Supersets vs Exercise to failure

Question

One of the approaches for gaining muscle mass is to do exercises to failure. Obviously some of the exercises can be quite dangerous if doing them without a spotter, like bench-presses. Others can be just "messy" like squats or pull-overs where you'd have to drop the barbell on the floor behind you without really knowing where the barbell might land.

I'm exactly in this situation, i working on building mass and i don't have a spotter. So i'm doing supersets instead.

So, my question is:

Is it as effective replacing one exercise done to failure with a superset consisting of the first exercise done till 1-3 reps to failure and immediately followed by another exercise targeting the same muscle?

Examples:

1. Bench press to failure --> Bench press (stop 1-3 reps before failure) + Dumbbells fly
2. Squats to failure --> Squats + Dumbbells lunges
3. Barbell shoulder press to failure --> Barbell shoulder press + Shoulder press in a machine

EDIT (for clarification): Since i've just started on my mass building, i don't have plateau issue (yet).

Answer 1

No it's not as effective. To gain mass weight is crucial. Supersetting may give you a great workout and can certainly be used to push over a plateau or be used on light days or whatever - it can be a useful tool. But it cannot be a long-term solution for weight. Doing this your gains are going to be slow and your body will just get used to doing that exercise quicker.

Expect to burn more calories and possibly produce more definition but do not expect to make gains quick. Your suggested routine is something someone that is fully produced would do to maintain. If you are looking at getting bigger this would be a light or one-off day but you still need the heavy days in your routine.

Answer 2

In short, yes. It does depend a lot on what you have been doing in the past and whether you're starting to plateau. If this is the case then you will probably notice that you will have much better workouts by changing up your sets and rep ranges as much as possible. Remember you can always alternate or do both.

As for which is actually better, that is debatable. Different things can work better for different people. I would suggest that you should try both and find what works best for you. Sorry I cannot give you a more definitive answer.

Answer 3

In that case I liked drop-sets as you will be able to exhaust the muscle as effective as with all out sets. But will be able to handle the weight on your own. Example:

1. Do your work sets ex. 3 sets with your usual weight (1-2 reps shy to failure)

2. 4th set take 10 kg of the bar and do as much reps as possible to 1 rep shy to failure.

3. Continue removing weight from the bar the next sets and do the same rep scheme as with the 4th set until you are doing the last set with the bar only.

4. You could continue with body weight sets to failure for the same movement ex. Bench -> push-ups.

Note that this is an intense approach and should not be used all the time ...after six weeks I would suggest switching to a less taxing method.

If searching for a whole routine, I would suggest you look up Breathing Squats (20 rep squats) or German Volume Training for Mass.

Answer 4

Depends on your goals, if it is to build muscle and look good, you would probably use more exercises, because they will build different muscles from different sides. If you trying to become good at one exercise, I would recommend to do as much as you can of that exercise.

Keep up the good work!