reverse pyramid training

To me the premise of reverse pyramid training makes a lot of sense; you can lift heavier weights at the beginning of a workout, therefore inflicting greater eccentricity, therefore more muscle growth. My lifting partner thinks I’m an idiot for having trained like this for the last couple years, because he equates reverse pyramid training inevitably results in overtraining. Is he right? If so, how can I escape from the reverse pyramid mindset?

Try a new protocol, watch it work, and change your mind.

How about doing both? I may go for 4 weeks doig a regular pyramid, then 4 weeks doing a reverse. Monday, I’ll be starting a 5X5 program, where I’ll be using the same weight for each set. There are benefits to each method.

It’s not so much overtraining, as an increased risk of injury. Even with a warm-up, it’s a a factor. Go to John Berardi’s website, Science Link, and check the archives for his great warm-up article.

In my opinion, any intense training method is only as good as how it’s executed and should be changed very regularly, anyway. Best results will come from constantly changing how and when we train. It’s all too easy to fall in to the trap of routine. I’ve nothing against RPT and have used it myself, in varying ways. Usually for super intensity and certainly not for every workout as I feel you WILL overtrain if using it too often. Depends what supplementation and diet you have, too. So much to consider. What’s your split and frequency like? And how’s the diet?

Nope he’s wrong. Reverse pyramid training is just another way to train, like drop sets etc. If it works for you keep at if not change the routine do something diffrent.

Don’t worry about escaping any mindset about training, focus on being open to all possibilities. That is, try not to get stuck in one way of training because variations are the best thing you can do when training. Train using reverse pyramids for a month or two and then change your training to another program/philosophy, your musdcles will respond because they won’t get complacent and you will avoid any plateus…good luck…

Thanks for the advice, everybody. For the record, I eat 6-8 meals a day and don’t use many supplements besides creatine, glutamine, and vitamins. I’m only 20 and for the first time in five years of weight training I’m trying to learn as much as I can and do it intelligently. Thanks for your replies–this website has been a huge help.