Are you looking for a proven method to increase your strength and total number of reps in a given exercise? Then look no further – pyramid training is very effective technique to help you set new personal bests.
I first learned this technique from John Peterson (www.transformetrics.com) and it has been very effective for me in building both strength and increasing the total number of reps I can crank out.
So how does it work? You start with a lower number of reps, increasing that number for each set until you reach your max for the pyramid, then work your way back down to your starting point.
Let’s use the classic push-up as an example. For the sake of this example, let’s say your maximum number of reps is 30. However, you’d love to be able to do 50 push-ups in a single set. Pyramid training can help you reach that goal.
For the first week, let’s reduce the total number of reps for the pyramid to 70% of your maximum. So in this example, 30 x .70 = 21. OK, so what I like to do is hit my pyramid max on the 5th set and then work back down to the beginning. I also like to gradually increase the number of reps by 2 for each set. So since I need 4 sets to work up to my max and I want to increase my reps by 2 for each set, I need to take my new max for the pyramid, which is 21 and subtract 8 from it (4 sets x 2 reps increase per set) to get my starting number of 13. Here’s what my push-up pyramid would look like for this example:
13 – 15 – 17 – 19 – 21 – 19 – 17 – 15 – 13
So running through this, I would do 13 reps and then rest 30 seconds, 15 reps then rest for 30 seconds and so on until I reach 21 reps. At that point I would rest for 1 minute and then start going back down with 19 reps and resting for 30 seconds, repeating this rest sequence until I made it back down to 13 reps. So what I’ve managed to do here is complete 149 push-ups through this pyramid by varying the number of reps per set. If I were doing a typical 3 set routine and let’s say I could knock out 25 reps per set, I would have only accomplished a total of 75 reps. Pretty powerful, right? Plus by shortening rest time to 30 seconds between sets, this will help build endurance and believe me, it definitely helps with that. 🙂
After doing the 70% of your maximum for a week or two, bump it up to 80%. So taking my maximum number of 30 reps, my new target for the pyramid would be 24 reps (30 x .80 = 24). So to find my starting number, 24 – 8 = 16. So now the pyramid would look like this for 80% of my max:
16 – 18 – 20 – 22 – 24 – 22 – 20 – 18 – 16
Rest 30 seconds between each set until you make it to the pyramid max, in this case 24 reps. Rest for 1 minute after you hit this mark and then start going back down the reps, resting 30 seconds per set until you once again reach your starting point. In this example you would have completed 176 reps total! Continue at this 80% level for another week or two.
Once you’ve completed the 80% level, test your max again. You should see an increase in the overall number of reps. Let’s say you can now do 40 reps. Now start the process over again by establishing your new target of 70% of your maximum (40 x .70 = 28) for a week or two and then move back to 80% for another week or two (40 x .80 = 32). Continue this process until you reach your goal.
By continually testing to find your new maximum and adjusting your pyramid target as discussed here, you can dramatically increase the number of reps you can perform of any given exercise. Best part is you can continue this cycle until you reach your targeted goal!
So use this technique to push your current limitations…you’ll find pyramid training to be great a great tool for reaching new personal bests.
