Supersets

I am extremely efficient when I work out. We all know how precious time is so the last thing I want to do is waste valuable hours in a gym. The key to being fast and effective is to work large muscle groups, covering the entire body. I don't focus on one single muscle group during workouts but rather focus on moves that incorporate and recruit numerous muscles at one time. The more muscles you can work at one time, the shorter overall time it will take to get a full body workout. My workouts are extremely efficient and effective, lasting around 30-40 minutes and burning 350-500 calories on average. I begin with a 5-10 minute warm-up, move on to the superset work out, do a 5-10 minute cool down then stretch for a few minutes.

My favorite way to do this is with supersets. Supersets are comprised of two exercises performed back to back with no rest between moves. You can rest between sets of the two back to back moves, but you will increase overall calorie burn if you decrease rest times. You want to complete three full sets of both moves. The key is to work opposite muscles groups so you can perform the exercises back to back with limited need for rest. For example, a good superset would be 20 goblet squats immediately followed by weighted rows. I really like to add in a matching plyometric exercise between the two sets. (For the example given, I would follow the squats with 10 quick jump squats before moving on to the rows). Adding in the plyometric component is more advanced, stick with traditional supersets at first and build yourself up to adding in the extra quick burst of cardio. Let your body get used to the difficulty of performing two exercises back to back with no rest before increasing the difficulty level.

To start, I choose six different exercises to pair up for three different groups of supersets. So after finishing three rounds of squats followed by rows, I would then move on to the next set of two exercises, perform them back-to-back for three sets total, rest for 30 seconds or so then move on to the last two exercises. So in total, you are performing six different exercises, two at a time, for three sets, then moving on to the next pair of exercises, finishing all three sets then finally moving on to the last two exercises.

Example exercises to mix-and-match for supersets:

Legs:	Arms:	Abs/Core:
Lunges	Rows	Russian Twists
Side Lunges	Flys	Planks
Reverse Lunges	Bicep Curls	Side Planks
Squats	Tricep Dips or Kickbacks	Crunches on Stability Ball
Split Stance Squats	Shoulder Presses	Leg Lifts
Plie Squats	Push-ups	Bicycles
One-Legged Squats	Front or Lateral Raises	Glute Bridges

 

 

Example exercises to mix-and-match for advanced supersets:

Multi-Body Exercises:	Plyometric Exercises:
Squats with shoulder press	Jump Squats
Lunges with bicep curl	Jump Lunges
Split stance lunges with shoulder press	Skates
Reverse lunge with lateral raises	Plie Squats
Side lunges with front raises	Mountain Climbers
Walking lunges with bicep curls	Burpees
Deadlifts	Jumping Jacks