I going to start doing a broad pyramid workout soon (8-6-4-4-6-8) for hypertrophy. I tried this before and I didn’t feel like I had much success. Mainly because I had so much trouble getting back from 4 to 8. I can never finish the amount of reps needed on the way back up. Am I doing something wrong? Should I always stop at 8,6,4 reps on the way down the pyramid, regardless if I can perform more reps? Any suggestions / help appreciated.
I would say your earlier sets are probably too heavy and you’re fatiguing too quickly. Some would also say that you’re trying to do too many sets in too broad of a rep range. Try making your first 8 and 6 lighter warm up sets ( don’t come close to fatigue) then hammer out 2 heavy sets of 4 and you should be able to get your last 2 sets of 6 and 8 if you lighten the load a bit.
It’s because when you get into the heavy sets, you’re already fatigued from the sets before them. Zatsiorsky says that pyramid training is ineffective & even detrimental. Not sure if he meant just for strength or just size, or both. Pyramids haven’t been done by elite lifters since 1964 or something though. I’d work up to the heaviest sets asap & then do some lighter ones with lighter weight/more reps afterwards to finish off.
I really don’t mean this to be rude or as a flame, but a few questions
- Why is it that you think this rep scheme has magical mystical powers? and 2)Where did you get it from? hypertrophy for hypertrophy’s sake, in my humble opinion, is futile. Is the weight used in this scheme static for all sets? If so, and you can’t complete the scheme, the weight is too high.
If you tried this before without much success, why do it again? Many lifters pyramid up (half-pyramid, I guess), but very few pyramid back down. You may want to try something like 8-6-4-3-8, where the final set is a relatively light set. I train with the Westside system. It’s great for strength, and I’ve gotten decent hypertrophy from it also. Search for the Dave Tate articles on this site.
This is straight out of Poliquin’s Modern Trends In Strength Training. I’m quite sure that he knows what he is talking about. The more I think about it, I probably just need a few more workouts for my body to adapt to the weight and rep scheme.
Pyramid training is the almost the exact opposite of the Westside method, which has produced numerous powerlifting champions (I’m quite sure Louie Simmons knows what he’s talking about). Of course, since you already have all the answers (in spite of the fact that this method failed you once before), why the fuck are you posting?
Try Charles Staley’s EDT program for 4 weeks and see what type of hypertrophy you end up with. EDT is simple and effective.