Thread: Rep Poundage?

Originally Posted by WantItBad

Question on how you guys go about weight through sets? for example today bench 5 sets of 5 all at 225....some say you should pryamid the wieghts? ie
1-205
2-215-
3-220-
4-225
5-230

Any thoughts aon whats better?

neither is better. both are good. I do it either way.

You can do it either way, but if I am doing a 5x5 routine I tyically stick with the same weight, I only pyramid if my rep ranges are gonna change. I would certainly increasethe weight by more than 5lbs a set if I were pyramiding, though. One of my old pyramids for bench was...

225x12, 255x8, 275x4, 225x10

I prefer flat loading schemes, but there is nothing inherently wrong with a pyramind. I do prefer to do the heavier stuff first if I am going to pyramind (Reverse pyramind) and make sure I warmup sufficiently. However, once again, if your goal is mass, then this is not really important.

thanks guys.....

Originally Posted by Dale Mabry

You can do it either way, but if I am doing a 5x5 routine I tyically stick with the same weight, I only pyramid if my rep ranges are gonna change. I would certainly increasethe weight by more than 5lbs a set if I were pyramiding, though. One of my old pyramids for bench was...

225x12, 255x8, 275x4, 225x10

Yea, usually if I am doing a typical 5x5 I stay with the same weight until I can do it and then I increase.

Sometimes I will do 5x5 kind of like this:

245/5
275/5
295/5
315/5
335/5

And just load up to a max 5 rep attmept for the last set and try to break it each week.

I think I was reading an artical by Steve Plisk (maybe someone else) about this and he was saying that pyramiding up (either like I did or like you did. ie, 12, 10, 8, 6) to max weight is a good thing to do since it trains both your strength and power because the first 5 reps are light enough that you can move quick enough for all the reps (power) until the last set which is a max attempt (strength).

Originally Posted by P-funk

neither is better. both are good. I do it either way.

I agree....I do both, the only thing I really pay attention to is doing different reps on different exercises for each muscle.....ie sets of 6 on DB rows, sets of 8 on cgpd and sets of 10 of lpdf..

Originally Posted by P-funk

Yea, usually if I am doing a typical 5x5 I stay with the same weight until I can do it and then I increase.

Sometimes I will do 5x5 kind of like this:

245/5
275/5
295/5
315/5
335/5

And just load up to a max 5 rep attmept for the last set and try to break it each week.

I think I was reading an artical by Steve Plisk (maybe someone else) about this and he was saying that pyramiding up (either like I did or like you did. ie, 12, 10, 8, 6) to max weight is a good thing to do since it trains both your strength and power because the first 5 reps are light enough that you can move quick enough for all the reps (power) until the last set which is a max attempt (strength).

I would be inclined to think that pyramiding up would be the best choice for hypertrophy given that you train so many rep ranges.

Originally Posted by CowPimp

I prefer flat loading schemes, but there is nothing inherently wrong with a pyramind. I do prefer to do the heavier stuff first if I am going to pyramind (Reverse pyramind) and make sure I warmup sufficiently. However, once again, if your goal is mass, then this is not really important.

What do you mean by that last sentence?