Using Supersets for Opposing Muscle Groups

by on January 30, 2025


In bodybuilding, intensity techniques such as drop sets, rest-pause sets, static holds, and partial reps are fairly commonplace as a regular part of training. Another technique that I think personally gets overlooked is the superset and its variations:

Superset – two movements done in a row with little to no rest
Tri-set – three movements done in a row with little to no rest
Giant set – four or more movements done in a row with little to no rest

Supersets can be done using different muscle groups, or using the same muscle group, and the same can be said for tri-sets and giant sets. It’s much more common to see supersets and its variations done for the same muscle group – for example, an incline press followed by an incline flye for chest, or hack squats followed by walking lunges for quads – but a bit less common to see it for opposing muscle groups. I would say it’s a little more common to see it for arms – supersetting biceps & triceps together isn’t unusual, but there’s benefit in applying the same concepts to the rest of the body.

One of the primary benefits of a superset is its efficiency – instead of taking a rest period after every set of every exercise, by grouping multiple movements together, the overall amount of rest in a given workout decreases and allows you to finish the session in less time.

Opposing Muscle Supersets

This is particularly true if you choose to pair opposing muscle groups together, as it allows you to shorten your workout with little to no decrease in strength or performance compared to straight sets (one exercise performed at a time – the more traditional way to set up a workout). For example, by training muscles like the chest and back together, while one muscle is being worked, the other is able to rest, so it shortens the rest time needed between sets.

If I usually rest 2-3 minutes between sets of incline dumbbell presses, by pairing that with an incline dumbbell row, I may only need to rest 1-2 minutes to get the same recovery – even though I’m still working while I’m rowing, my chest has already started recovering, and if my set of rows took me about 1 minute to complete (depending on how many reps are performed), then it’s reasonable to expect that my chest would be ready to go again with a shorter full rest period.

You might see a superset like the above written something like this:
A1. Incline dumbbell press – 3×8-10, no rest
A2. Incline dumbbell row – 3×8-10, 1-2 minutes rest

Another advantage of choosing opposing muscle groups is that while one muscle is being contracted, the other is being lengthened, which may allow for improved recovery. In the above example, every time I row, my chest is being stretched, and vice versa. This helps keep blood concentrated in one part of the body and benefits both body parts being trained.

This style of supersetting is also a nice way to maintain some conditioning without using traditional cardio – whether you’re doing it in the offseason as a way to keep your heart and lungs in shape or precontest as a way to delay adding in more cardio.

Supersetting opposing muscles is one of my favorite ways to set up workouts for someone who is fairly limited on time and can only train a few days per week – for example, I have a few clients who can only train 3 days per week, so I use the following split:
Day 1: Chest/back
Day 2: Legs
Day 3: Shoulders & arms

In the above example, on Day 3, I may run the shoulder workout as straight sets and superset all of the biceps and triceps exercises together, or I may work in tri-sets and do something like this:
A1. Standing lateral raise partials – 3×30, no rest
A2. EZ bar cable curl – 3×15,12,10, no rest
A3. EZ bar pressdown – 3×15,12,10, 90 seconds rest
The rest period is a little longer than doing just two movements together, but still much less than doing each movement on its own.

One consideration when supersetting is where your conditioning is when you start. If you’re somebody who does 6 reps of an incline press and needs 2 minutes just to get your heart rate back down to a normal level, you might want to give yourself some extra rest, and work on bringing it down over time as your conditioning improves. Using the original chest/back example, you might do something like this:
A1. Incline dumbbell press – 3×8-10, 1 minute rest
A2. Incline dumbbell row – 3×8-10, 1 minute rest

This is also a good way to go if you’re using lower reps where you have to be aware of your nervous system’s ability to recover. Let’s say you’re doing sets of 6 reps on exercises like a flat bench press and bentover barbell row – running low reps with big movements like that without any rest in between will likely start pushing your CNS after a bit, so spreading the rest breaks out a little bit isn’t a bad idea.

Alternatively, if you’re using more isolation movements, you could go the opposite direction and keep the rest breaks even shorter – I remember being given the following superset to start a pump-style leg day from John several years ago:
A1. Occluded Leg Curl – 6×15-30, no rest
A2. Occluded Leg Extension – 6×15-30, no rest

Essentially, it called for starting with a weight I could do for 30 reps on each movement with added blood flow restriction (in this case, it was just using knee wraps as high up on the thigh as possible), and going to failure for 6 sets in a row without stopping. Naturally, the reps were expected to drop with each passing set, but the intention was to generate a ton of blood with very little tension in the joints.

Similar concepts could be applied to other body parts using high reps as well – just don’t pick exercises where other muscles might fail first. For example, ultra-high rep barbell squats would likely see your lower back fry before anything else, but leg presses, hack squats, the adductor machine, etc. could all be used in this style.

If you’ve never tried supersets in this style before, give them a shot and see if they have a place in your training – they’ve got the potential to be another great tool in your tool box.


Zach is the co-owner and head strength coach of All Strength Training, a personal training center specializing in busy professionals located in Chicago, IL.  He is also a competitive physique athlete, having earned his pro card in the WBFF in 2016, and currently competes in the NPC classic physique division.

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