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Pyramid-, Synergistic & Antagonistic Supersetting - How do Experienced Resistance Trainees' Brain & Brawn React?

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While all subjects in the study at hand were men, there's no reason to believe that the results for women would be fundamentally different. Ok, let's get the most significant message out right away: the study at hand will not  be able to tell you which of the four regimens (the fourth being traditional training) is going to maximize your individual 2017 gains. What it will and does do, however, is to remind you that advanced training techniques like super setting, where you do exercises back to back without more rest than it takes to transit from A to B, are called "advanced": Why's that? Well, because they will certainly put and "advanced" load on your central nervous system, pushing the boundaries so much that one could argue that they could make you more prone to overtraining and its ill effects on performance, physique, thyroid, testosterone and more... No matter how you train. You must  periodize appropriately to maximize your gains! 30% ...
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Super-Setting is Time-Efficient, but What About the Volume and Quality of Your Workouts? They Will Improve! The Question that Remains is: Will Size & Strength Benefit, Too?

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Supersetting is fun, time-efficient, exhausting and based on the reasonable assumption that you can benefit from training agonist + antagonist together, but does it build size & strength? If you've been around the SuppVersity for some time, you will probably know what "super-setting" or "paired-sets" is. Right? Exactly! It's doing different exercises back to back. Like doing a bench press first and go to bend-over rows without taking more time to rest than it'll take to grab the barbell you already placed next to the bench. Yes, that's intense and yes, that's fast, but the question is: "Super-Setting is Time-Efficient, But is it Also "Gain-Efficient"?" And we will deal with it at the bottom of this article. Before we do so, let's take a look at what happens to workout volume and the quality of each of your reps when you super-set. No matter how you train. You must  periodize appropriately to maximize your ga...
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Shorter Inter-Set Rest Periods Maximize Muscle Activation During Antagonist Super-Set Training - Downstream Effects on Strength and Size Gains Less Unambigous

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You don't have to push and pull at the same time - don't worry! You may have read Menno Henselmans', Brad J. Schoenfeld's review of the effects of inter-set rest periods on muscle and strength gains in the latest issue of Sports Medicine (Henselmans. 2019). In said paper, Henselmans and Schoenfeld conclude that the increase in the production of purportedly anabolic hormones in response to the reduction of rest-times to 1 min or less is, at best, weakly related to the long(er)-term study outcomes. The reason I am repeating this previously cited conclusion is simple, I don't want you to overrate the increase muscular activation Marianna F. Mai and colleagues from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the  Eastern Illinois University report in a soon-to-be-published paper in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research (Maia. 2014). Learn more about building muscle at www.suppversity.com Optimizing Rest for Size and Strength Gains Alternati...
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Build Size & Strength With Isometric Co-Contractions: 4% Increase in Arm Circumference and ~20% More Strength With Less Than 10 Minutes of "Flexing" Per Week

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Big guns without weights? True - the question yet remains: "How big?" I am psyched and the reason is the advanced access publication of the results of the latest study from the Department of Sports and Life Science at the National Institute of Fitness and Sports in Kanoya, Japan (Maeo. 2013b). Why? Well, it claims to solve two of the most urgent issues that keep our sedentary fellow men (and women ;-) from working out: The lack of equipment and the lack of time , exactly those two factors the average American and European slacker pleads as an excuse for not making the necessary, since potentially life-saving physical investments into "metabolic currency" (this is a term my good friend Carl Lanore uses to refer functional muscle mass). "Big guns without weights? You're kiddin', bro!" Actually the idea of using simultaneous voluntary contractions of antagonistic muscle pairs (aka co-contraction ) to improve muscle strength in the absenc...
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Sequential or Alternating Resistance Training for Maximal Size, Strength and Endurance Gains!? Plus: Basic Blueprint for a 2x2 Day Alternating Muscle Split Workout

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If you want to try something new, but feel that this is a bit over the top, why don't you try an alternate workout regimen to escape the daily grind? It's funny and sad that studies like the one at hand, which investigate basic training principles and their effect on your real world results in the gym are so scarce. I mean, let's be honest. With a few exceptions, all of us will probably get much more out of training optimization than of any available supplement and maybe even drug. As far as supplements goes, you are bombarded with unwarranted claims and the occasional non-significant (per design) study on newly available products. On the training side of things, on the other hand, there is little to no innovation - probably for a good reason, but still: Would you be able to tell me for sure if and why training sequentially, i.e. finishing all sets of one exercise, is "better" than alternating training, where you would, for example do a set of leg curls follow...
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