Rewind a century and you will find lifters training for strength pyramiding up and down with very high reps. For example, here is a set and rep scheme for the barbell overhead press recommended by famous girevik Ivan Lebedev to an athlete with a 200-pound max: 120x10, 130x10, 140x10, 150x5, 160x5, 170x3, 160x5, 150x10, 140x10, 130x15, 120x20. You may have recognized the dear to bodybuilders’ hearts pyramid. You can feel the pump just by reading this.
Fast-forward to the era of the Moon landing and high rep pyramids faded from strength athletes’ training. Coaches realized that arriving to the top end sets pumped up and fatigued was counterproductive to strength building. Low rep warm-ups with plentiful rest became the norm.
Today a strength athlete with the same 200-pound military press max might build up to his heavy sets as follows: 95x5, 115x4, 135x3, 155x2, 170x4/3 (reps/sets). Another might take an even more streamlined “ramp-up”: 135x3, 155x1/2, 170x4/3.
Instead of pressing 170 pounds, 85% 1RM, for a triple as his great-grandfather, today’s lifter is able to do three sets of four with the same weight, thanks to not wearing himself out on the way up.
On the way down the pyramid our contemporary will also restrain himself. If the training session calls for some muscle building back-off sets, he might do 135x6, 115x8, 95x10—much more restraint and less pump than in his ancestor’s pyramid.
Stay fresh on both sides of the pyramid. Take at least 3min of rest on the way up and down and feel free to take 5min or longer between the “money” sets.
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