giant sets

I’ve been on vacation for close to a week now. Fortunately enough, every hotel I’ve been to has a gym on-site. Working out on vacation can feel like a clock-punching endeavor - you’re probably not going make great gains, but it’s something to do. Dan John calls these park bench workouts: you’re chilling, taking in the view, not worrying about the minutia of protein intake, max recoverable volume, or some other silly thing.

That being the case, I decided to take the opportunity to try something I haven’t done before - giant sets, which are just like super sets, only bigger (3 or more)

Why giant sets?

Well, for one, I don’t want to spend too much time in the gym since it’s already going to be… less than optimal. There really isn’t too much going on in the equipment department, which brings me to my next reason - because the equipment consists almost solely of dumbbells, my workout decisions have already been made for me. Everything that’s available to me is in the same place. As for the specifics: I do a multi-joint push => pull followed by a movement pattern of the single-joint variety.

So far, it’s been going ok. I enjoy the shorter workouts, getting a bit of a pump in and training bro muscles exclusively (it’s nice not having to squat once in awhile). I can’t speak to the efficacy of training like this, and I’m sure others have found ways to make it work, but I prefer a training approach that’s less minimalist. That said, I’m sure I’ll find myself doing giant sets again on my next vacation.