subject: The Truth About Pyramid Training [print this page] Pyramid training is one of the oldest forms of weight training that has been around since guys and girls starting working out with dumbbells and barbells many centuries ago. In fact, the real science of training in my opinion didn"t start until the late 19th century with guys like Eugene Sandow. He was one of the most popular and early lifters who toured the country showing off his strength and posing in nothing but a little leaf. Women were amazed by him and men wanted to be like him.
Now the whole purpose of pyramid training is to gradually build up the weights, the volume and your body. But also it is dependent on your goals and what you want to strive for whether that be hypertrophy, strength, power, or endurance.
Now within each periodized workout, you can implement pyramid training with each exercise. The basic way to do is let"s say we pick bench press for our first exercise. The first set that you do will be very light. Let"s say you put 135 on the bar, which is a plate of 45 pounders on each side of the bar. From there, you press the weight up for 10 reps. Then you add more weight progressively until you reach your first working set which we"ll just say is 225. Once you get to 225 that will count as your first working set. Now un rack the bar and pump out 12 reps at 225, which isn"t bad. Now you add 5 pound to each side and you pump out 8 reps, then you add another 10 pounds and crank out 8 reps. Then you add another 10 pounds and maybe get 4 reps and your first exercise is done. That type of pyramid training is the basic way. Regular pyramid training is when you add weight but decrease the reps as you go on throughout your workout and for each exercise. This is a good way to build strength and size since your total volume for the exercise will be quite high.
Another way you could go about it is to start off with 225 on the bar and pump out your first set of 12. From there you take off 10 pounds and you crank out another set and as you go along, you gradually take off 10-20 pounds per set while trying to keep the number of reps the same. This is called reverse pyramid training and it"s a great way to specifically build hypertrophy in the surrounding musculature since your total volume is much higher than regular pyramid training and you"re really fatiguing the muscle. I also like it because you can decrease your training time in the gym, leaving you more time to spend outside of the gym with family and friends and it also teaches you how to train hard and not waste any time. A lot of people don"t do this when they step foot in the gym and they kind of just go through the motions. If you"re really taxing yourself, you don"t need to spend more than 45 minutes in the gym to get a great workout in and thrash your muscle fibers into submission. The other thing that I like about reverse pyramid training is that you start off with a heavier weight which prepares and excites the nervous system. The nervous system is king when it comes to pushing weight. The more excited and developed your nervous system, the more weight you will be able to lift and the faster your recuperation time will be. So by exciting your nervous system with a heavy first set, each weight will feel lighter. One way to really jack up your nervous and blast your fast twitch Type IIB muscle fibers, which are responsible for the most growth is one each rep, lift it as fast as possible, but in a controlled manner. By really accelerating the lift through the range of motion, you"re conditioning your nervous system to move fast, thus increasing rate coding and alpha motor neuron activity.
All in all, pyramid training is a great way to start off in the weight lifting game. But I feel that reverse pyramiding might be the better way to go due to psychological and physiological reasons. It excites your nervous system in the beginning by using a heavier weight which will help you explosively with each subsequent set. And the other great thing is you can change it up depending on your goals and needs. If you"re lacking energy that day, then you decrease your rest times and decrease the weight even more. It"s all up to you.
