavy compound lifts. This is for people who already have a solid base not for novice lifters.

All you need to do is compound lifts focusing on as many muscles as possible while progressively increasing the weight.

I'd recommend the 5x5 program. Nothing fancy just hard work. People always looking at ways to get out of hard work, but there is no way around it if you want results.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Stop worrying about this and start doing heavy compound lifts. This is for people who already have a solid base not for novice lifters.

All you need to do is compound lifts focusing on as many muscles as possible while progressively increasing the weight.

I'd recommend the 5x5 program. Nothing fancy just hard work. People always looking at ways to get out of hard work, but there is no way around it if you want results.

I'm not a novice. I already write my own workouts and know when to change them up.

 

[marmel75]

I'm not a novice. I already write my own workouts and know when to change them up.

I'm talking about novice in terms of results. Last time I saw you posted you were like 160 lbs. Has that changed?

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

I'm talking about novice in terms of results. Last time I saw you posted you were like 160 lbs. Has that changed?

That was because I stopped exercising for like 2 or 3 months straight. I was at 180 right before then yet wasn't any bigger at all somehow (maybe looking a little more lean/ripped), then I lost 20 lbs in about a month and stayed there for a while. I'm about 175 now. I'm not looking for size though, getting bulky isn't good for me. I was just asking why someone would choose to do straight sets over supersets and vice versa.

 

[custardpie]

Supersets are an intensity technique that is very useful for mixing things up. They are also useful for increasing your workload per session, meaning you can fit more exercises/sets into a given timeframe.
I pretty much always superset tris and bis and sometimes superset chest/back to save time and mix things up.
Also, you can hit a muscle in ways it's not used to by supersetting different exercises for the same muscle group such as pairing rear flyes with rows for example.
Straight sets are your standard, use them for most of your session and throw in intensity techniques to really finish off the muscles you're working at the end of your sets/workout if you need to.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Supersets are an intensity technique that is very useful for mixing things up. They are also useful for increasing your workload per session, meaning you can fit more exercises/sets into a given timeframe.
I pretty much always superset tris and bis and sometimes superset chest/back to save time and mix things up.
Also, you can hit a muscle in ways it's not used to by supersetting different exercises for the same muscle group such as pairing rear flyes with rows for example.
Straight sets are your standard, use them for most of your session and throw in intensity techniques to really finish off the muscles you're working at the end of your sets/workout if you need to.

Thanks

 

[GhostOfCordon]

Unless you are a competitive power lifter, doing the 5 x 5 compound program is a waste of time. And I dare say, 99.99999999% of the people who lift are not power lifters. Not only are you putting your body through all kinds of stress and over exertion on your joints and tendons, leading to eventual serious injury (and trust me every serious power lifter has had a serious injury) but you are not going to get what you want, and for most men that is to be shredded.

If you want a good program to try, with little emphasis on the 3 main compounds but a huge emphasis on getting shredded via drop sets, super drop sets, and reps, try this. I do this one about once every 3 months. It works. That is my in my avi. Gives you each exercise to do every day along with videos.

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethins-4-weeks2shred?mcid=youtube_W-dFTKnBih4

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Unless you are a competitive power lifter, doing the 5 x 5 compound program is a waste of time. And I dare say, 99.99999999% of the people who lift are not power lifters. Not only are you putting your body through all kinds of stress and over exertion on your joints and tendons, leading to eventual serious injury (and trust me every serious power lifter has had a serious injury) but you are not going to get what you want, and for most men that is to be shredded.

If you want a good program to try, with little emphasis on the 3 main compounds but a huge emphasis on getting shredded via drop sets, super drop sets, and reps, try this. I do this one about once every 3 months. It works. That is my in my avi. Gives you each exercise to do every day along with videos.

https://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/kris-gethins-4-weeks2shred?mcid=youtube_W-dFTKnBih4

I'm already as shredded as I want to be. I'm just looking for strength without size at this point. Lifting is supplemental to athletics for me, it's not the main deal. If I wanted to get more ripped it would take me about 3 or 4 days and I'd have look like a less puffy version of those in magazines, though I'd feel like utter crap though lol. My main goal is to get stronger without getting bigger because I'm a sprinter. But that wasn't the main goal of this thread. I was just wondering the specific differences between regular sets vs super sets.

 

[GhostOfCordon]

I'm already as shredded as I want to be. I'm just looking for strength without size at this point. Lifting is supplemental to athletics for me, it's not the main deal. If I wanted to get more ripped it would take me about 3 or 4 days and I'd have look like a less puffy version of those in magazines, though I'd feel like utter crap though lol. My main goal is to get stronger without getting bigger because I'm a sprinter. But that wasn't the main goal of this thread. I was just wondering the specific differences between regular sets vs super sets.

Basically supersetting is a way to get some cardio in while lifting. You go from one exercise to the next to the next, maybe a circuit of 3 exercises in one superset, with no rest between sets and maybe a minute or two rest between circuits.

If you want size, it is probably not the way to go as you will not be resting much, therefore you wont be able to lift as much.

In this case, if you want strength, you either go the long route and do the compounds as the above poster said, mainly deads, BPs, and squats, or go the gear route.

 

[GhostOfCordon]

What is your height and weight OP? Post a pic.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Basically supersetting is a way to get some cardio in while lifting. You go from one exercise to the next to the next, maybe a circuit of 3 exercises in one superset, with no rest between sets and maybe a minute or two rest between circuits.

If you want size, it is probably not the way to go as you will not be resting much, therefore you wont be able to lift as much.

In this case, if you want strength, you either to the long route and do the compounds as the above poster said, mainly deads, BPs, and squats, or go the gear route.

Thanks.

What is your height and weight OP? Post a pic.

5'11 @ ~170 lbs in these pics. I'm 18.

 

[GhostOfCordon]

Thanks.

View attachment 864 View attachment 865
5'11 @ ~170 lbs in these pics. I'm 18.

Ok you have a good start. I would personally try to gain some size if I were you. Your arms, shoulders, and especially your chest are kind of weak. You are blessed with a very narrow waist, which is great for the V shape look so sought after. And with that waist you are never going to look "too big".

IF it were me, at your age and stature? I would try to clean bulk, as in all muscle, no fat, to 180 or so. At that weight I bet you would be perfect for what you want.

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

Ok you have a good start. I would personally try to gain some size if I were you. Your arms, shoulders, and especially your chest are kind of weak. You are blessed with a very narrow waist, which is great for the V shape look so sought after. And with that waist you are never going to look "too big".

IF it were me, at your age and stature? I would try to clean bulk, as in all muscle, no fat, to 180 or so. At that weight I bet you would be perfect for what you want.

I see what you're saying. I think my shoulders are fine though tbh. My arms though, eh..... And my chest is bad because the inner-upper portion of it are just bone and no muscle for some reason. Been doing some upward cable crossovers and other presses but I'm not sure to what extent it's helping. I'm also flexing in that pic too though which tightens my pecs up more so maybe that's why it looks small. But when I wear t-shirts, my chest pops out even if I'm slouching a bit which is weird.

As for my waist, yeah I naturally do have extremely broad shoulders and a thinner waist than most. The thin waist I think is because I stay away from pork products. The wide shoulders is because of genes I think. I mean I have an arm span of 6'5 hahaha. Your arm span is supposed to be equal to your height or within half an inch I think. But yeah, even relaxed I have an extreme v-taper. It sucks though because shirts rarely ever fit me right. If it fits me right by my shoulders then it feels large around my waist. But if it fits right around my waist then it feels right by the shoulders. Oh well.

Yeah at 180 I would look really good. I'm hoping to get a little taller though and maybe get to 200, though not right now. About 9 or so months ago I was at 180, maybe even 185. But I looked exactly the same as how I look like right now, maybe even smaller which doesn't make sense. I think I was still 5'10 though. I may have been more lean before back then, too. But I still don't quite understand it. The most I ever weighed was 187 after a meal. I looked fine then. The difference is though that I think right now I look 'puffier' than when I was over 180, if that makes any sense. My muscle looked harder or something. Anyway, thank you for your input. If you've got any other tips and tricks for strength w/o size, I'm all ears.

 

[Who Dares Win]

Thanks.

View attachment 864 View attachment 865
5'11 @ ~170 lbs in these pics. I'm 18.

You are in great shape, wish I was like that at 18.

Those broad shoulder make a hell of a difference in terms of aestetics but you just need to balance them since it seems from your pictures that they are slitghly forward, maybe you are over doing your chest?

Also the second picture, I see you hand pointing backwards instead of being in a neutral position thats typical of those with rounded shoulders.

You are in a great starting point especially given your age, I suggest you to train your back and stretch untill your shoulders get back in position then go hard on dumbbel incline press for upper chest.
Give a chance also to diamond grip pushups for you inner chest, do them with your feets on a chair and they will do work on the upper inner chest.
Personally the exercise that work the best in my case is sitting on the chest press with my chest pointing either left or right then pushing single arm with my bis rubbing my chest.

btw what are those red spots on your body? are you eating too much junk or forgot to use a willy during your last night stand?

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

You are in great shape, wish I was like that at 18.

Yeah I mean I've been doing some form of resistance training since I was 12 really. I always had a great musculature for my age since then really. Granted, my 12 year old self didn't look nearly as good as I do now, but compared to other 12 year olds I was great. It's because I used to do push-ups and a modified form of sit-ups every day (the sit-ups were where your back doesn't touch the ground, you just come straight up after you get really close to it so that you have to use your abs to stop yourself from hitting the ground. I did this because I thought regular sit-ups were way too easy). First started off barely being able to do 5. A year and a half later I was crushing 135 consecutive push-ups with my nose touching the floor and 135 sit-ups twice a day no problem. I stopped due to various reasons. But then started doing pull-ups instead at age 14. I was doing those everyday as well along with leg raises. After about 8 months of that, I was doing around 50 consecutive pull-ups every single day. Looking back on it, I may not have been going all the way down like I do now, but looking back at it, it was still very impressive to say the least. I can't do nearly that many pull-ups or push-ups right now though. Albeit, I weigh around 40 lbs heavier so there's also that. But it's strange. I am MUCH stronger right now in terms of maximal strength output, even for my weight when comparing myself to back then. But my muscular endurance has dropped tremendously. Same with my cardiovascular endurance. I think it has to do with age and hormones.

Those broad shoulder make a hell of a difference in terms of aestetics but you just need to balance them since it seems from your pictures that they are slitghly forward, maybe you are over doing your chest?

Also the second picture, I see you hand pointing backwards instead of being in a neutral position thats typical of those with rounded shoulders.

I think it is just because I was flexing in these pictures. My chest is strong and decent in size just because of the foundation I built for it doing push-ups and pull-ups long ago, but my back is overall stronger despite that. No idea why, I think it's just naturally so. I've also always been involved in sports throughout my life so that's also why my physique is better than most other my age. I just wanted to show the width of my back in the second pic too. But my shoulders are fine in terms of positioning. I have a really good posture especially because I'm much more aware of my body language. Not to mention that Harvard study by Lisa Cuddy, that already amplified my awareness.

You are in a great starting point especially given your age, I suggest you to train your back and stretch untill your shoulders get back in position then go hard on dumbbel incline press for upper chest.
Give a chance also to diamond grip pushups for you inner chest, do them with your feets on a chair and they will do work on the upper inner chest.
Personally the exercise that work the best in my case is sitting on the chest press with my chest pointing either left or right then pushing single arm with my bis rubbing my chest.

I'll definitely give those a shot. That sounds like a really good idea.

btw what are those red spots on your body? are you eating too much junk or forgot to use a willy during your last night stand?

Nah that's acne. I used to have it bad on my face so I started taking some kind of medicine for it along with stopical stuff. The acne on my face went away, but for some reason I started getting it on my back and sternum right after which is strange. It like pushed all of it onto my back, shoulders, and sternum. Don't know why. I don't want to take Accutane or whatever it's called right now just because I heard it can stunt growth, but yeah it's not something I can really help.

 

[Julian]

the point of supersets is to force blood into your muscles...get that swole...that pump. the point of that is to increase nutrient supply and healing as well as deeper scientific anatomical type info

 

[ImTheDoubleGreatest!]

as well as deeper scientific anatomical type info

such as.....