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Huntington Beach Personal Trainer Reveals the Most Efficient Way to Train

By Mark Mancilla

In my experience as a Huntington Beach Personal Trainer I've seen that most people are familiar with the term super-sets when it comes to strength training. If not, it simply means to exercise two different body parts back-to-back without rest. It is actually a great upgrade to the traditional one-set, rest, second-set same exercise, rest, mentality.

But for those of you who have used super-sets in your strength training I'm going to go ahead and upgrade your training methodology with one that I use with a lot of my clients in Huntington Beach. Who by the way have seen extraordinary changes in their body composition.

The secret is Triplexes.

Unlike a super-set a triplex involves three different exercises done back-to-back-to-back without rest. And although it may seem complex once you get the formula down you just plug and play.

So I'm going to share with you this formula so you can get a time efficient workout every time you go to the gym.

You would do the exercises in this order.

Exercise 1= Large Muscle Group (Chest, Back and Legs)

Exercise 2 = Smaller Muscle Group (Bicep, Triceps and Shoulders)

Exercise 3 = Cardio or Core (BW Squats, Planks, Crunches on the Stability Ball)

Rest 1 = 45-60 seconds

You would repeat this for three rounds and than move on to your second triplex of exercises. Ideally we would want to include three triplexes in our workout hitting the same Large Muscle Group, Small Muscle Group, but changing up the third exercises with a cardio exercise or core exercise.

Now that you know what it is, let me breakdown why it's done this way.

The first exercise, a large muscle group, is important as it will provide you with the most burned calories per set. And because it is a more exhausting move we follow it up with a small muscle group, which is less labor intensive.

Something you must keep in mind is that the small muscle group must be of opposing force to the large muscle group. Meaning if you are doing chest (push) as your Large Muscle Group, exercise 2 must be biceps (pull). This is to ensure both muscle groups will be fresh for the following sets.

Here is a little more detailed explanation…

The Chest Press Involves – Primary Muscle (Chest), Secondary Muscle (Triceps)

The Bicep Curl Involves… Biceps which is not used in the chest press motion which means it won't be affected or tired once you get ready to actually perform the curl.

Other large muscle, small muscle combos would include the Back and Triceps or the Legs and Shoulders.

Now after your first two exercises we would add a cardio or core exercise.

This is where this style of training really starts getting tough but it's also where it starts being the most effective.

You've learned that the Large Muscle Group must lead into the opposite Small Muscle Group for the first two exercises. And guess what? It must be the same for the third exercise. So we throw in a cardio exercise like bodyweight squats, or step-ups to get our heart rate up and work our legs. Or, we also have the option of doing an abs or core exercise as the third exercise.

Here's a sample triplex
  1. Flat Bench Press
  2. Alternating Bicep Curls
  3. Bodyweight Squats
- Rest 45 Seconds – and Repeat.

What does this do? It makes your work out efficient. Not only have you worked your large and small muscle group but you would have also gotten a mini-cardio workout along with core work. And if you do it right, you'll be out of the gym in about 30 minutes.

About the Author:

Mark Mancilla is a certified personal trainer located in Huntington Beach, CA. For more information check out his Website!