How to Do Pyramid Weight Training Workouts Menu Verywell Fit Nutrition Weight Management Nutrition Facts Nutrition Basics Diets Meal Plans Meal Delivery Services View All News Fitness and Nutrition What to Buy How We Test Products Fitness Gear Nutrition Products Tools Recipe Nutrition Calculator Weight Loss Calorie Goal BMI Calculator Body Fat Percentage Calculator Calories Burned by Activity Daily Calories Burned Pace Calculator About Us Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Search Beginners How to Do Pyramid Weight Training Workouts By Paul Rogers Paul Rogers Paul Rogers is a personal trainer with experience in a wide range of sports, including track, triathlon, marathon, hockey, tennis, and baseball. Learn about our editorial process Updated on July 28, 2020 Reviewed Verywell Fit articles are reviewed by nutrition and exercise professionals. Reviewers confirm the content is thorough and accurate, reflecting the latest evidence-based research. Content is reviewed before publication and upon substantial updates. Learn more. by Tara Laferrara, CPT Reviewed by Tara Laferrara, CPT Tara Laferrara is a certified NASM personal trainer, yoga teacher, and fitness coach. She also created her own online training program, the TL Method. Learn about our Review Board Print svetikd / Getty Images Table of Contents View All Table of Contents Overview Warm Up and Cool Down Standard Pyramid Reverse Pyramid Diamond Pyramid Step Pyramid Pyramid weight training can help you progress with your workouts or get past a plateau, It can fine-tune your workout and add variety in your workload. Pyramid training is not running up and down the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, although that would be an excellent workout if you could get permission. Pyramid training is a stepped approach to sets and repetitions. A pyramid means big at the bottom and narrow at the top. A reverse pyramid means big at the top and narrow at the bottom. And that's what pyramid training means in a weight training context. You start heavy and gradually decrease the weights or reps or you start light and gradually increase the weight or reps. Or you can include both in an extended set, but this is an advanced style of training. How Does Pyramid Training Work Like all overload systems, pyramid training suggests that if you create metabolic stress in muscle tissue it will grow bigger. Note, though, that this type of training does not hit the sweet spot for strength increases, although bigger muscles will increase strength to some extent. Warm Up and Cool Down A warmup should include light aerobic exercise and stretching for 10-15 minutes. Before doing any lifting exercise with weights a few repetitions with a lighter weight than chosen for the main exercise is a good strategy. A cool down may help to reduce muscle soreness in the following hours. Pyramid training can make you sore. Cool down with light stretching, calisthenics, or with some modest aerobic work on treadmill or cycle. Standard Pyramid Increase the weight and decrease the reps for each set. Adjust the weight and sets for the equipment chosen, dumbbell, barbell, machine etc, and for the maximum that you can tolerate in each set. Example: Set 1 – 30 lbs x 12 repetitionsSet 2 – 40 lbs x 10 repsSet 3 – 50 lbs x 8 reps Reverse Pyramid In this pyramid, decrease the weight and increase the reps with each set. Set 1 – 50 lbs x 8 repsSet 2 – 40 lbs x 10 repsSet 3 – 30 lbs x 12 reps Diamond Pyramid In this pyramid, increase then decrease weight in an extended 5-set muscle blast. (Called a diamond from the rhomboid shape.) Set 1 – 20 lbs x 12 repsSet 2 – 25 lbs x 10 repsSet 3 – 30 lbs x 8 repsSet 4 – 25 lbs x 10 repsSet 5 – 20 lbs x 12 reps Step Pyramid In this pyramid, you flow up and down or down and up (in weight) like an up and down step series. It could look like this. Set 1 – 50 lbs x 12 repsSet 2 – 40 lbs x 10 repsSet 3 – 30 lbs x 8 repsSet 4 – 40 lbs x 10 repsSet 5 – 50 lbs x 12 reps Or, you could mix and match weight and reps like this, which is probably somewhat easier because you finish low even though reps are higher. Set 1 – 30 lbs x 12 repsSet 2 – 40 lbs x 10 repsSet 3 – 50 lbs x 8 repsSet 4 – 40 lbs x 10 repsSet 5 – 30 lbs x 12 reps You can probably see from the examples, there are many possibilities for experimentation in modifying the standard sets and reps for exploiting metabolic overload in order to improve your workout. Give it a try. 4 Sources Verywell Fit uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Mangine GT, Hoffman JR, Gonzalez AM, et al. The effect of training volume and intensity on improvements in muscular strength and size in resistance-trained men. Physiol Rep. 2015;3(8). doi:10.14814/phy2.12472 International Sports Sciences Association. Is your warm up routine sabotaging your training?. American Council on Exercise. Five reasons you shouldn’t skip your cool-down after exercise. January 2014. American Council on Exercise. Weight lifting tempo; sets: how to select the right sets for your clients. July 2014. By Paul Rogers Paul Rogers is a personal trainer with experience in a wide range of sports, including track, triathlon, marathon, hockey, tennis, and baseball. See Our Editorial Process Meet Our Review Board Share Feedback Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! What is your feedback? 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