Written by Heather Marr – Shared from MindBodyGreen

Keeping the romance alive with your fitness regimen isn’t as difficult as you think. Whether you’re a fitness fanatic or new to the scene, adding variety to your programs is a surefire way to bust out of, or even prevent, plateaus. Incorporating fun, challenging training techniques, like the ones below, will keep you excited to train and keep the monotony at bay. 

1. Supersets

There are several different types of supersets, which I explain below—but all of them are an extremely efficient use of gym time. Instead of breaking after every set, you’re breaking after two. By reducing rest intervals, you’re not only saving time, but you’re increasing intensity by performing more work in less time. This makes increasing overall training volume more manageable, especially for those pressed for time. Finally, overloading the muscle is possible even when heavy training equipment might be limited. This is ideal for those traveling who might not always have access to fully equipped fitness facilities.

Here are the three different types, explained.

Antagonist superset

Traditionally, supersets pair opposing muscle groups. This is called an antagonist superset. Here, you would perform two exercises in a row, each targeting opposing muscle groups with no rest in between. An example of this would be pairing biceps and triceps together. Here, a set of bicep curls would be performed followed immediately by a set of tricep dips, for example.

Compound (or agonist) sets

Compound sets are also referred to as supersets. For compound sets, rather than pairing two exercises targeting opposing muscle groups, you pair two exercises that target the same muscle group. The execution remains the same, however. Both exercises are performed in a row with no rest in between. If we were targeting the biceps, for example, a set of bicep curls could be performed immediately followed by a set of hammer curls.

Staggered supersets

Third, of course, is pairing two exercises together that target two different muscle groups. This is an unrelated superset, or staggered superset. An example of this would be pairing legs and shoulders together. Here, a set of stationary lunges would be performed immediately after a set of dumbbell lateral raises, for example.

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