Super-Man Remastered Program Overview

My classic Super-Man training protocol is going full-body. Yet it’s still retaining the bodypart-split elements – not to mention all the supersets! – that have delivered amazing results for tens (if not hundreds) of thousands of people over the years.

It’s new, it’s improved… it’s Remastered. And over the next 5 weeks it will help you get bigger, stronger, and leaner.

The original programs ( Super-Man and Super-Man 2 ) are best known for supersetting opposing muscle groups and movements. In addition to promoting strength and muscle mass gains, supersets are known to boost calorie burn by up to 30% both during the workout and long after the workout is over.

Combine this with the fat-burning boost afforded by full-body training, and you have a plan that’s as potent at melting fat as it is for building muscle mass and strength.

Super-Man Remastered Program Specifics

Not only does this program differ from my past Super-Man routines, but it's also different from recent full-body and Full-Split (SFS) routines I've designed. Here are the highlights of the program:

Bodypart Split: Twice the Focus

In my recent Full-Body Shortcut To Size program, I gave each major muscle group a focus day once a week, in addition to doing one exercise per muscle group for all 5 days of training. With Super-Man Remastered, I’m upping the ante by giving each major muscle group a focus day twice a week in addition to doing one exercise per muscle group in all workouts. (One exception being traps and forearms, which are skipped in Workout 6 of all weeks but are still trained five days per week). 

This still employs my Full-Split Training system , but now you have more frequent focus days for each muscle group, and you’ll be training 6 days per week versus 5.

The focus muscle groups in each workout will be as follows:

Workout 1: members only

Workout 2: members only

Workout 3: members only

Workout 4: members only

Workout 5: members only

Workout 6: members only

Focus muscle groups will get anywhere from 2-4 exercises per workout (2 for small bodyparts, 3-4 for large ones), and all other muscle groups will get one.

Superset Pairings

As with my other Super-Man programs, Remastered pairs opposing muscle groups as well as opposing movements.

For example, anytime chest and back, or biceps and triceps, or quads or hamstrings are paired in a superset, that represents opposing muscle groups. Anatomically speaking, in these pairings one muscle group is the agonist (the one that’s contracting) and the other is the antagonist (the one that’s relaxing).

In other cases, however, supersets don’t necessarily pair opposing muscles, but rather exact opposite movements. For example, lat pulldowns and overhead dumbbell presses. Back and shoulders aren’t exact opposites the same way chest and back are, but pulldowns and overhead presses are exact opposite movements. After all, we’re talking about a pull and a push here.

Another superset pairing I use often is squats and hanging knee raises. While a big compound leg movement doesn’t seem to have much in common with an abs/core exercise, the two motions here are exact opposites – the knees and hips extending on the positive portion of a squat and flexing on the positive portion of the knee raise.

In other cases, I wasn’t able to pair opposing muscle groups or movements – for example, lunges and planks, and calf raises and wrist curls. In instances like these, I paired small bodyparts and/or upper and lower body movements.

I even threw in some tri-sets, which are basically supersets involving three exercises instead of two. For example, cable crossovers + cable front raises + straight-arm pulldowns in Workout 2. The rationale here is that (1) this workout is an arms-focused one (biceps, triceps, forearms), so combining chest, shoulders, and back movements into one tri-set made sense; and (2) all three of these exercises are done at the same cable station, so it works from a practical standpoint and will save some time.

Pendulum Periodization

During the five weeks of Super-Man Remastered, the weight and rep ranges will follow a type of pendulum pattern. You’ll start by increasing the weight and lowering the reps each week in typical linear periodization fashion. But then, after Week 3, you’ll reverse the pattern and start decreasing the weight each week while increasing the reps until you’re back where you started in Week 1 (12-15 reps). Hence, Weeks 3-5 follow a reverse-linear periodized plan.

When you repeat the rep ranges in Weeks 4 and 5, you should find that you’re considerably stronger and are able to use more weight to complete those same reps as you were in Weeks 1 and 2.

Super-Man Remastered Rep Ranges

Week 1: members only

Week 2: members only

Week 3: members only

Week 4: members only

Week 5: members only

Remastered Rest Periods

The whole premise behind supersets is that you’re taking ZERO rest between paired exercises. This is why I always pair exercises that are close to each other in the gym – because if it takes you 30-60 seconds to walk from one exercise to the other, intensity is lessened and it defeats the purpose of doing supersets. Long story short, don’t rest between exercises within a superset.

After the superset is complete is when you should be taking your rest. But how much rest to take can vary. For this program, feel free to rest up to 60 seconds between supersets, particular when the supersets involve large muscle groups and compound (multi-joint) exercises.

If you want the workout to move along quicker and you can handle it physically, go ahead and cut rest periods even shorter than a minute. With many of the supersets, particularly ones involving smaller bodyparts and/or upper and lower body pairings, you don’t have to rest at all – just go back and forth between the two exercises until all sets are complete. This is how I do most of my supersets: with no rest. It keeps intensity high, which promotes better fat-burning, and also saves time.

Super-Man Cardio

This program is designed with enough intensity and so little rest between sets that you can get away with not adding extra cardio to it and still drop significant bodyfat. However, you always have the option to add cardio to any of my programs if you like.

As always, I recommend either cardioacceleration (if you want to incorporate the cardio into the workout and not add extra time to the session) or traditional HIIT cardio (if you want to tack on extra cardio to the end of the workout or do it in separate sessions).

If you choose cardioacceleration (30-60 seconds of a cardio activity performed in lieu of rest periods), do it between supersets, not between exercises within a superset. You can also do cardioacceleration bouts in between pairings – for example, after completing all three supersets of an exercise pairing and before starting on the next pairing.

If you’d rather do standard HIIT cardio, do it either at the end of the workout or in a separate workout altogether. At the end of the workout (or even on their own), Tabatas work well. In separate workouts, try one of my “active rest day” workouts like the Lucky 13 Circuit or Power HIIT .

What Diet to Follow with Super-Man Remastered

The diet strategy you choose will depend on your goals.

If size and strength are your main goals, the Super-Man Diet is a great match. I created it for my original Super-Man workout program, but it will work just as well for this full-body version. 

I also recommend the guidelines and meal plans in my Muscle-Building Rules article. That said, I have many other diets on JimStoppani.com that are great for building muscle and maximizing strength gains. Those diets include  Down and Up Mass , Super-Man Diet , and the 5,3,2 Strength Diet . Feel free to choose any of those.

If you want to put special emphasis on losing body fat,  Dieting 101  is always a great option. My Intermittent Fasting Carb Cycle Diet can also be used if you prefer to follow an IF eating regimen.

Super-Man Remastered Workouts

Week 1

members only

Week 2

members only

Week 3

members only

Week 4

members only

Week 5

members only

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