Monday, July 26, 2010

Burn more calories with supersets.

In a recent issue of Oxygen, I learned that supersets can help you burn up to 33% more calories at the gym. I always knew they were superstars, but this number proves it. If you're like me, you'll take all the calorie burn you can squeeze out of a workout. Not sure what a superset is?

It's when you perform two different exercises in a row, rather than taking a 30-second break in between sets of one exercise. For example, you could do a set of chest presses before moving into a set of bent rows. As you work your back with the bent rows, your chest muscles would be getting their 30-second break. Make sense? Just let me clarify one thing—there's nothing wrong with implementing the 30-second break rule and doing all of your chest presses at once, but those breaks might bring your heart rate down just a bit. Supersets prevent that as they keep you going at a steady rate.

Give the superset a try next time you hit the gym. All you have to do is reorganize your current routine so that the different exercises you do are paired according to opposing muscle groups (chest/back, biceps/triceps, etc). Not sure you've got it right? I'd be happy to help.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

What are your favorite superset combos? I tend to have weight lifting groundhog day experiences if I don't have someone telling me what to do.

Tara said...

Good question, Beth! Thanks for inspiring a future blog post...stay tuned!

Unknown said...

Yay! :)

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