Supersets for SuperShaping

Let’s face it, I love feeling fit and strong!

There’s nothing like lithe strength (yes these two can go together!) to make you energetic and shapely at the same time.  And the feeling of empowerment that comes with physical strength is not to be discounted.

And I love showing women the tools to get you there.

How Do Supersets Work?

Supersetting is easy to organize.  Here’s how I do it.

1)  I select 6 exercises: 3 that focus on upper body, 3 that focus on lower body
2)  I make sure that all exercises selected are compound in nature:  that means they are not isolated muscle exercises.

So far so good!  Now, here is the next part:

I combine 1 upper body compound exercise and one lower body compound exercise for each Superset.  This will deliver up a total of 3 Supersets made up from the 6 different exercises.  Are you with me?  Let me clarify with an example:

Upper Body Compound:   Push Ups
Lower Body Compound:   Split Squat with Dumbbells

The Superset unfolds like this:  I would do one set of pushups, immediately followed by one set of Split Squat with Dumbbells.  Rest 20-30 seconds, and repeat.  Twice.  One Superset, done!

Then, I proceed to a second combination.  Then a third.

Including my warmup, this is a 20 minute, total strength, body shaping, and renewal workout!

I then follow this with my Interval training, and the whole darn thing is done in less that 40 minutes.  How do you like them apples?

Supersetting is something to be approached with excellent warm up, moderate weights as you get going, and full attention to proper exercise form.  I was pleased and surprised at how rapidly I was able to increase the weights I was using, which told me I was building good muscle.

AND the fact that my strength went up while my weight stayed the same and my waist measurement went down, tells me that I was making optimal shifts in body composition.

And I’m counting on those scuba tanks being easier to schlep around come our next dive trip early 2009!

P.S. If you are looking for something out there ready-made with Supersets, you could give  Turbulence Training a go.