Tris, tris, tris

[Bulkboy]

^^ i disagree about pyramiding not being sufficient. pyramiding is said to be the best way to bring up the bench press for instance. one does not have to go all out on every set. but i do feel that pyramiding up allows me to gorge my strenght and determine where im at, its injury preventing+ it allows u to work within different rep ranges rather than getting ur body accustomed to just one rep range. imagine ur sleep deprived, u have been eating little etc and u go in to the gym, and u jump right on ur maximum weight after a couple of warmups, now u may not be in shape for that weight that particular day, and thats when injurys occur. imo pyramiding is a safe and efficient way to build muscle

 

[El Freako]

I love it how I've got so may responses to this thread nearly 2 months later.

I've cut my exercises down in a big way and I'm mainly doing heavy weighted dips followed by cable pushdowns at the moment, but I'll be mixing the dips up with cg benches when I start my push/pull routine and dumping the pushdowns. I'm slowly getting some response from my tris so I think its working.

Currently I'm training them once a week with legs but soon I'll be doing them twice with my push/pull but only one exercise per day.

 

[tim290280]

^^ You'll find that the new program will work nicely I'd say

 

[tim290280]

^^ i disagree about pyramiding not being sufficient. pyramiding is said to be the best way to bring up the bench press for instance. one does not have to go all out on every set. but i do feel that pyramiding up allows me to gorge my strenght and determine where im at, its injury preventing+ it allows u to work within different rep ranges rather than getting ur body accustomed to just one rep range. imagine ur sleep deprived, u have been eating little etc and u go in to the gym, and u jump right on ur maximum weight after a couple of warmups, now u may not be in shape for that weight that particular day, and thats when injurys occur. imo pyramiding is a safe and efficient way to build muscle

I agree with Braaq.

Pyramiding is essentially cummulative fatigue training where you wear yourself out before you get any real work sets done as you aren't lifting anywhere near your best on the +80% of max lifts. While this method can work for size and strength gains you have to push each and every set, if you save any for the last set then you risk having a pointless workout (as you have only done one real work set). It never encourages the same amount of strength gains as other programs.

When you take a couple of warmups and then jump into a work set with +80% of your max you are recruiting more of those higher threshold motor units which in turn get your fast twitch fibres firing for strength and grow. Do many sets at this level and you get enough volume to really have some progress. Lower rep sets for many sets is after all the way most lifters and athletes train.

I do take your point about injury; but your big first exercises that would be causing injury should be prepared for. You can be ready to face heavy work after a handfull of low rep sets. I tend to favour many low rep sets to warmup (2 at double rep range, further 2 at half of rep range of working set) that do not at all tax you. I also think that you need accessory work (not all the time but for most mesocycles) with this style of training for joint health and connective tissue growth promotion.

 

[Bulkboy]

I agree with Braaq.

Pyramiding is essentially cummulative fatigue training where you wear yourself out before you get any real work sets done as you aren't lifting anywhere near your best on the +80% of max lifts. While this method can work for size and strength gains you have to push each and every set, if you save any for the last set then you risk having a pointless workout (as you have only done one real work set). It never encourages the same amount of strength gains as other programs.

When you take a couple of warmups and then jump into a work set with +80% of your max you are recruiting more of those higher threshold motor units which in turn get your fast twitch fibres firing for strength and grow. Do many sets at this level and you get enough volume to really have some progress. Lower rep sets for many sets is after all the way most lifters and athletes train.

I do take your point about injury; but your big first exercises that would be causing injury should be prepared for. You can be ready to face heavy work after a handfull of low rep sets. I tend to favour many low rep sets to warmup (2 at double rep range, further 2 at half of rep range of working set) that do not at all tax you. I also think that you need accessory work (not all the time but for most mesocycles) with this style of training for joint health and connective tissue growth promotion.

interesting read however, i dont see how u think it only allows for one work set if u dont push all the sets near failure. training with pyramids to me doesent mean doing a ton of submaximal sets where i dont have to push myself at all before i do one heavy set. i tend warm up then start my first working set at around 60-70% of 1rm, and then pyramid up from there. i think working within 60-70% all the way up to 90-100% of 1rm infact induce more hypertrophy. i think working in at different level on intesities is beneficial. i also feel that a pumped muscle respond better to the heavy sets. i actually feel stronger going into a heavy set after having pyramided up to it then i do after just doing a couple warmups. my central nervous system is more ready for it. also u dont have to do only one set at 80-100% of 1rm, u can choose to do more if u like, i often, after having pyramided up to it do an additional set of the heaviest weight. however, what i mainly like about pyramiding is the ability to prepare myself and judge where my strenght is at as i go along.