Hit a Plateau in the gym? Want to shake it up a little? Ever heard of Pyramid Training?

Why use Pyramid Training?

Pyramid weight training can help you progress with your workouts, or get you past a plateau. It can be a great way to fine tune your workout and add variety to your gym sessions.

Pyramid training is a stepped approach to sets and repetitions. A pyramid means big at the bottom and narrow at the top. A reverse pyramid means big at the top and narrow at the bottom. And that’s what pyramid training means in a weight training context. You start heavy and gradually decrease the weights or reps. Or you start light and gradually increase the weight or reps.

 

How does it work?

Like all overload systems, pyramid training suggests that if you create metabolic stress in muscle tissue it will grow bigger. However, it is key to note, although this type of training doesn’t hit the sweet spot for strength increase, it does increase your muscle mass, which in turn will increase your strength. Very basically, pyramid weight training is performing an exercise or two, for a number of reps and then working your way down to 1, intended to fatigue the muscle.

 

Standard Pyramid

Pictured below is an example of a standard pyramid. As you decrease the amount of repetitions you increase the weight. The weight and sets should be adjusted accordingly to the equipment chosen, e.g. dumbbells, barbell, cable machine.

 

 

An example for a barbell back squat with a one rep max of 60kg:

Set 1 – 50% of your one rep max (30kg back squat) x 15 reps

Set 2 – 60% of your one rep max (36kg back squat) x 12 reps

Set 3 – 65% of your one rep max (39kg back squat) x 10 reps

Set 4 –  75% of your one rep max (45kg back squat) x 6-8 reps

Set 5 – 85% of your one rep max (51 kg back squat) x 4-6 reps

 

 

Benefits of Pyramid Training

– Pyramid training can be done with any type of equipment or body weight

– Workouts are short but intense

– Can be used for bodybuilding, athletic training and fat loss

– You can train with a partner or on your own

 

 

Warm up and cool down

A thorough warm and cool down should be part of any gym work out, so don’t forget to add it in to your new pyramid workout routine.

 

Here at Comfort Health

If you’re thinking about changing the way you train, or want to incorporate pyramid training into your workouts, book in today to see one of our talented practitioners. Here at Comfort Health we can create a personal program, tailored to you and your and training goals. CLICK HERE!