Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

Since I have retired from the Army after 20 years, I am increasing my weight training in order to retain what I currently have as far as my fitness level goes. We did a lot of running and cardio stuff, but not a lot of weight lifting. Question: When you say do sets, are you meaning as soon as I finish with that particular exercise I do the next set of that exercise or do you mean go through a complete cycle of exercises and then come back and do another cycle? And are you suggesting do all of the exercises listed?

Thanks for serving in a rugged world.

I do single-set training combined with superset training, with an accent on the latter.

Single-set training is choosing an exercise and doing, say, 5 sets of 10 reps. That is, one set of 10 reps after another till five are completed.

Superset training, or supersetting, is choosing two exercises that complement each other and doing them one after the other immediately to complete one superset. That is, 5 sets of barbell curls (8 reps) supersetted with 5 sets of pulley pushdowns (12 reps). You complete one combination, rest, complete a second, etc.

If I advise someone to do bench presses, cable crossovers, dumbbell presses, flies and dips for chest, there is no suggestion that they be done alone or together or even in the same routine. I’m saying basically they are recommended exercises.

Here’s more on superset training, and a selection of slumpbuster combos for the fun of it.

See ya… God’s speed… DD