Superset Lifts

I’ve lifted off and on for a while, although never super seriously. I find if I let myself get on a lifting kick, it can kinda take over from climbing, which is definitely the priority. Trying to find a good way to get some lifting in, but also keep it fairly contained. Was thinking I’d add two lifting sessions a week, after climbing, and try to bench press, deadlift, squat and do some weighted pull-ups over the course of those two sessions.

My question is— is it ok to super set deadlifting with bench pressing? A casual scroll through weight lifter Reddit makes it clear that those dudes aren’t about it, but since it’s not my primary focus, and I’m trying to keep the lifting consistent not kinda focused and contained, is there any reason not to pair the two?

For context, what I just did today was warm up, Moonboard for like…an hour/hour and twenty, warm up a little more with the barbells, and then do a DL set of 3x265, rest a couple minutes, a set of BP 3x135 (I know, I know, it’s my worst one), rest four minutes, and then do all that two more times for a total of three sets. Am I gonna die? 

I super set and there are historically a ton of athletes who super set their strength training. I'm not dead yet and I've been doing it for years. 

Is it optimal? I have no clue. 

Will you still get benefits and get your supplementary lifts done in a short period of time? Yes. 

If you're looking for more pointers... Seems like you could increase reps and lower weight some of the time. Sets of 3 trigger more neural recruitment, less actual strength from my understanding. Try sets of 8-12 for a couple months, then back to 3-5 reps and heavier weight. Maybe you already do this. 

Also, I know people who can lift less weight than you (and actually lift regularly) and climb V13/5.14. Sorry I peeked at your ticks, but seems like strength is not holding you back, probably more skill/mindset.

Well, I think I’m more qualified to comment on lifting than climbing training, and I think supersets are fine.  You just have to realize that they come with some trade-offs.  You’re saving time, but at the cost of some amount of interference between exercises and reduced recovery between sets.  Keep in mind that really serious weightlifters/powerlifters might not even squat and bench on the same day because those are different lifts that they want to focus on perfecting.  So, superset away, just realize that it might mean lifting slightly less in that session than if you didn’t.

The best way to minimize interference in a superset is to do antagonistic exercises.  So you usually see it as pullup/dip or bench/row, or curls/tricep whatever’s. Which is what I would recommend for you too.  Maybe do an A/B split with your two days and so one that is Squat followed by bench/row and another that is Deadlift followed by pull up/dip or whatever exercises float your boat. 

Sam Beeduhlwrote:

If you're looking for more pointers... Seems like you could increase reps and lower weight some of the time. Sets of 3 trigger more neural recruitment, less actual strength from my understanding. Try sets of 8-12 for a couple months, then back to 3-5 reps and heavier weight. Maybe you already do this. 

Also, I know people who can lift less weight than you (and actually lift regularly) and climb V13/5.14. Sorry I peeked at your ticks, but seems like strength is not holding you back, probably more skill/mindset.

This definitely makes sense. I’ve lifted way longer than I’ve climbed, and continue to do it not really specifically for climbing, but just as kinda general life capacity stuff. I wanna keep it in the mix, but not at the expense of climbing, and was thinking the supersets might be an efficient way to do that  

I’m not super on top of keeping the tick list up to date, but it’s basically representative. I’m working on scary North Carolina 5.11 trad climbs and V5 boulders, and I think you’re totally right, my weakness is definitely more in the skill/movement area. Trying to just get more days outside!

Thanks for your input, this is super helpful!

Jack,

This doesn't address your superset question so sorry for the drift but I find it very helpful to think about building in phases for my training. 

Think about focusing on building strength for 4-8 weeks a couple of times a year. During this time know your climbing will take a bit of a hit but you can still focus on building skills via drills etc. 

After the "strength build" phase really lower the volume of lifting and go into a planned "redpoint/performance" phase. If you drop the volume of lifting to 1 day a week but keep the loads heavy you will find that you can hold on to the top end of the strength you built for 12 weeks or so. This is when you send your hard routes. 

After the 12 weeks or so of the "redpoint/performance" phase  take a couple of weeks totally off to recover and then repeat. 

This works for me at 48 years old. I don't send very hard but for an older weekend warrior I find it has made me a stronger individual that has a planned peak phase that is predictable. 

Cheers,

Wes

I will give you the short answer that you might be looking for: In most conventional team sports super setting two “core” lifts like deadlift and bench press is a no. You want to focus on performing one core lift very well and the other lifts or exercises that you are super setting are less taxing on your nervous system and focus on another area of the body.

Your deadlift and bench press under conventional wisdom should be on different days. You can certainly do pushups on the same day as the deadlift as those are less intense, but long term viability of both in the same day coupled with climbing days will smoke you in a bad way.

You can most definitely alternate sets of deadlift and bench press.  You'll get stronger.

Yeah I do it and continue to get stronger. Consistency is wayyyyyy more important than being “optimal”.

especially since your motivation is just kind of general fitness it really doesn’t matter. Getting your your sets in every week is the most important thing.

Since having a kid and being crunched for time I do 2-3 circuits of squat, press, deadlift with zero rest in between right before I climb. Is it “optimal”? probably not. Do I get it done and continue to get stronger? Yes. 

The emphasis consistency thing makes ton of sense. Especially given that the motivation is not to push my lift numbers as high as they’ll go, but to maintain and maybe gain a little bit of strength while I focus on getting better at climbing. I’m sure it’s an oversimplification, but at 36, this idea that you start loosing muscle mass around this age if you don’t actively make a point to hang onto it is something I’m very aware of. Really just trying to lift enough to stay fit and uninjured into middle and old age, but not so much it impedes climbing/recovering from climbing.

Thanks for the input y’all, this is super helpful!