Total Gym Trainer’s Corner: Supersets with Doug Balzarini [Videos]



Doug Balzarini Favorite Exercises

4 Efficient And Effective Supersets On The Total Gym

Trainers hear every excuse in the book as to why their clients and members aren’t seeing results. They have no money, they don’t have all the equipment necessary, and they don’t know what to do. But by far the most common is they don’t have enough time.

Don’t we all have the same 24 hours in a day? It’s not a matter of time; it’s a matter of priorities. Make your health a priority in your life and make the time to get a few workouts in each week.

Total Gym To The Rescue

Most folks are pressed for time, so spending 60+ minutes in the gym isn’t an option. There are a number of time-efficient training options available. One workout plan that is great for burning fat, building muscle, and delivering results, is superset training.

Simply put, supersets are performing 2 movements, back-to-back, with very little rest. For those of you with a Total Gym, you’ve already got everything you need to get in, get out, and get on with your day.

Common superset templates include:

  1. Push-Pull muscle groups
  2. Upper body with a lower body
  3. Strength-based movement followed by a power-based
  4. Explosive movement followed by an active recovery movement

Total Gym Supersets In Action

Let’s use these four popular pairings and see how they look.

  1. Push-Pull Muscle Groups
    Chest press – 10 reps then seated row – 15 reps

  1. Upper Body + Lower Body
    Overhead press – 10 reps then hamstring curls – 10 reps

  1. Strength-Based Movement, + Power-Based Movement
    Abdominal pikes – 10 reps then clap pushups – 5 reps

  1. Explosive Movement + Active Recovery Movement
    Hand-release pull-ups – 8 reps then plank holds – 30 seconds

There are countless ways to put these templates together to create a full-body workout, but here’s an example to get you started:

  1. Complete group #1 for 4 rounds
  • Rest for 2 minutes
  1. Complete group #2 for 4 rounds
  • Rest for 2 minutes
  1. Complete group #3 for 4 rounds
  • Rest for 2 minutes
  1. Complete group #4 for 4 rounds

Trainer’s Note: Pace is extremely important, try to complete with as little rest as possible.

Once you’ve completed 4 rounds of all 4 groups, record your total time and track your progress.

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Doug Balzarini

Doug Balzarini, CSCS, MMA-CC, is a personal trainer, strength coach, international presenter, and the founder of DB Strength. He also owns a fitness facility outside of Boston called, “Iron Village Strength & Conditioning”. He was the head strength and conditioning coach for the Alliance MMA Training Center where he worked with many top professional MMA athletes. He has also worked at Fitness Quest 10 in San Diego and, most recently, spent a year in Saudi Arabia where he designed and created programming for a new state-of-the-art facility. Visit www.DBStrength.com or www.IronVillageSC.com for more information.

This Post Has 3 Comments

  1. Mike

    17 Oct 2015 Reply

    when it says 4 rounds for each group, does that mean 4 sets of each group of superset? Thanks

    1. Total Gym

      26 Oct 2015 Reply

      Hey Mike,

      Yes, that’s exactly what it means. So you’d be doing 8 exercises total for one of Doug’s videos (Exercise 1, Exercise 2, rest, x 4). Let us know if there’s any other questions you have!

  2. Charlie

    17 Nov 2015 Reply

    Great stuff, i just did a workout myself that utilizes supersets and they are great for for push/pull workouts. Here is what my workout looked like, just to share:
    Exercise Sets/reps/level
    Cross Cable Row 1 30 4
    Seated Chest Press 1 20 4
    Cross Cable Row 3 30 3
    Seated Chest Press 3 20 3
    Face Down Tri Ext 4 10 3
    Seated Biceps Curl 4 10 4
    Upright Row 2 20 3

    Thanks for the post

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