Why Supersets Are One of the Best Ways to Build Strength

If you’ve trained at Sixty7Six Strength & Conditioning, you’ve probably noticed that many of our strength sessions include supersets.

A superset simply means performing two exercises back-to-back within the same working window. But there’s a reason we use them so often.

Supersets allow our members to build strength efficiently while working complementary muscle groups. By pairing movements together, athletes can train one muscle group while another recovers, allowing them to keep moving and get more work done in a shorter session.

A great example is the combination of Hip Lifts and Muscle Cleans.

Hip Lifts: Building Powerful Glutes

The hip lift is a fantastic exercise for developing glute strength. Members set up with their shoulder blades resting on a bench and their feet planted firmly on the ground.

From there, the focus is on driving the hips upward until the body forms a straight line from shoulders to knees. At the top of the movement, the glutes are squeezed before lowering slowly back down.

That slow, controlled lowering phase is important because it builds strength through the eccentric portion of the movement, which is where a lot of muscular development occurs.

Muscle Cleans: Teaching Efficient Barbell Movement

The muscle clean is a technical drill designed to teach athletes how to move the barbell properly from the floor to the front rack position.

A common mistake when learning cleans is trying to pull the bar up with the arms. In reality, the power should come from the hips and posterior chain.

During a muscle clean, athletes focus on standing tall through the movement, squeezing their glutes and keeping the barbell close to their body. The arms simply guide the bar into the front rack position rather than doing the lifting themselves.

Why This Superset Works

When paired together, the hip lift and muscle clean reinforce the same key idea: power comes from the hips.

The hip lift strengthens the glutes directly, while the muscle clean teaches athletes how to use that power efficiently in a barbell movement.

At Sixty7Six Strength & Conditioning, every strength session is designed with purpose. By combining movements like these, we help our members build strength, improve technique, and develop skills that carry over into more advanced lifts and workouts.