The Pyramid Training Method
If you have been working out for some time now, you may have hit a plateau or two in your training. You are probably bored, and you are not seeing or getting the results you want. When you have been training and doing the same routine for a while, it’s always a good idea to throw in something new or different to help stimulate your muscles another way.
You may have already seen or done pyramid training and didn’t know it. Pyramid training is a great way to increase your overall volume in a short amount of time and increase muscle growth. Pyramid training can be done with any exercise, can be used to help strengthen and grow lacking muscles groups or just increase strength, power and size to any muscle group in general. Descending pyramid training starts off with low weight and high reps and increases weight while decreasing rep range every set.
For example, let’s say you were going to perform pyramid training on the barbell bench press:
Set 1: 135 lbs. for 10 reps
Set 2: 155 lbs. for 8 reps
Set 3: 175 lbs. for 6 reps
Set 4: 195 lbs. for 4 reps
Set 5: 205 lbs. for 2 reps
Set 6: 215 lbs. for 1 rep
The Pyramid Training method can be taxing on you physically and mentally. It’s a great tool to use on one exercise per day, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it for every exercise in your routine. So, don’t over do it.
For beginners and intermediate lifters, give this routine a shot and see how your performance increases. Make sure not to start with a weight too low to where it wasn’t enough stimulus, or too high to where you fatigue to early in the workout. Don’t forget to always warm up first and prepare your body and joints before working out. If you plan on starting your first pyramid set with 10 reps, do a couple low weight warm-up sets of 15 reps.
For advanced lifters, if you feel like you could keep going after completing the pyramid training, reverse the sets and perform the pyramid routine in ascending order.
For example, perform the bench press, as listed above, in the descending order. Then reverse and go back the other direction:
Set 1: 135 lbs. for 10 reps
Set 2: 155 lbs. for 8 reps
Set 3: 175 lbs. for 6 reps
Set 4: 195 lbs. for 4 reps
Set 5: 205 lbs. for 2 reps
Set 6: 215 lbs. for 1 rep
Set 7: 215 lbs. for 1 rep
Set 8: 205 lbs. for 2 reps
Set 9: 195 lbs. for 4 reps
Set 10: 175 lbs. for 6 reps
Set 11: 155 lbs. for 8 reps
Set 12: 135 lbs. for 10 reps
Spicy Chicken Sweet Potato Bowls
Serves 8.
Ingredients:
- 2 lbs. boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons spicy seasoning mix
- a few tablespoons of olive oil
- 3 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
- 5–6 cups broccoli florets
- coarse sea salt and freshly cracked pepper
- avocado / hummus / lemon juice / chives / olive oil for serving
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Toss the chicken pieces with the spices and a quick stream of olive oil. Stir to combine; store in the fridge for about 30 minutes while you prep other ingredients.
Arrange the vegetables on their own sheet pans (preferably ones with edges to catch drips, etc.). Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt. Arrange the chicken on a separate sheet pan.
Bake all ingredients for 12-15 minutes. Remove the broccoli and chicken. Stir sweet potatoes and roast another 15 minutes or so.
Done! Divide your servings out into containers and be happy you have meal starters ready for the week!