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Using Staggered Sets

Posted by Dan on December 13th 2006 to Training

What is a staggered set you may ask? A staggered set is what you may call another intensity or advanced technique to help train lagging body parts. So this would be more relevant to those of you actually training for aesthetic purposes (i.e. body building) rather than just lifting weights for strength.

So here’s the basic concept: when you’re trying to develop a better body, you’re also trying to get good symmetry with your body. As a person is developing their physique, some parts of the body may develop slower than others. For example, maybe your chest is developing just fine, but your shoulders aren’t keeping the same pace. That’s where staggered sets come in.

The basic use of a staggered set is that you do extra sets to work the lagging body part on a day that you don’t normally exercise that body part. In other words, work it more often to keep it in an overload state. Force it to grow!

One important thing to watch out for with staggered sets it don’t over do it. With this type of technique, you should probably only do it once a week to avoid overtraining.

As with any new or different training technique, you’ll want to do some trial and error to see what type of a schedule for your staggered set works best for you. Should you do several sets on a different day, or just do one set in between other exercises? Try both of these approaches and see how each helps you and makes you feel. Remember that your body may react to this technique differently than someone else’s, so don’t get discouraged, experiment!

Here is another great article on the same subject from Arnold Schwarzenegger himself:
http://www.muscleandfitness.com/feature/88

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