Bodybuilding legend Frank Zane is currently 80 but is still going strong. The three-time Mr. Olympia still trains regularly and maintains a strict diet. He also trains others and provides valuable muscle-building pointers online. In Zane’s latest blog, the man who defeated Arnold Schwarzenegger touched on a technique many intermediate and advanced lifters use incorrectly. In Blog 27, the bodybuilding veteran spoke about super sets.

While a popular technique among experienced lifters, most bodybuilders make multiple mistakes with super sets. Whether it’s how much weight they lift during supersets or rest periods between sets, doing them wrong costs a bodybuilder his muscle gains. Hence, the God of Aesthetics explained the right way to perform supersets.

Per Frank Zane, it’s a lot more than pumping a few extra reps after the main set

A superset is an extra set of reps that one performs after performing the main set. However, unlike taking a rest period in between, there is either a very small rest period or no rest between the regular set and the super set. “It’s a great way to add variety to your workout without changing things too much. You’ll get a great pump after doing this,” Zane wrote in his blog.

However, there are some pointers a bodybuilder or gymgoer doing super sets should know. While the regular set and superset are performed consecutively, one has to take “a good rest, at least two minutes, to allow strength to return,” he wrote. Once the strength returns, one should repeat the cycle. The purpose of doing super sets is to bust a muscle-building plateau.

“Super setting can blast you out of a sticking point,” but one won’t be as strong during a superset, Zane wrote in his blog. Hence, Frank Zane recommended people choose an isolation movement with a lighter weight for the 2nd exercise. “If you go too heavy and cheat, you’re missing the point,” he wrote. The man who helped Arnie also revealed one of his preferred super sets.

Zane’s favorite superset for triceps

Frank Zane explained the first movement during a superset workout should be compound. As an example, he said a compound movement like the bench press could be combined with triceps press downs. While the bench press works the triceps, it predominantly stimulates the chest, shoulders, and core. Thus doing triceps press-downs immediately after the bench press trains another pushing muscle.

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“This is one of my favorite super sets for triceps: close grip bench press followed by triceps press down,” Frank Zane wrote. Finally, Zane said one thing he never does is to perform supersets with one arm movements unless an imbalance needs ironing out.

What did you think about Zane’s advice? Will you try the former champion’s triceps superset combo? Lets us know in the comments.

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