Straight sets are the building blocks of most training programs. Three sets of ten or four sets of eight is what this means. A straight sets is the most important part of a bodybuilding workout. They are similar to the meat and potatoes of a large meal.
Your progress may stall if you never do anything else.
Your body knows how to adapt. It will stop responding to the demands of your workout if you do the same thing a lot. Gymnasts use a variety of set and rep schemes from time to time.
Training systems such as superset, triset, and giant sets can be used to increase the intensity of your workouts.
We explain what giant sets are, guidelines for their use, their benefits, and drawbacks, and give you some examples for each major muscle group.
What Are Giant Sets?
Giant sets involve doing more than one exercise for the same muscle group. It is possible to put as many exercises as you want in a giant set, but they are usually about right.
Giant sets allow you to hit your muscles from a variety of angles, extend your time under tension, and train beyond failure, all of which can help you grow your muscles.
You will love giant sets if that sounds like you.
There is little or no rest in between the exercises in giant sets. Your only recovery is the amount of time it takes to move from one movement to the next. Slower transitions between exercises will allow you to recuperate, which will make your giant set less effective.
This is a leg giant set.
- Barbell squat 8 reps
- Leg press 10 reps
- Lunges 12 reps
- Leg extensions 12 reps
- Leg curls 12 reps
- Goblet squat 15 reps
Rest for a couple of minutes and then do the same thing again.
Giant Sets Advantages and Benefits
Adding giant sets to your workouts is worth it. Are giant sets capable of turning you into a giant? Think about the benefits and then make a decision.
More training in less time
You will see that you spend more time resting than you do training when you look at the average program. This is a huge waste of time and money.
A real time saver is when you don’t get to rest between exercises. You can either do more sets per workout or shorten your workouts with giant sets.
Hit your muscles from multiple angles
Different exercises, training tools, and joint angles are usually involved in giant sets. A more productive workout is made possible by all this variety.
Different exercises involve different groups of muscles. If you want to build a muscle to its fullest potential, you should use a variety of movements. There are giant sets that can be used to do this.
Get a good workout without heavy weights
Light weights can be used to build muscle if you take your sets to within a few reps of failure. Giant sets hit your muscles with a lot of volume and are guaranteed to push you close enough to fail to build muscle even if you are limited to training with low loads
Get a great pump
Blood is driven into that area when you exercise. You experience a phenomenon called a pump when the blood dilates or expands to allow more blood to enter the muscle.
Your pump will be even more intense if you do several exercises for the same muscle without a break.
A good pump makes your muscles look larger and stronger. A pump may be able to increase muscle growth by stretching the muscles and force-feeding them with vitamins and minerals. Growth hormone, testosterone, and other important hormones may be increased by a pump.
Workout variety
Most people do their workouts in giant sets. If you switch from straight sets to giant sets, you’ll get a boost to your muscles. You will be shocked by giant sets.
Increased cardiovascular impact
If you perform compound exercises for large muscle groups, you should do several exercises without back-to-back. If you want to get fit and burn a lot of calories during your workout, giant set training may be able to help.
Rescue a poor workout
We all have days where we don’t like working out. Maybe you didn’t sleep well the night before, are stressed, or just can’t feel your muscles working as they should.
A giant set is a great way to turn a bad workout into a productive one. If you do several exercises back-to-back, you will fatigue the target muscle by hitting it with a lot of volume. You can train light.
When you have an off day, train your muscles with a few giant sets and then call it a day. There are some tried and tested examples at the end of the article.
Giant Set Drawbacks
There are drawbacks to giant sets. Add giant sets to your workouts if you don’t consider the negatives.
Monopolizing workout equipment
If you do giant sets in a commercial gym, you will be unpopular with your fellow exercisers.
In a crowded gym, you will need to dominate several pieces of equipment, and that could upset the other users. You might reach your next exercise only to find someone else is using it, and your giant set workout starts to fall apart.
Try to use the same piece of equipment for multiple exercises when planning your own giant set.
Cardiovascular fatigue limits your giant set performance
Your cardiovascular system will be taxed if you move quickly from one exercise to the next. Your exercise performance could decline if you get too tired. Your cardiovascular system can’t keep up with the workload.
You could end up doing less reps and not stimulating your muscles enough if this happens.
Better isolation exercises in your giant set will act as an active recovery.
Lower training weights
The amount of weight you can lift will be reduced by giant sets. It’s not a big deal when you’re training for endurance or even growth, as your workout intensity will still be higher.
Reduction in weight could make your workouts less effective. When you want to build strength, giant sets are not a good training method.
Overtraining
You can cram a lot more training volume into a shorter time. It could be a disadvantage since you are in a hurry. If you were to do several times the volume in the same training session, it would put a lot more stress on your muscles and make it harder to recover between workouts.
If you use giant sets to increase training volume, be sure to consider your rest and recovery needs.
No time to stop and chat
Giant sets are used to move quickly from one exercise to another. The training method is less effective if you take longer than a few seconds.
It’s possible that you have to fight off other gym users who want to chat with you while you work out. Loud conversations can be prevented by wearing headphones. Giant sets are less enjoyable if you like to stop and talk between exercises.
Require careful planning – exercise order matters!
You will get better results if you think about your choice of exercises and their order.
It is a good idea to do the most demanding exercise first and then decrease the technical difficulty and intensity of the next exercises. This will make it easier to accumulate fatigue. You may want to go from compound to isolation for the same reason.
It’s important to plan them carefully and use conservative loads and reps until you’re familiar with this intense training method.
It is better to start light and easy and increase the intensity for your next giant set than to be defeated and have to end your workout early.
Sample Giant Sets
Are you interested in trying giant sets for yourself, but unsure of where to start? These examples will show you how to take your workouts to the next level.
This is only an illustration of the rep range for each giant set. The number of reps will be dependent on how tired your muscles are and how much you want to do.
If you push each exercise to the brink of failure, you will cause hypertrophy. Studies show that intensity is more important than a specific rep range.
Run through each giant set twice.
1. Leg giant set
There were giant sets for leg training. You can vary the intensity and movement pattern if you move from exercise to exercise. In 20 minutes or less, a couple of laps of this giant set will exhaust your legs.
- Barbell back squat 6-10 reps
- Walking lunge 10-12 reps per leg
- Leg extensions 12-15 reps
- Leg curls 12-15 reps
- Squat jumps 6-10 reps
2. Chest giant set
Monday is chest day in the gym. This giant set is for chest-dominant people.
- Incline barbell bench press 6-10 reps
- Dumbbell bench press 8-10 reps
- Pec deck 10-12 reps
- Push-ups to failure
3. Back giant set
The giant set uses vertical and horizontal pulls. There is a lat isolation exercise that you can do to finish off your lats.
- Pull-ups to failure
- Seated close grip cable row 8-10 reps
- Lat pulldown 10-12 reps
- Chest supported dumbbell row 10-12 reps
- Straight arm cable pulldown 12-15 reps
4. Shoulders giant set
This four-exercise giant set will teach you how to hit your deltoids and build shoulders and traps.
- Dumbbell Arnold press 8-10 reps
- Cable face pull 10-12 reps
- Cable lateral raise 10-12 reps
- Cable upright row 12-15 reps
5. Biceps giant set
Four exercises in a row for the bicep is probably too much, but who doesn’t like a big arm pump? The two laps should suffice for most people.
- Barbell preacher curl 6-8 reps
- Barbell reverse curl 8-10 reps
- Barbell biceps curl 8-10 reps
- Alternating dumbbell curl 10-12 reps (per arm)
6. Triceps giant set
Four back-to-back triceps exercises are too much for most people. It is fun to challenge your muscles with a brutal workout.
- Close grip bench press 6-8 reps
- Reverse grip triceps pushdowns 8-10 reps
- Triceps pushdowns 8-10 reps
- Diamond push-ups to failure
7. Abs and core giant set
Your midsection is hit from every angle. Instead of doing a certain number of reps, you will do each movement for a set time. If you want the plank to fail, contract the target muscles as hard as you can. Just crank out as many reps as you can in the allotted time.
- Plank 30 seconds
- Reverse crunches 30 seconds
- Side plank (left) 30 seconds
- Side plank (right) 30 seconds
- Reverse plank 30 seconds
- Crunches 30 seconds
Giant Set FAQs
1. Are giant sets good for building muscle?
They are good for that. It is essential that giant sets increase workout volume and intensity.
If you’re used to doing moderate volume workouts, changing to giant sets will allow you to get out of your rut and get back on the gains train. Giant sets are a good way to shock your muscles.
2. Do Giant sets build strength?
Only to a degree. The weights aren’t strong enough to develop true strength and won’t have much of an effect on your one-repetition maximum. Heavy weights and low reps are the best ways to develop that strength.
Even when it’s moderate loads, higher reps, and lots of volume, resistance training will still build strength. If you want to be a powerlifter, you need to train that way.
3. How long should I do giant sets?
Giant sets work best when used for a short period of time. Overtraining could happen if this is longer than this. Gymnasts use giant sets to get into optimal shape before a meet. Straight sets are the majority of the time.
If you want to build up training intensity and volume over the course of your next training block, you need to use giant sets to bring your current training block to a close.
4. Are giant sets good for fat loss?
Giant sets can be used to lose fat. If you are on a diet that restricts calories, doing several back-to-back exercises will help you lose fat.
If you have cut calories, make sure you don’t do a lot of giant sets. If you can’t recover between workouts, you may need to reduce your training volume.
How do you know you aren’t doing well? If you are getting weaker from one workout to the next, that’s a sign.
5. What type of workout should I follow with giant sets?
A split routine where you train different muscles on different days is the best way to use giant sets. It’s for example:
- Monday: Chest and back
- Tuesday: Legs
- Wednesday: Shoulders and arms
- Thursday: Chest and back
- Friday: Legs
- Saturday: Shoulders and arms
- Sunday: Rest
It is best not to use giant sets every time you train because they are so large. If you train your chest twice a week, you should do one workout with giant sets and one with straight sets.
Giant sets would be an alternative method. If your muscles are still growing well, you don’t need to use giant sets.
Giant Sets – Wrapping Up
If you want to train in a busy gym, giant sets may be impractical or inconvenient. Giant sets are an excellent way to get a lot of work done in a short amount of time if your gym is well-equipped and not too busy. They will push the intensity of your workout through the roof.
While giant sets are good for building muscle, endurance, and general conditioning, they are not good for developing maximal strength where heavy weights, low reps, and long rests are the order of the day.
References:
There are effects of different intensities of resistance training on muscles.
There is activity- dependent neurotransmitter-receptor matching at the junction.
There are mechanisms of muscle growth and resistance training.
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