Antagonistic and Non Competing Supersets for Shorter Workouts | Strength Training
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What if you could have shorter workouts, while still getting the same results? For many people, this sounds almost too good to be true. Less time in the gym means more time for the rest of your life.
Supersets
One of the best ways to shorten your workouts is by doing supersets. Supersets are two or more exercises that you alternate or cycle through between each set. So rather than doing three sets of bench press and then three sets of rows, you would do one set of bench press, then one set of rows and continue alternating until you've done three sets of each.
The reason this helps to shorten your workouts is that it cuts down on how much rest time you need between sets. However, you have to select the right exercises to superset together. This is where the antagonistic or non competing part comes in.
Exercise Selection
Antagonistic exercises use opposing muscle groups or movement patterns. Bench press and bent over rows are a great example of this. Non competing exercises use muscle groups that don't overlap, but aren't exactly opposing either. An example of this would be back squats and bicep curls.
In either case, what's important is that the muscle groups don't overlap. Since they don't overlap, you can perform them during the rest periods of the other exercises without affecting your recovery too much. This is what allows you to cut down on rest periods and shorten your workouts.
So, rather than waiting three minutes between sets of bench press, you can do a set of bench press, rest a minute or so, do a set of rows, and then rest a minute or so before doing your next set of bench press. Even though you did that set of rows in between, your bench press muscles were still able to recover since they weren't used in the rows.
If you're doing three sets of each, rather than taking about 20 minutes without supersetting them, you could be done in under 15 minutes. And if you do this with several pairs of exercises, you could bring your hour-long workout down to 45 minutes.
Example Antagonistic Pairings
Antagonistic pairings are made of opposed movement patterns or muscle groups. A horizontal upper body push (bench press) would be paired with a horizontal upper body pull (bent over row).
| Horizontal Push (Bench Press) | Horizontal Pull (Bent Over Row) |
| Vertical Push (Overhead Press) | Vertical Pull (Pull Up/Down) |
| Triceps (Tricep Extension) | Biceps (Bicep Curl) |
| Knee Dominant (Front Squat) | Hip Dominant (Romanian Deadlift) |
| Quads (Leg Extension) | Hamstrings (Leg Curl) |
Example Non Competing Pairings
Non competing pairings are usually made up of an upper body exercise and a lower body or core exercise. They also commonly pair a more difficult compound exercise with an easier isolation exercise.
| Bench Press | Leg Extension |
| Bent Over Row | Hollow Hold |
| Back Squat | Bicep Curl |
| Deadlift | Overhead Press |
| Leg Press | Calf Raise |
When Not To Superset
While supersetting saves on time while minimally cutting into recovery, it still cuts into your recovery a bit. If you're looking to optimize your performance at a certain exercise, do it by itself with sufficient rest in between sets.
Supersetting can also increase the cardiovascular demands of your workout, especially if your rest periods were already short to begin with. If your rest periods are getting under a minute or so, your performance might be limited by your cardiovascular capacity as well as your muscular strength.
How Many Exercises Should I Superset?
Two exercises is generally the ideal number of exercises to superset since creating good pairings of exercises is relatively easy and significantly reduces rest times. Technically, you can combine as many as you want. The difficulty lies in finding exercises that all work well together. For this reason, I would recommend keeping your supersets to four exercises or less.
You've likely seen workouts consisting of ten or more exercises all supersetted. While these do have some benefits, they are not ideal for building strength. They can also use a lot of equipment at the same time, which can make them challenging to do at a public gym.
Key Takeaways
If you're going to integrate supersets into your strength training, try to:
- Choose antagonistic or non competing exercises.
- Keep the rest periods long enough for your cardiovascular capacity.
- Use 4 or less exercises per superset (ideally 2).
