Breaking up Pyramids

[San Diego Cheryl]

I like to do cardio every day, but know how important weight work is, so I break up the Pyramid Upper and Lower Body tapes into individual segments during the day. After doing a cardio tape, I'll do the first two segments of Upper or Lower Body Pyramid. Later in the day, I'll do the rest of the tape, one muscle group at a time, 5 minutes here and 5 minutes there. My husband says this doesn't work as well as doing the whole tape at once. His argument is that he can do 40 push-ups 10 times a day, but he can't do 400 push-ups at once. I disagree because the Pyramid tapes are working different muscle groups. I think that spreading these tapes out over the whole day is an efficient way to exercise. What do you think?

 

[starlight6]

Hi Cheryl,

I agree with you, 100%. Especially since you are doing different body parts. You may lose a little in the pre-exhaustion, but I doubt it makes that much difference. Actually, there is a school of thought which claims the way you are doing it yields BETTER results. (One book on that subject is "The Spark".)

Also, even if your DH can do 40 pushups 10 times a day, I think his muscles would still be pretty sore & tired about halfway through those 10 times.

JMO,
Ruth

 

[FirmDancer]

Cheryl, I agree with you too. I try to follow a more natural way of incorporating activity into my day. Back in the hunters/gatherers day, humans didn't do one movement 400 times in a row. The same movement was done throughout the day for a few "reps". So I think your method is more natural.

 

[dsa3]

I have been doing the Pyramids this way since Jan. 1. I found I was too tired to do all body parts (especially PUB) with the same level of energy, strength and stamina. For me, if I find I have to lower the weight or my form is faltering, I will continue later in the day. This is especially true with shoulders, triceps and BICEPS!!!
I want to squeeze out the best results I can - after all, I am putting in the time and effort!

 

[San Diego Cheryl]

Thank you for your comments and confirmation. Doing the Pyramid tapes are killers if you're really giving them all you've got. (My arms are completely trashed by the time I get to the tricep and bicept segments in PUB.) But doing a tape over the course of a full day in individual segments is no problem at all.

 

[LAEnggren]

yes I just heard something on TV about 10 minutes here and there as long a sya get it done
Lisa

 

[Soosan]

I agree with everyone about doing what works for you and it sounds as though you're happy with your routine. The hunter-gatherer point is a good one.

That said, I would think that doing longer workouts at one time helps to increase stamina. Your husband's point about doing 400 push-ups at one time vs dispersing them throughout the day makes sense in that the person who could do 40 push-ups 10 times a day probably couldn't do 400 at once, whereas the person who could do 400 at once could easily do 40 of them 10 times a day. A lot of people can do a lot of things for 5 or 10 minutes, but can they for longer, if necessary?

I guess it all depends on your goals.

 

[San Diego Cheryl]

That's a good point -- it does depend on your goals.

 

[nancy324]

I kind of agree with both of you. My feeling is as long as you finish all the exercises for a particular muscle at the same time, it doesn't matter if you do other muscles at different times. I tend to break up the Pyramids into 4 total workout sessions - 2 for PLB and 2 for PUB, but I don't think there is anything wrong with breaking them up further. I say, if you want to do 400 push-ups, do them all at once, but it's okay to save the bicep work for later or for tomorrow.

 

[Soosan]

And lots of people have success training one body part per day.