Reverse Pyramid HIT

On Friday I decided to switch up my usual (one set to failure) HIT workout with a technique called Reverse Pyramid's that I had been reading about on leangains.com.  I headed to the gym with the same exercises planned that I was going to do before,  but now I was going to do them Reverse Pyramid style.

What is Reverse Pyramid?

One of the most conventional types of lifting is the pyramid. Most of the guys you see at the gym are going to be doing this. You start out with a light weight and lift it for about 12 reps. You then add weight to the stack and pump out 10 reps. Add a little bit more weight and do 8 reps. The last set is usually the hardest and peaks out around 6 reps.

The reverse pyramid is the complete opposite. Your first set should be your hardest and you should complete somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-8 reps to failure. From there you would actually decrease weight by about 10% and pump out 10 reps. Decrease the weight by another 10% and pump out 12 reps.  That's it. You are done and you can move onto the next exercise. The idea is that you should be lifting the hardest weight in the beginning while your muscles are still fresh. Not at the end where you are already fatigued.

So I set out to the gym to do just that. Reverse Pyramid. My intent was to do Chest and Back. Same exercises I have done the last few weeks but with a little bit different of an approach.

Chest

• Incline Press


• Fly's


• Push-Ups

Back

• Dumbbell pullover with one arm


• Bent Over Rows


• Pull-Ups

It was a little hard at first to try to pick a weight that I knew I could only lift 6-8 times. After a bit of trial and error I got it though. I went through my usual routine and felt fantastic afterwards. And by fantastic I mean that I was shaking and felt like I was going to vomit. I left the gym and headed back to the office completely worn out but thrilled with this new type of workout.

Fast forward to Saturday morning. I wake up with the intent that I am going to go do some sprints at the park. It didn't happen. My chest and back where so sore from the workout that I could barely move.  Sprints postponed.

Fast forward to Sunday morning. I wake up with the intent that I am going to go do some sprints at the park. It again didn't happen. Although not as sore as I was on Saturday, I was still feeling the effects of Friday's workout. The sprints will have to wait until tomorrow.

I am going to play around with this technique a bit more in the coming weeks and see if there is anything to it or it my soreness was a fluke. I figure if it works for Martin at leangains along with all of his clients, it might work for me as well.