The effectiveness of supersets by Raúl Carrasco

Supersets are called the performance of sets of two different exercises consecutively, but can they be effective for hypertrophy?

Supersets are one of the oldest strength-training techniques, but unfortunately, one of the most misunderstood and misapplied.

In some cases, beginners and even enthusiastic intermediate trainees often pair arbitrary exercises in an attempt to make their workout more “intense,” making the supersets and the workout largely ineffective beyond simply fatiguing them.

There are some guidelines to help you design and use supersets correctly in your training, while also knowing how to establish a good periodization plan.

Supersets: “the classic approach”

The classic approach is a basic antagonist superset: for example, a set of biceps curls followed by a cable triceps extension with no rest in between, or a bench press followed by some seated rows.

It works because it increases your heart rate while promoting some “balance” in your training; however, it is not perfect.

The problem with the classic superset approach is that it tends to overlook issues such as pre-exhaustion, reciprocal inhibition, and spinal health.

If you are an athlete with some muscular or structural imbalance, these things can only create more problems in the future, so it is wise to analyze these issues.

Supersets with pre-exhaustion

The most common area where pre-exhaustion occurs (the stage before fatigue) is the core, namely the abdominals and lower back.

It can be argued that there are very few “good” movements in which the core is not involved, at least indirectly, since it plays a role in many exercises, and its responsiveness and strength should always be activated when you prepare for major movements.

To avoid injuring those areas during supersets, you must evaluate your exercise selection and check whether you are pairing the wrong movements together.

For example, a poorly designed pre-fatigue superset would be:

• A1. Barbell front squat (or back squat)
• A2. Ab Roller (abdominals)

Another example is this superset that many people use: a core isolation exercise combined with a major movement such as squats, deadlifts, or standing presses. However, doing Swiss-ball throws or hanging leg raises only reduces the core’s potential strength.

Remember that exercise breaks down muscle tissue, and the idea is to avoid doing so inefficiently during training.

Supersets: how should we understand them?

Unlike Rest-Pause, in which mini-sets are performed between sets, here they are performed between exercises: mini-sets and sequences between exercises.

The superset or triset is ultimately a Rest-Pause: the time spent changing exercises—10, 20, or 30 seconds—will allow you to achieve the goal of taking that break to recover phosphocreatine and ATP.

Now let’s analyze:

Supersets are like Rest-Pause, with the difference that you have an agonist set—or, in other words, the agonist system—and an antagonist one.

I will also discuss something that depends greatly on individual circumstances… In an agonist superset, when we do a bench press, we may want to pre-exhaust the chest first with an exhaustion exercise, then immediately move on to the bench press with the chest pre-fatigued, because supposedly the triceps are weaker.

That is one type of superset, and the opposite superset consists of doing the bench press first and then the isolation exercise.

At least in my view, it is not valid to focus on those two points because my triceps are larger than my chest; that is why, when you read about any of this, always keep your own individual circumstances in mind.

So, within agonist supersets, it is clear that they ultimately involve Rest-Pause, with the difference that the sequence and the mini-set occur between exercises, not between sets.

Agonist/antagonist supersets

Within agonist supersets, there are two ways to do them: first an isolation exercise followed by a compound exercise, or a compound exercise followed by an isolation exercise.

• Many people move from a bench press to an incline press.
• It can be done, but it is not ideal, because you are not taking advantage of the agonist superset; it makes no sense and would be a mistake.

Raúl Carrasco wants to make it clear that all the systems we are discussing, as you can see, ultimately include a Rest-Pause.

One of their benefits is the EPOC effect: increasing the amount of oxygen in the blood through metabolic stress, creating a greater amount of internal anabolic hormones and more oxygen, so that afterward, even at rest, our body burns fat.

Within supersets, we have antagonistic ones, and Sherrington's law applies here: he was a doctor who received a Nobel Prize for applying this law, especially in reverse psychology, which is called reciprocal inhibition.

What Raúl Carrasco is about to discuss is something we have regarded as a trend for many years, right before our eyes, but common supersets were always preferred, or perhaps no one explained it as specifically as Raúl Carrasco does, although he did not previously share these ideas.

Antagonistic supersets: “analysis”

It is important and interesting to know how antagonistic supersets work under Sherrington's law. Who knows Sherrington's law very well? It includes law N° 1 and law N° 2, but we are not going to get into physiology.

Now, who really understands reciprocal inhibition?… Physiotherapists… To relax the lower back, a physiotherapist contracts your abdominals, but we are not going to analyze Sherrington's law or reciprocal inhibition in antagonistic supersets, because we would have to read it 20 or 60 times and still would not really understand it.

Raúl Carrasco simply analyzes things so that we can understand them, and that is ultimately what we all want.

Simply put, when one muscle contracts, the other rests.

For example, when both the biceps and triceps are resting, the nervous system is always active, and whether we want it to or not, there is always something keeping them under tension, especially for an escape—it is always there.

Antagonistic supersets: “interesting facts”

How would the biceps or triceps relax more—rest more? Raúl Carrasco asks this because the more rest and relaxation there is, the greater the recovery, and with greater recovery comes greater power for sprinting, escaping, throwing, or contracting.

Well, with an antagonistic contraction, the triceps is relaxed, but if the biceps contracts, my triceps will be even more relaxed, and that really is interesting.

That is why antagonistic supersets are the ones that have you perform a chest set followed by a back row set, a biceps curl set, and then move on to the triceps cable.

The thing is that this law is the hardest to understand, but it is the one with the most studies showing increased strength, because thanks to reciprocal inhibition, the antagonist muscle recovers better.

It is curious, and although it is not a set and is not a very common system, that is how it works; it is used more in physical therapy and psychology, but muscularly it works like this: one biceps exercise, one triceps exercise.

Antagonistic supersets: “the differential”

The difference is that between each antagonistic set—in this case, while we are working the biceps—it is as if the triceps received extraordinary rest, rest beyond what is normal.

Raúl Carrasco came up with another example to explain this:

• The triceps rested.
• It is at rest, but it is not disconnected; it is like a refrigerator—often the pump is running, but it is always on.
• But if we really wanted to rest that engine, we would practically turn it off.

But the way to achieve maximum recovery or greater relaxation is through contractions: it relaxes more, recovers better, the nervous system recovers more, ATP regenerates faster, and the next triceps set can be performed with more weight, while we have more speed and concentration.

Antagonistic supersets: more efficient?

There is even a way to make reciprocal inhibition work better in antagonistic supersets: for example, during a biceps set, our partner provides resistance during the concentric phase, in addition to the weight, while we perform the negative.

Here, the antagonist muscle tends to relax even more, and when we go directly to the triceps cable exercise, we realize that our strength is higher than if we did it conventionally, because those 30 seconds we spent working the triceps, thanks to reciprocal inhibition, are as if we had rested for 3 minutes.

In another example, with an antagonistic hamstring-and-quadriceps superset:

• We do one set for the hamstrings and another for the quadriceps.
• What happens is that during that hamstring set, the quadriceps, through reciprocal inhibition or reciprocal facilitation, relaxes a great deal, and when you put it on a leg-extension machine, you produce incredible power and strength.
• During the time we have been giving the hamstrings those 40 seconds under tension, they have been 40 seconds during which the quadriceps have also been able to contract simultaneously.

The more nervous-system recovery there is, the less overall stress there is, and with less stress, that muscle is better able to resynthesize ATP.

The muscle that is recovering is the antagonist—the hamstring. In this scenario, we must realize that all the nerve signals are involved, and if contractions are performed (in the biceps), our nervous system as a whole is not being stressed equally in every part; only there, not in the triceps.

Supersets and the Nervous System

In other words, we need to understand a little about how the nervous system works: it essentially sends frequencies, megahertz, and electrical intensity to make the muscles move, depending on where they are needed.

Besides the nervous system being activated, when we apply this law, the antagonist muscle we are working receives greater rest or recovery.

This is practically a law, like Newton’s second law; in other words, Raúl Carrasco mentioned it in his talk about supersets so that we could understand a little about how it works.

He also indicates that he would not apply this law in his training unless his triceps were excessively fatigued, sore, or inflamed, because he does not consider it very practical for hypertrophy.

The law is mentioned in the video mainly because there are agonist and antagonist supersets, and Sherrington’s law of reciprocal inhibition applies to antagonist supersets.

Supersets: “final tips”

With the exception of some pressing movements, it is recommended to do pulling exercises before pushing exercises, especially for the back and chest.

In contrast, when you are about to do supersets for the lower body, it is advisable to consider the correct firing pattern of the muscles in the posterior chain.

The central point here is to use supersets intelligently, encouraging the muscles to do the right thing by using one movement to help the other.

In other words, the key is to train intelligently, considering how our body functions as a unit, and this is essential for an efficient workout.

Therefore, if you are an athlete with good technique who still suffers from joint stress and chronic pain, the answer may lie in the way you choose to combine your exercises.

 

Finally, according to a study published in Legion Athletics magazine, supersets affect testosterone and growth hormone levels.

Make good use of this information and you will unlock your muscles’ potential… your body will thank you…