Why Pyramid Training?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’ve only been training seriously for about two years. Less maybe, I don’t know. I instinctively thought, since I would be fresh and energetic at the beginning of a workout I would use the heaviest weight (around 90% of 1 RM) in the biggest compound exercises first. I kept the weight until my reps became sloppy or low-quality.Then I’d lower the weight until I got good quality reps. After the desired number of sets, I moved on to the next exercise for the targeted bodypart, started with highest weight and went down. And so on

I change my workout every month and a half or so but I always use that format.
I only learned later that I was using a reverse-pyramid and a warped one at that, as I wasn’t lowering weight every set. I also learned that most serious-minded athletes stick to the pyramid format.

Why is this? Am I doing anything necessarily wrong? Is pyramid training applicable to any sort of athlete or one specific population like bodybuilders for example?

If you use it, how do you structure it? What percent of your 1 RM do use first? For how many reps? Why? Is it different for bigger lifts?

This question is for both mass monsters and strength freaks. Just tell me which one you are first.

Thanks!

2

Let’s use some common sense. If I plan on bench pressing over 400lbs tonight with no spotter for 8-10 reps…does it sound like a good or bad idea to bust into the gym and do this amount of weight as the FIRST thing I do that session?

If so, why?

If not, why?

3

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Let’s use some common sense. If I plan on bench pressing over 400lbs tonight with no spotter for 8-10 reps…does it sound like a good or bad idea to bust into the gym and do this amount of weight as the FIRST thing I do that session?

If so, why?

If not, why?[/quote]

It doesn’t because not using a spotter on the bench is ridiculous. And you haven’t warmed up yet.

I have a training partner. She’s a great spotter and knows exactly when and how much help I need.

I warm up also. Three sets of light compound work for the joints. 3 sets of light ballistic movements for the CNS. Stretching of antagonist muscles. Finally, Heavy supports for the CNS.

However, people seem to listen to you, so please answer my questions.

Thanks X

4

I switched to mass a year ago, I used to train heavy for strength for football prior.

Its hard to say what your body will respond to but heres some tips you could give a try

First Id definitly warm up before going to a 90 percent max, going at it cold definitly has a higher risk for injury. Plus if you do a warmup say for chest, a light cable fly, you may be able to lift more because you have a slight pump.
After getting a couple of sets in its a lot safer to go in at 90% for your other excercises

Reverse Pyramids are definitly a good thing to use, they can be great for strength especially, But like anything sticking to it to long can make your workouts stale. What would really shock your muscles at this point is if you made them work a little (start with low weight) and then make them face the 90% max ( normal pyramid structure)

5

[quote]akram.mohamed wrote:

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Let’s use some common sense. If I plan on bench pressing over 400lbs tonight with no spotter for 8-10 reps…does it sound like a good or bad idea to bust into the gym and do this amount of weight as the FIRST thing I do that session?

If so, why?

If not, why?[/quote]

It doesn’t because not using a spotter on the bench is ridiculous. And you haven’t warmed up yet.

I have a training partner. She’s a great spotter and knows exactly when and how much help I need.

I warm up also. Three sets of light compound work for the joints. 3 sets of light ballistic movements for the CNS. Stretching of antagonist muscles. Finally, Heavy supports for the CNS.

However, people seem to listen to you, so please answer my questions.

Thanks X[/quote]

Whoever helped make “CNS” such a freely used word in weight lifting needs to be bitch slapped.

Either way, some light warm up sets alone are not going to prevent you from getting a pec tear once you actually start using a weight significant enough to do that much damage. Light weight alone is not going to get your tendons ready for 400+lbs.

I am also not just walking through the previous sets for an exercise. Those sets still promote muscle growth.

6

We’ve had exactly 224248234921482493530 threads about “ramping”, “pyramiding” etc and it’s merits.
Roughly every other post of CT has been about this recently.

Since you apparently love exact numbers and percentages, head into his sub-forum and do some reading there.

Regular ramping as used by 99% of successful bodybuilders is not percentage-based and dead-simple to understand for anyone with some common sense though…

7

You don’t do any warm up for your CNS? There’s a powerlifter in my gym who taught me heavy supports and said CNS is really important.

So what percent of your 1RM do you start with? For how many reps and why (goal-wise)? And how big is the jump between weight?

And what do you mean by “not just walking through the previous sets of an exercise”?

8

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
We’ve had exactly 224248234921482493530 threads about “ramping”, “pyramiding” etc and it’s merits.
Roughly every other post of CT has been about this recently.

Since you apparently love exact numbers and percentages, head into his sub-forum and do some reading there.

Regular ramping as used by 99% of successful bodybuilders is not percentage-based and dead-simple to understand for anyone with some common sense though…

[/quote]

You see the airport lost my common sense. It was in a checkered green duffel bag. If you come by it, PM me.

Thanks Carnage

9

[quote]akram.mohamed wrote:
You don’t do any warm up for your CNS? [/quote]

WTF!!??

THIS right here is why I do not like how so many of you who clearly have no clue what you are talking about go running around using it as if your “CNS” has a light switch.

Your “CNS” is your FUCKING BRAIN AND NERVES. In effect, it is YOU. How the FUCK can you lift weights and not “warm up your CNS”?

Are you lifting while in a coma?

Are you lifting while frozen in deep space?

Do YOU understand now why you are using that word wrong?

And no, it isn’t just you. That rant above is because of the other 5 millions newbs using it the same way.

10

Sorry boss. I’ll research it more. Until then it’s not in my vocabulary.

But for fuck’s sake answer my question!

Please!

11

Mr. 300 answered it:

“Reverse Pyramids are definitly a good thing to use, they can be great for strength especially, But like anything sticking to it to long can make your workouts stale. What would really shock your muscles at this point is if you made them work a little (start with low weight) and then make them face the 90% max ( normal pyramid structure)”

Same thing X and C.C.'s saying.

Read their threads and you will understand how they train and why.

12

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
We’ve had exactly 224248234921482493530 threads about “ramping”, “pyramiding” etc and it’s merits.
Roughly every other post of CT has been about this recently.

Since you apparently love exact numbers and percentages, head into his sub-forum and do some reading there.

Regular ramping as used by 99% of successful bodybuilders is not percentage-based and dead-simple to understand for anyone with some common sense though…
[/quote]

I’m still fucking AMAZED… FASCINATED… FLABBERGASTED… STUNNED (I really don’t think a word can describe the emotion) that there are fucking dozens of threads and perhaps thousands of posts on “ramping”. But then again, by the same token, I’m well-informed on why people make no god-damn progress! If people can’t fucking understand the most BASIC, ELEMENTARY shit that I could understand at 16 years old (the age at which I read about ramping from Bill Starr and Dorian Yates), then there is little chance that they can apply ANY information given to them! Now people have to have information detailing how to add 15 to 100 pounds (eg, increment in a leg press, perhaps) from set to set!

That’s right. Now we have to lay out INFANTILE information like this:

Set 1: 100 pounds
Set 2: 115 pounds
Set 3: 130 pounds
Set 4 (top set): 145 pounds
Set 5 (second top set): 145 pounds

THAT^^^…

… is the kind of shit that has to be slung around these days! I’m actually going to be a full-fledged dickhead-asshole in saying that anyone that doesn’t have the coherence to understand ramping up after information has been given a maximum of 3 times in articles or posts deserves never to make any fucking gains and they deserve to be relegated to FOREVER reading posts and meditating instead of going to a fucking gym and making progress!

Another thing that has had me AMAZED… FASCINATED… FLABBERGASTED… STUNNED is the THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of posts on DC training, one of the most basic forms of training ever presented to mankind! The creator of the program wrote out his guidelines on an 8th grade reading level and yet we have grown adults running around forums dedicated to the interpretation of this system. In fact, it might rival the quibbling that Chasidic rabbis go through in interpreting every god-damned word of the Talmud and Torah, documents that span thousands of pages and contain sentences and passages that often have no clear meaning.

Tell me why a program like DC has to be instructed on and interpreted so much. After reading Dante’s articles, I can put together a DC program for myself in about 10 damn minutes!

Same goes for nutrition too! Now people can’t even figure out how to design a basic diet. For example, you probably have to instruct T-Tard on how to allot a nutrient, say carbs for example, to a particular meal. Let’s say T-tard needs 50 grams of carbs at breakfast. Oatmeal has 27 grams of carbs per dry half cup. You need to tell him to have two servings to get 54 grams for the meal.

Regardless, I’ve come to realize that half the T-Tards don’t give a rat’s ass about what anyone says, even if it’s useful!

13

“T-Tard”

LMAO!

5 T-Stars for you!

14

[quote]MODOK wrote:

If you want to “warm-up” your cns you have two options- 1. stick your head in an oven or 2. pre-calculus.

[/quote]

I like to do pre-calc to warm up my CNS. Doing all those sin and cosines makes my CNS primed and ready for lifting.

15

[quote]optheta wrote:

[quote]MODOK wrote:

If you want to “warm-up” your cns you have two options- 1. stick your head in an oven or 2. pre-calculus.

[/quote]

I like to do pre-calc to warm up my CNS. Doing all those sin and cosines makes my CNS primed and ready for lifting.[/quote]

Booo

lame joke

16

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:

[quote]MODOK wrote:

If you want to “warm-up” your cns you have two options- 1. stick your head in an oven or 2. pre-calculus.

[/quote]

I like to do pre-calc to warm up my CNS. Doing all those sin and cosines makes my CNS primed and ready for lifting.[/quote]

Booo

lame joke[/quote]

who jokes about calc?

17

[quote]SteelyD wrote:
“T-Tard”

LMAO!

5 T-Stars for you! [/quote]

Thank you, but it’s not my invention. I first heard from Jim Wendler, then Jason Ferrugia.

18

[quote]BONEZ217 wrote:

[quote]optheta wrote:

[quote]MODOK wrote:

If you want to “warm-up” your cns you have two options- 1. stick your head in an oven or 2. pre-calculus.

[/quote]

I like to do pre-calc to warm up my CNS. Doing all those sin and cosines makes my CNS primed and ready for lifting.[/quote]

Booo

lame joke[/quote]

Hey I did the best I could do with the material given

19

haha ^

Alright alright I learned my lesson.

But a few of you act like little girls.Maybe I’m not satisfied with the other threads on ramping. Maybe, I didn’t know it was called ramping…

Look. Read my original questions. Answer ALL of them. I specifically want to know WHY people do it. Then rip me apart verbally.

Don’t just skip to the rip me apart verbally right away.

Damn guys, I just started out. I’m asking a basic question about basic training so I don’t fucking hurt myself. If that’s a problem, don’t post here anymore.

20

[quote]akram.mohamed wrote:
haha ^

Alright alright I learned my lesson.

But a few of you act like little girls.Maybe I’m not satisfied with the other threads on ramping. Maybe, I didn’t know it was called ramping…

Look. Read my original questions. Answer ALL of them. I specifically want to know WHY people do it. Then rip me apart verbally.

Don’t just skip to the rip me apart verbally right away.

Damn guys, I just started out. I’m asking a basic question about basic training so I don’t fucking hurt myself. If that’s a problem, don’t post here anymore.[/quote]

Bold toughguy newb is acting counterproductively bold.