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Fitness: Down to 203.6 – a new low point! Outside of a beef jerky mishap on Wednesday, things have been full speed ahead. It’s great to be only three and a half pounds from my current goal, so I’m about to write about some of the ways I exercise that helped me get there. On to the pyramids! |
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Pyramid sets in their basic definition are nothing new – they’re exercises with 3 or 4 sets of 3 or 4 different weights, wherein you climb a pyramid. Let’s say you’re doing bicep curls, so your basic pyramid would look something like this: • 12 repetitions of 20 lb. curls • 10 repetitions of 25 lb. curls • 8 repetitions of 30 lb. curls • 6 repetitions of 35 lb. curls I’ve been doing those for years upon years – I think I learned about them in high school. However, it didn’t dawn on me until recently (thanks to talking with my trainer) about climbing back down the pyramid, which is weird since I’ve been doing pyramid workouts on the elliptical for months. With the elliptical, I start off light, build the resistance to an apex in the middle, then switch directions at the top and ease off the resistance going the other way. With last night being a weight night, I decided to do a pyramid workout. I focused on chest and arms primarily, while doing leg work in between the pyramid sets to get a breather and hit other parts of my body. I usually took a 30 second breather between sets since I wasn’t working real heavy, though if you are working really heavy, it’s recommended that you take between 2-3 minutes to rest between sets. To start, I did a 10 minute warmup on the treadmill at 6 MPH. It’s a good speed for me to get the heart rate up without wearing out too much for my workout. After finishing my warmup, the first exercise I did was basic incline presses on a Hammer Strength machine, where you sit upright and push the handles forward at an incline. I didn’t want to overload myself on the weight, so my reps looked like this: • 12 repetitions of 70 lbs. (35 lbs. each arm) • 10 repetitions of 90 lbs. (45 lbs. each arm) • 8 repetitions of 110 lbs. (55 lbs. each arm) • 6 repetitions of 130 lbs. (65 lbs. each arm) • 8 repetitions of 110 lbs. (55 lbs. each arm) • 10 repetitions of 90 lbs. (45 lbs. each arm) • 12 repetitions of 70 lbs. (35 lbs. each arm) I was a little burnt on the chest after that, so I decided to do four sets of what I like to call 1550s. I strap on ankle weights (4 lb. ones are the heaviest they have at the gym), then throw 15 knees with each leg into my hands, which are placed together at about mid-chest level. After I get through those, I do 50 jumps with a jump rope. Four sets of those had me wobbling a bit, so it was back to the arms. I like to punch with weights quite a bit and I usually super set my strikes with the 1550s, but last night I decided to pyramid things up. With the punches, I threw a jab with an empty left hand, then I threw a straight right with these weights and repetitions: • 14 punches with 10 lbs • 12 punches with 12.5 lbs • 10 punches with 15 lbs • 8 punches with 17.5 lbs • 10 punches with 15 lbs • 12 punches with 12.5 lbs • 14 punches with 10 lbs I went through those with a 10-15 second rest between each set, then I did the same thing on the other side (right hand jab, left hand straight). After that, I rested for a few minutes, because my arms and shoulders were just put through the ringer – my biceps were absolutely lit up, and my forearms and shoulders were feeling the effect as well. I figured one more chest/arm set would do the trick, but I wanted a break in between the two. I decided on some deep squats with a weight plate in my hands, which was centered at chest level. My sets were as such: • 12 squats with a 25 lb. weight plate • 10 squats with a 35 lb. weight plate • 8 squats with a 45 lb. weight plate • 10 squats with a 35 lb. weight plate • 12 squats with a 25 lb. weight plate I got a decent burn going off of those, though I should have done more reps or used dumbbells and gone for a heavier weight. They do have a couple 100 lb. weight plates around the gym, but all that would be is a good way for me to throw out my back again. The last set I did was similar to the first, though it was more striking-oriented. I got down onto a Hammer Strength bench and focused on doing one-armed exercises. I would press/punch with the left, then press/punch with the right in a fluid motion and roll my upper back a little bit while going back and forth to keep my arms as straight as possible. This set looked like so: • 12 repetitions of 25 lbs. each arm • 10 repetitions of 30 lbs. each arm • 8 repetitions of 35 lbs. each arm • 6 repetitions of 40 lbs. each arm • 8 repetitions of 35 lbs. each arm • 10 repetitions of 30 lbs. each arm • 12 repetitions of 25 lbs. each arm The only rest I gave myself was to get up and put on/take off the additional 5 lb. plates, and I was a bit wobbly afterward. I still had about five minutes before the CD I was listening to on my iPod was over (Neurosis’ “[Enemy of the Sun  ]”), so I wanted to get something else in.I decided to grab a pair of 45 lb. plates and do flights of stairs with them. It turned out that I only got through one flight up and down. Going up wasn’t too bad, but coming down I felt like I could have gone ass over teakettle. I put the weights away and went back to the locker room. By the time I got my locker opened up, my body was expressing the confusion and displeasure with the new workout I had just put it through. That said, I’m not really feeling the effects of it this morning, but tomorrow will be the indicator of how brutal it was, as it’s always the 2nd day after a hard workout that things catch up with me. Doing the full pyramid with a few different exercises was definitely an interesting workout experience and I’m sure I’ll do it again sometime soon! Discuss this post at [The Forum of Jason Vincion]! Posted on February 12th, 2010. |
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