Super Shredded 8 (SS8) Program Overview

Yep, that's me in the above image. The guy with all the tattoos. Don't let common stereotypes and misconceptions deceive you. I’m actually a PhD and a former Yale School of Medicine researcher in exercise science and biochemistry. After Yale, I was the Senior Science Editor for Muscle & Fitness, Flex, and Muscle & Fitness Hers magazines for over a decade. Basically, I was the one writing and validating every article published in those magazines related to workouts, meal plans, and why supplements worked and didn't work – based on actual science. I’ve also authored and co-authored several books on training and nutrition and consulted such celebrities as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, LL Cool J, and Dr. Dre on how to train, eat, and supplement more effectively.

Now that I have that formal introduction out of the way, I’m interested in YOU. So, let's get into what SS8 is all about!

If you’re looking to burn some serious fat and you’re not afraid of a little intensity, you’ve come to the right program. Super Shredded 8 (“SS8” for short) is an 8-week get-lean plan based mainly on supersets – but it’s so much more than that. If I had to sum up what Super Shredded 8 is, I would say it's a combination of my Show Time, 1-2-3 Lean and Un-Rested Development programs. That’s quite a hybrid, huh?

My Super-Man program uses supersets in which exercises for opposing muscle groups are paired together. With SS8, the supersets pair exercises for the same muscle group. This is technically called a “compound set,” a term coined by the late Joe Weider over 50 years ago. But nowadays, the lifting community basically calls any pairing of two exercises with no rest in between a superset, so I’ll stick with the more modern verbiage.  

Perfect Pairings – Get Shredded with Supersets

For each superset in SS8, one exercise is done with heavy weight for low reps and the other with light weight and high reps. In most cases, the first superset pairing per muscle group in a workout puts the heavy exercise first. Then, the order is reversed on the next pairing, where you’ll go light first. For many muscle groups, this second exercise pair is done as a pre-exhaust superset, with a single-joint (isolation) exercise serving as the light move followed by a heavier multi-joint (compound) exercise.

This bevy of training variables – light weight, heavy weight, supersets, pre-exhaust, compound moves, isolation moves – isn’t just for the sake of variety. There’s real science behind all of it. Supersets are employed because research shows that individuals who use supersets burn over 35% more calories during the workout and over 35% more calories after the training session, compared to those doing only straight sets.

As for the high-rep sets in SS8, these will

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