Giant Sets For Strength, Muscle, & Conditioning
Busy Mans Guide To Gains
Giant sets allow you to do more work in less time without sacrificing results.
A giant set involves doing 3 or more movements back to back with no rest until all movements are completed. It’s like a superset, but giant.
Ex:
A1. Barbell Bench 4 x 8
A2. Incline Cable Flye 4 x 12
A3. Deficit Pushups 4 x 15
Rest 3 min
One complaint I get about giant sets is they’re too fatiguing. I agree that they’re more challenging then doing a standard set of an exercise then resting - but that’s not the problem.
You feel gassed from a giant set because you’re probably out of shape.
In this case you can still use giant sets but keep load lighter while you get in better shape and focus on building an aerobic Base.
I recently discussed giant sets in the article linked below so I wanted to expand more on how you can use them for your training.
Effective Beginner Strength Training Workout Template for Building Muscle and Strength
The internet provides an abundance of information and I can understand how that makes it difficult for novices to navigate the internet fitness scape. For instance, there are probably millions of training programs available online.
There are 3 ways I’ll discuss using giant sets. You can use them for conditioning, strength, and hypertrophy. There are more ways to use giant sets than just these 3 methods, I just believe this is a simple way to lay things out.
Giant Sets For Conditioning
Principles
🔹High Reps
🔹Typically Lighter Loads
🔹Cyclical Modalities (bike, ski-erg, rower, running, jump rope, etc)
🔹Bodyweight, kettlebells, dumbbells, medicine balls, sleds, sandbags
🔹⬆ Metabolic Stress ⬇ Mechanical Tension
"Mechanical tension is generated both by force production (active tension) and the stretch of the muscle while it is producing force (passive tension). Active tension is considered the primary stimulus for muscle growth."
“[Metabolic Stress] The accumulation of metabolites such as lactate, inorganic phosphate, and hydrogen ions, which occurs as a result of repeated muscular contractions under conditions of restricted blood flow.”
— Schoenfeld, 2010, “The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training”
Think of Crossfit.
You do a ton of reps, typically light loads, with minimal to no rest.
Giant set conditioning will be similar in feeling. I’d still recommend still using intelligent exercise selection and progressions unlike many CrossFit workouts.
I prefer to close out a conditioning giant set with a cyclical modality. Something like 1 to 3 minutes of an assault bike or jump rope works great for many people if the emphasis is just general conditioning.
The primary goal of the conditioning giant sets should be to improve conditioning or GPP rather than get bigger or stronger. I therefore recommend primarily using bodyweight, kettlebells, dumbbells, medicine balls, sleds, or sandbags.
The conditioning workouts can last anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes.
If your goals are more endurance based it makes sense to go for 20 to 30 minutes. If you’re just trying to be in decent shape and you hate cardio, i’d keep it 10 to 20 minutes.
Note: You can do both. Just phase them in. Sometimes do more longer duration conditioning giant sets, other times do shorter ones. If you do 2 a week you can do 1 of each. Feel free to mix it up to make yourself as robust as possible.
Animal Walks: Bear Crawl, crab walk, monkey walk, alligator walk, duck walk ,inchworm, etc. There are a lot of these you can use.
Get Wild.
You can learn more about this style of training in my mixed modal conditioning article.
Giant Sets For Hypertrophy
Principles
🔹Moderate Reps
🔹Moderately Loads
🔹Barbells, Dumbbells, Machines
🔹Balance Between Metabolic Stress & Mechanical Tension
Giant sets for hypertrophy are the most fun in my opinion. A couple existing methods I recommend:
6-12-25
Mechanical Advantage Drop Sets
Trisets
Vince Gironda is also known for his giant set training. Gironda also liked to keep rest periods low so the Gironda inspired giant sets below will be pretty tough if you’re in bad shape.
The goal is to go heavy enough to have sufficient mechanical tension/loading and finish with a high degree of metabolic stress. You’re attempting to tap into more motor unit pools by continuing to hammer the muscles with volume.
This method isn’t for everybody and shouldn’t be used all the time.
Current hypertrophy research and optimal bros online tend to poo-poo metabolic stress lately. If you think it’s going to kill you or you don’t need it, it’s simple, just don’t do it.
Gironda Inspired Giant Sets
4 exercises per muscle group
No rest between exercises
Short Rest Between sets
15–60 seconds rest between giant sets
8 reps per movement on average
Perfect form, constant tension, moderate weight
Hit all angles
Giant Sets For Strength
Principles
🔹Low Reps
🔹Heavy Loads
🔹Barbells & Dumbbells
🔹 ⬆ Mechanical Tension ⬇ Metabolic Stress
Giant sets for strength are more difficult to organize. Strength is largely neurological so fatigue needs to be managed a lot more closely than in the previous 2 methods.
I would recommend using alternating muscle groups or implementing contrast sets here. I prefer just a plain ole Superset for strength but if I were to create a hybrid Strength & Hypertrophy giant set this is what it would look like…
A1. Bench Press 4 x 6
A2. Incline Dumbbell Brench 4 x 8-10
A3. Chin-up 4 x 6
A4. Wide Grip Pulldown 4 x 8-10
Rest 2-3 min
In the interest of minimizing fatigue and interference you could also do a full body strength giant set.
A1. Squat 4 x 6
A2. Incline Bench 4 x 6
A3. RDL 4 x 6
A4. Barbell Row 4 x 6
Rest 3 to 5 min
Another option would be to do a method like 6-12-25 but heavily bias it to optimize the sets of 6 and use the 12s and 25s as accessories.
Modified 6-12-25
A1. Bench Press 4 x 6
A2. Cable Row 4 x 12
A3. Facepull 4 x 25
In this case we’re alternating muscle groups and plugging in a smaller muscles group for the set of 25 reps. This way we’re not overloading one muscle group too much but still keeping the amount of work high.
Play around with it and find what works best for you.
At the end of the day you’re the clown and it’s your circus…. or however that saying goes.
Bonus Methods
I plan on sending these out via chat to paid subscribers. I’ll include 6-12-25, Trisets, and Mechanical Advantage drop sets. These are each 3 week training cycles.
If you’re not a paid subscribers but you want one, comment “Program” and i’ll send one to you, it’s the least I can do.