Reverse Pyramid Workout: My Fitness Secret
People start their fitness plan for many reasons. Stereotypically women want to keep a nice and sexy figure while men want to bulk up and build muscle.
When I began heading to the gym again, I was not trying to build incredible looking arms and chest. I’m not saying that I don’t want a big biceps and a chiseled chest. I do have a vain side of me and definitely don’t mind having people looking at me in a different light, but I began working out to improve my over all fitness, not necessarily to become big and strong. I started working out because my weight had ballooned and my blood pressure and cholesterol has skyrocketed to unhealthy levels. But this doesn’t mean I don’t want to see results and an increase in strength.
I have mentioned before in an earlier post, A Change in Workouts, that after performing a full body workout I didn’t see enough results. Sure I experienced some modest weight loss, but my strength wasn’t increasing a signal bit. It is the results that provide me the motivation to continue my fitness plan. Call me greedy, but I want to see as big of results as possible. I have high expectations and want my blood, sweat and tears to be spilled for something. After not experiencing the results by performing a full body workout, I decided to change my weight training regiment and moved to the reverse pyramid workout that I had used multiple times in the past.
I was first turned onto the reverse pyramid workout 9 years ago by a trainer at a gym while I was living in Baltimore. This routine just makes sense. Instead of working up to the heaviest weight of a particular exercise after tiring out your muscles with higher reps of the lighter weights, you start with the heavy weight and work your way down. By doing this you will actually perform more reps and work your muscle harder. This type of workout will not only perform the muscle tearing that is needed to build new muscle, but also burn fat because of the high reps that you are performing.
I have designed my own reverse pyramid workout plan that provides multiple small attainable goals that maintain my motivation and tell me when it is time to move to a heavier weight. Like many people my workouts are split by muscle groups (Chest and triceps, Back and Biceps and leg). I perform 3-4 sets and attempt to do 12 reps of each weight. Once I can do 12 reps of each set, I increase the weight 5-10 pounds for the next workout. Each exercise is tracked independently of the others. I might increase the weight for the dumbbell bench press but not the dumbbell incline bench press.
Example: One of my chest workouts includes dumbbell chest press. If I am using 50 pound dumbbells as the heaviest weight, I will be try to lift 50 pounds 12 times during the first set, 45 pounds the second set and 40 pounds the third set. I continue to do this until I can do 12 reps of all three weights. Once I achieve this goal, I will mark my workout log and increase the heavy weight to 55 pound dumbbells and decrease the weight to 50 pounds and 45 pounds for the following sets.
As I alluded to previously, this workout also has a nice psychological effect as well. It provides multiple small goals to achieve. That in itself provides motivation and allows me to see results during almost every workout. This inspires me each workout to try and increase the reps instead of only trying to lift more weight. Lifting more weight will come with the ability of performing more reps – and it is the high reps that is burning the fat.
Since I started using the reverse pyramid weight training routine, I have lost more weight. In the month of November, I lost 12-14 pounds while performing my reverse pyramid routine. Though I believe my change in workout to be the main contributor to this increase in weight loss, I also maintain a healthy diet by using mostly whole foods and cooking most of my meals at home.
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