Pyramid Workout
Pyramid training is a training technique that can be used during exercises performed with overloads.
It is mainly used in strength development and can also be considered a high intensity workout, that is a very training method that alternates very high efforts with complete or almost complete recoveries.
This training technique, as we will now see in detail, requires good weight training experience, which is why it is not usually offered to a neophyte.
Furthermore, requires the constant presence of a personal trainer, able to keep the exercise qualitative without risking that those who are training resort to "cheating" to be able to conclude a series.
Direct Pyramid
The best known method is certainly the Direct Pyramid. This technique requires that the load is progressively increased over the course of the series until reaching 95% of the maximum load, proportionally lowering the number of repetitions.
We therefore deduce that the approach to the training load is performed gradually over the course of the series. It therefore operates, leading the muscle to pre-fatigue. This happens because obviously the starting load is reduced compared to the athlete's maximum load.
But theprogressively increase the percentage of the workload on the basis of the maximum load, it allows greater neuromuscular activation even in the case of low or in any case minimal presence of acidity in the muscle.
We therefore understand that this method is extremely aimed at the development of strength, at the expense of muscle hypertrophy which is not very stimulated. However, it is necessary that the loads are established on the basis of the ceiling, that is that load such as to allow us only one repetition, and that the recoveries are maximum.
Inverse Pyramid
Conversely it happens in the second method: the Inverse Pyramid, less effective when we talk about strength but more productive in hypertrophic development. It allows you to increase a considerable muscle mass, this makes it one of the most used techniques by professional Bodybuilders. It happens in the opposite way to the direct method. In the inverse pyramid, the load is progressively lowered starting from 95% of the maximum, increasing the number of repetitions.
It is a very effective system for trained subjects, given that at the beginning of the exercise, after an adequate warm-up, high loads are used, at a time when one is still efficient from a psycho-physical point of view.
As the series continues, increasing the repetitions, energy reserves are depleted and to increase the concentration of lactate, very important factors for muscle hypertrophy.
We understand, therefore, that this technique, unlike the previous one, consists of a double phase since the athlete must reach the load corresponding to the established maximum starting percentage before being able to start performing the exercise.
This phase is fundamental since, being carried out with a load of about 55% compared to the ceiling, it prevents possible injuries due to sudden effort.
stripping
A third variation of these two techniques is lo stripping. It consists in performing a certain number of repetitions with a load up to muscle failure, and then continuing to perform others, lowering the load from time to time, without pauses.
The load must be decreased each time by at least 20% to be able to perform a number of repetitions such as to consider the training exercise. This training technique significantly involves the recruitment and exhaustion of many motor units.
Precisely for this reason it is inserted within the workouts to increase the intensity of the session itself.
The main difference between stripping and the previous techniques described above lies in the fact that while in the direct and reverse pyramid the load is methodically established as a percentage based on the ceiling, in stripping we start from a value that is not the ceiling, but a value to make us perform a number of repetitions established at the start.
Conclusions
These three techniques are all valid, both as regards the intensity and as regards the recruitment of a large number of muscle fibers. Everything is established according to what the athlete's goal is: muscle strength or hypertrophy.
It is certain that for a novice it is much more complicated to deal with such a training, but not impossible. The advice is always to be followed by a Personal Trainer able to guide you in the choice and execution, in such a way as to make the training not only productive, but also safe.
Accident prevention, establishing the load and recovery times suited to your needs, are not negligible elements that must be left to chance.
