Giant Sets for Giant Pump
How can we use the giant set to keep our training effective and efficient?
~ James Molden
I want to share the idea of the ‘giant set’ and how the classic body-building method can be used to aid your functional movement patterns, increase strength and of course bring about a good old fashioned pump!!
I have certainly been training like this myself at home because of minimal equipment and lack of motivation to do high intensity WODs at times.
First of all, what is a giant set?
Taking two to five movements that are non-complementary (those that target the same muscle groups and fatigue one another) and putting them together as a superset on short rest. The goal is to accumulate a large amount of time under tension with a particular muscle group, but space that time under tension out over multiple exercises.
When done correctly, these movements will flow from hard to easier in complexity or load so that while you are fatiguing throughout the set, you can still deliver quality and control. The result is a high degree of metabolic stress on the muscle, which can lead to strength adaptations without the need for maximal loading.
Example of giant set:
For quality 3-5 sets of:
Single Arm DB Overhead Squat 4 reps
(each arm overhead)
Rest 30 seconds
Goblet Squat 10 reps
Rest 30 seconds
Body Weight Lunge 20 reps
Rest 30 seconds
Side Hops 20 reps.
Rest 90 seconds
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By the end of the set you have done 58 reps of knee flexion and approximately 90 seconds to 2 minutes of time under tension.
You can always add tempo to the movements to increase your time under tension, for example - a tempo of 33X1 is 3 seconds on the way down, 3 seconds pause at the bottom, explode up, and 1 second pause at the top.
Have a go at your own giant set, get your pump on, and let us know how it goes!