Condense Your Workouts by Clustering

Back in the stone ages of resistance training (and still to this day in some people's programming), you'd walk into the gym, load up the barbell, and do 3 sets of squats. Then you'd head over to the bench press and do another 3 sets there. After that, you'd mosey on over to the pull-up bar and do your sets. Then reverse crunches. You get the idea.

There's nothing wrong with this method of training -– as long as you don't mind spending two hours per day in the gym, that is. But if you could do the exact same amount of work in three-fourths the time, wouldn't you?

Photo courtesy: http://www.amazon.com/Honey-Clusters-16-25-Ounce-Boxes-Pack/dp/B003VZBGIG

Within the aforementioned framework, say each set takes about 30 seconds. With a minute break in between sets and some setup time, you're looking at about 5 minutes per exercise. Multiply by 4 exercises, and you're pushing 20 minutes.

What if, instead of doing all your sets of one exercise then all your sets of the next (and so on), you cycled through one set of each? You'd do one set of squats, then bench, then pull-ups, and finally reverse crunches, resting only as long as it takes to transition to the next exercise. After the crunches, rest for a minute, then repeat.

If that transition time is 30 seconds, then each exercise "cluster" lasts 4 minutes. Repeat three times, and there you have it: 15 minutes instead of 20. Not only did you lop off a quarter of the time, you also saved yourself from the monotony of set after boring set of the same exercise.

By design, each exercise of the cluster serves as "active rest" from all the others. Instead of sitting around between sets of squats, you work your upper body and core, all while still giving the legs a chance to recover. Thanks to the decreased duration, clustering dramatically improves your power output (work divided by time) for the workout.

Now for the nitty-gritty details. The two most basic clusters are alternating sets and supersets.

Alternating sets are comprised of one lower body exercise and one upper body one, performed back to back, of course. For example, deadlift and overhead press. 

The superset also consists of two exercises, this time an upper body push and a pull (i.e. overhead press and row).

Continuing on, we have compound, post-exhaust, complex, stability, and mechanical advantage sets. Each of these sets consist of two of the same type of movement (push, pull, knee, or hip). I've provided examples of each set below. Although in my examples each set has just two exercises, in general, some of these sets could also be expanded to include more.

The compound set is simply two multi-joint exercises of the same movement type. (It can also be two single-joint exercises, but let's not overcomplicate things.) In this case, it is important to realize that the second exercise in the cluster will be limited by the first. For example, say that when you're fresh, you can do 5 clean push-ups. Well, if you try to do push-ups after shoulder press, you might be lucky if you get two. Hence, it's good practice to put the exercise you're weaker at first.

	Push	Pull	Knee	Hip
Examples of	Push-up	Pull-up	Lunge	Deadlift
Compound sets	Overhead press	Recline row	Step-up	Supine jackknife

In the case of a post-exhaust set, the second exercise of the set is a single-joint movement. Post-exhaust exercises are a great way to get a weak muscle that may be your limiting factor up to snuff. For instance, if your biceps give out first on a pull-up, then attack the weakness by clustering pull-ups and curls.

	Push	Pull	Knee	Hip
Examples of	Dip	Pull-up	Squat	Deadlift
Post-exhaust sets	Skull crusher	Bicep curl	Sled drag	Glute bridging

The complex set mixes strength with power. For instance, perform a heavy set of squats (6 reps or fewer), rack the bar, and immediately perform squat jumps, stopping when you can no longer maintain maximum effort (probably well before 10 reps). Be careful when selecting the power exercise. Box jumps, which are risky by themselves, would be even more dangerous after heavy squats.

	Push	Pull	Knee	Hip
Examples of	Bench press	Stiff-arm pull-down	Squat	Deadlift
Complex sets	Med ball chest pass	Med ball slam	Squat jump	Swing

The stability set moves from an unstable exercise to a more stable one. Performing an exercise unilaterally (i.e. single arm standing cable row) followed by the same exercise bilaterally (i.e. seated cable row) is a good example. The limiting factor on the first exercise is usually the core. For this reason, although the second exercise works the same prime movers, because the instability (core component) has been removed, we're still able to perform several quality reps.

	Push	Pull	Knee	Hip
Examples of	Physioball push-up	S.A. standing cable row	S.L. SLDL	Single leg squat
Stability sets	Push-up	Seated cable row	Deadlift	Squat

The mechanical advantage set is unlike the other compound sets in that the second exercise is by design easier than the first. This set proceeds through exercises of increasing mechanical advantage. Typical methods for increasing mechanical advantage are shortening the moment arm (decline push-up to flat push-up) or range of motion (deadlift from the floor to rack pull), or switching from a free weight to a machine (squat to leg press). In mechanical advantage sets, the same amount of weight -- or more -- can often be used on the second exercise.

 

	Push	Pull	Knee	Hip
Examples of	Decline push-up	Pull-up	Squat	Deadlift
Mechanical advantage sets	Push-up	Lat pull-down	Leg press	Rack pull

As we get into larger clusters, we have less fancy names. A tri-set is simply a group of three exercises. An example of a tri-set could be an expanded compound set, like three multi-joint pushing movements (i.e. overhead press, dips, and push-ups). It could also be a combination of two different clusters. For instance, fusing an alternating and superset could result in this tri-set: deadlift, overhead press, row. A quad set (like the example at the beginning of this post) is a cluster of four exercises; anything more than that is just called a "giant" set.

As you can see, when it comes to clustering exercises, the possibilities are endless. Just a couple of caveats, though: unless you've perfected your Olympic lifts (and even then), they should be performed in isolation. Because the clean and snatch are so taxing on the central nervous system, it's best to perform them without interference from other exercises and with plenty of complete rest. Likewise, when working to establish something like a 3-rep max, complete rest is essential.