Super sets are preformed by doing 2 different exercises consecutively with minimal rest in between. Commonly, opposite muscle groups are performed or muscles that are physiologically different. An example would be performing a back exercise and a chest exercise together as the two share different therefore both can be done without overexerting stabilizing muscles and decrease the effectiveness. Another example is to perform biceps (elbow flexion) and triceps together (elbow extension). According to Weakley et al. the benefits of super sets include increase testosterone immediately after training and in 24 hours post training (in men, study does not see effects of testosterone in women). The study also found a decrease in cortisol after training. Optimal muscle growth in super sets come with a rest period of 2 minutes so the alternate muscle are allowed to properly rest, however total time is still shorter than traditional sets.
Performing the same muscle in a super set has yielded poor results for muscle growth and recovery which makes the most popular method of super sets the agonist-antagonist super set. This method is the previously mentioned different body part super set (chest,back)(Brentano et al., 2017) . Agonist-antagonist super set seem to enhance performance when compared to other forms of super sets or even traditional sets (Paz et al, 2017).
Brentano, M. A., Umpierre, D., Santos, L. P., Lopes, A. L., Radaelli, R., Pinto, R. S., & Kruel, L. F. (2017). Muscle damage and muscle activity induced by strength training super-sets in physically active men. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 31(7), 1847-1858.
Paz, G. A., Robbins, D. W., De Oliveira, C. G., Bottaro, M., & Miranda, H. (2017). Volume load and neuromuscular fatigue during an acute bout of agonist-antagonist paired-set vs. traditional-set training. The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research, 31(10), 2777-2784.
Weakley, J. J., Till, K., Read, D. B., Roe, G. A., Darrall-Jones, J., Phibbs, P. J., & Jones, B. (2017). The effects of traditional, superset, and tri-set resistance training structures on perceived intensity and physiological responses. European journal of applied physiology, 117(9), 1877-1889.