Resistance Training Jargon Buster
You’ve been going to the gym regularly. Working out well. Doing your warm up, pushing a few weights, doing the standard 8 to 12 reps, cooling down and stretching. Awesome!
Whilst doing your weights, you have some guys in their vest tops talk about supersets, giant sets, pyramids, eccentrics etc. And you are probably wondering, what the heck are all of those. Isn’t it just a case of moving some weights around?!
We are here to help! We’ll demystify these (with examples) and maybe you can start using some of them in your workouts.
Set
Lets start of with set jargon. A set is simply a number of exercises performed to completion. For example, a set of 10 push ups is one set. You may decide to perform 10 sets of a certain exercise. Below are additional techniques that may alter the number of sets you perform.
Dropset
Perform an exercise with a desired number of reps. Immediately drop the weight and do the same exercise with the lighter weight, for either the same reps or more.
A good example is to bench press 80kg, and immediately do some push ups or more bench press at 40-60kgs.
A good time to use them is when you are lifting a pretty heavy weight, knowing you can do 8-10 reps but not more, but have energy in the tank to continue lifting, just not at that weight. So long as the reps are controlled, these are a great way to increase volume, getting a “pump” (a temporary swollen physique to show off muscles) and reduce risk of injury.
Superset
A superset is an exercise performed followed up with another exercise immediately after the first one. The rep range remain more or less the same.
The 2nd set of the superset can be for the same body part or an alternate body part.
For example, if remaining on the same body part such as the chest, you could perform the bench press, followed by dumbbell flyes.
Alternatively, you could perform the bench press, followed by pullups to target the back.
This are useful when you are trying to increase strength on one body part (same muscle group superset) or short of time (alternate body part superset).
Giant Set/Tri Set
Similar to a superset, except an additional exercise is added after the 2nd part of the super set. Again, it can remain on the same body part (bench press, flyes, dips) or introduce another body part (bench press, pull ups, shoulder press).
As you can imagine, these demand more from the body and you may find that the third exercise doesn’t get the required attention it deserves.
However, these are still useful when you are short of time or when trying push boundaries.
Large Set
If you are crazy, you can add a fourth exercise to the giant set.
Pyramid Sets
These are my favourite. The idea is that you lift some weight. On every set you would increase the weight and decrease the number of reps. Particularly useful in trying to gain strength and working on volume.
For example, if you were to pyramid on squats, you would perform 20kg on set 1 for 12 reps; 40kg on set 2 for 10 reps; 50kg on set 3 for 8 reps and 60kg on set 4 for 6 reps.
There is no strict rule on how many sets you need to get to the “top of the pyramid”, but the idea is that you perform some sets for muscle gain (8-12 rep range) and some sets for strength (4-8 rep range). Naturally, you will feel tired once you are at the top of the pyramid.
You could also “reverse” pyramid. That is reduce the weights and increase the reps per set.
And if you are absolutely bonkers, you could do both in the same workout. These are my go to on compound lifts!
Rest Pause Sets
Rest pause reps are sets where you aren’t able to complete a desired number of reps under one flowing set and require a “mini” break before continuing.
For example, you could deadlift a weight where you desire to perform 10 reps. After 6 reps, you decide to take a 5-10 second break and perform 2 more, followed by a 5-10 second break and perform the final two. Only after you have completed the full 10, you take your normal 1 minute or so break.
These are useful in help breaking plateaus. This is when you really want to increase the weight or number of reps you lift but find it hard to get beyond the stage you are stuck on. Through time, your strength will increase and break the barrier.
Reps
Reps (aka repetitions) are number of times you will perform the movement. You can simply move the weight 10 times, but there are various alternative methods to doing these to help increase strength, muscle mass etc.
Pause Reps
These are reps when you pause momentarily mid movement.
For example, when performing the bench press, as you lower the bar to your chest, you would hold the bar just above your chest for 2-4 seconds, rather than the traditionally 1 second or less.
These are useful in helping improve the strength.
Banded Reps
Banded reps, are essentially adding bandings to an exercise.
For example, when squatting, you could wrap two bands on each side of the bar to a weight on the floor. When you squat up (stand up) the resistance increases as you progress up. It would be highest at the top of the squat than whilst “seated”. You could also do a reverse band, where you would tie the bands to the top of the squat rack, increasing the tension on the “seated” part.
These are useful when trying to break plateaus and helping your body get used to lifting a certain amount of weight.
Eccentric/Concentric
When you perform a repetition, the muscle contracts (concentric) and extends (eccentric). Increasing the time to perform each part can have benefits on strength and muscle gain. Both of these are what you call increased “time under tension”.
For example, when performing a bicep curl, you could curl up, and extend down. In the extend part rather than simply lowering, you would lower for 3-4 seconds, making the movement harder.
3-2-3-1
Often you will see number like this set up in workout manuals. These are just indicators how long each part of the rep should take. In the example of 3-3-1-1, it is 3 second concentric movement (contraction - bicep curl up), 2 second pause at top, 3 second eccentric movement (extension – curl down), 1 second hold at bottom before starting next rep.
Rest Intervals
Rest intervals, are the number of seconds break in between sets. The shorter the break the harder it would be to lift the same weight in the next exercise.
Shorter breaks (with less weight) is useful in the fat burn phase and longer breaks are more useful in the heavy weight (strength) phase.
Recommendations
The choice depends on your goal, the amount of time you spend in the gym and your energy levels. Personally I try incorporate most of these in some form or another.
During my bulking phase (muscle and strength gain), I focus on pyramids on my compound lifts, like bench press, squats and deadlifts. I use super sets on other exercises like flyes, leg extensions etc. These are the times I use more pause reps.
During my cutting phase, I incorporate a lot of drop sets and super sets. As my cut progress, I naturally progress in rest pause reps, just due to lack of strength.
I focus on concentric and eccentric movements when working on particular muscle groups such as biceps, calves, leg press. Although, on days I am feeling extra energetic I’ll use these along with drops sets on my compound lifts.
So you see, I try to use most. As you continue to follow us you will notice some of our posts will have elements of these.
If you are after a workout program tailored to you, get in touch and we will walk you through the exercises and the type to sets/reps to perform.
