pyramid sets

What do you guys think about pyramid sets ? I'm building my chin-ups so I can eventually be strong enough to start on one armed chin-ups so I do as much as i can the first set then i reduce the reps by one from the previous set. Something like this 10,9,8,7 etc till I do one rep. At first I thought this might work well but now i'm thinking i should just do 3 reps 5 sets with a weight belt.

What do you think ?

My conception of Pyramidal Sets was from less to more. 1-2-3, 1-2-3... is that right? I think that these pyramidal sets are designed fo building endurance, not strenght...

Marcelo Lara said:

My conception of Pyramidal Sets was from less to more. 1-2-3, 1-2-3... is that right? I think that these pyramidal sets are designed fo building endurance, not strenght...

Actually thats a Ladder. They are what Pavel recommends for building strength. Generally working to Sets/Ladders of 5x5.

A pyramid follows an up down pattern...1 / 1-2 / 1-2-3 /... / 1-2 / 1 and are favored by body builders because they give lots of volume.

I'm working on chinning ladders myself and find it effective. Going back to 1 really gives the body more recovery room, so the intensity can stay high.

As per Pavel and i suspect Coach Sommers would also approve, once you get to 5-5 ladders you definitely want to add weight.

A set of both laddes and pyramidal sets are a "1-2-3" and "1/ 1-2/ 1-2-3 / (...)"? Is that so, the number of repetitions are not counted by the repetitions or the sets?

I'm confused :?

Ladders build from a low number of reps to high (in general one rep first set, five reps fifth set, but it can be anything that keeps going up)

Pyramids build up and then back down again which means more volume and 'muscle blasting' With a ladder by making the big jump from 5 reps to 1 rep gives more recovery and builds strength more than mass.

Ladders make think to myself, what is the benefit? If it is volume, just do more reps, anyway. Simple as that. Correct me if I am wrong, but I don't see a benefit to them besides adding structure to a workout in a simplistic manner. I tried pyramids for dips and I wasn't impressed with the results. I gained 1 rep on my rep max. I think density training might be superior.

Mr Brady said:

Ladders build from a low number of reps to high (in general one rep first set, five reps fifth set, but it can be anything that keeps going up)

Pyramids build up and then back down again which means more volume and 'muscle blasting' With a ladder by making the big jump from 5 reps to 1 rep gives more recovery and builds strength more than mass.

And what constitutes a set?

Ladder of 4 rungs: (Rung 1 = 1 rep, Rung 2 = 2 reps Rung 3 = 3 reps, Rung 4 = 4 reps.......) = 1 set or one ladder

Pyramid of 4 steps: (Step 1 = 1 rep, Step 2 = 2 reps, Step 3 = 3 reps, Step 4 = 4 reps, Step 5 = 3 reps, Step = 6 =2 reps, Step 7 = 1 rep) = 1 set or 1 pyramid

Of course the number of rungs/steps can go up and the number of reps from rung to rung can actually stay the same or jump up more than one and still be a ladder/pyramid this just shows the basic pattern and the difference between a ladder and pyramid.

As to the question is it better to just do (for example) 5 sets of 5 reps. It depends on what you are looking for. A pyramid will give more mass, a ladder will typically use more weight per rep and therefore build more strength but build less mass and fixed reps / set 5 x 5 will give even less volume its basically just the peak of the ladder or pyramid.

If you are struggling with a certain weight or load, i find the ladder system to work quite well, in BW work, often i find the fixed number of reps per set method to seem more natural, but some one more knowledgeable would have to give their feedback as to any specifics. I'd love to hear Slizardman's input on this aspect of the discussion and the practical use of ladders vs pyramids vs fixed sets thereby getting us back on topic.

Cool. The ladder seems to be more efficient to me.

One question to finish: between rung and rung, how much time must be the rest?