Pyramids

R

ryolacap

Member
I was wondering about pyramids weight schemes. Pick about half your max and lift about 10, add 10% or so, do 8, repeat 6, repeat 4, repeat 2. You end up around 90% of your max for 2 reps, with 30 total reps. When you can do 3 on you last 'set' without failure, or when 2 weeks go by increase the weight a little. Wouldn't the volume of reps cause syncronized MU firing and the ending heavier tensions cause the muscle 'trauma'. Going way under failure allows me to do this with high frequency.

Volume...check
Heavy tension...check
Fatuige control...check
Frequency...check (I can do this everyday)

So what am I missing...is there a downside to pyramids.
 
If you keep the same weight for too long RBE is likely to catch up with you. If you keep testing your limits on the last set you might be frying your CNS.
It doesn't seem like a bad method but what's the upside hypertrophy-wise compared, for instance, with a vanilla HST routine?
 
I'm sure you would make some progress using this type of plan. However I suspect gains would be slower than with HST for a number of reasons. You are not really using progressive load as RBE will probably set in long before you reach the end of the 2nd week (Brian states it can occur within 24hrs, in some situations).

Also, as Brian states, there is some evidence that any sets other than your "working set" just burn calories. Using your pyramid method would mean your working set @ 90% is only 2 or 3 reps, therfore the TUT will be quite low for the critical working set that actually stimulates growth.

I would expect you would see some gains, but I think it conflicts with some of the key HST principles.
 
All exercise is good. However, all exercise is not efficient. I have found that usually one working set, or two if a large muscle, is usually all I need for maximum hypertrophy. Anything more is a waste of energy (calories), at least for me. Too many factors such as age, test levels, level of conditioning, recoverability, diet, etc. enter into the process to make too general a statement.
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