The Pyramids, how do I say this, appear kinda boring. But it seems that many people love the pyramids. In a previous thread, many people chose it as their favorite. Could I have a few opinions, both pro and con, as to why this workout is so popular? It's the only Cathe strength dvd I don't own (once I get BB), and that's a good enought reason to own it, but I just don't see the attraction. Why do you all like it? Thanks, Cheryl
Pyramid purchase
- Thread starter Alexis52
- Start date
I like the Pyramids a lot. It's just a different type of strength workout. I have to say, when I do the whole thing of PUB or PLB, and I'm able to make it through the ball work at the end (particularly the pikes in PUB), that I feel very strong and empowered and energized. If you can do S&H (which I just got recently and I'm in my second week of a rotation with it), and not think it's too long or boring, then you'll enjoy the Pyramids. Don't get me wrong, I like S&H, but I don't think I could do it more than three weeks at a time.
Anyway, the DVD is very versatile as well, because the premixes have just the upper part, and just the lower part, as well as a total body mix with just the Pyramid up.
As I said, I'm doing S&H now, and I'm really curious to see how I'll do with the Pyramids and with PS now.
Anyway, the DVD is very versatile as well, because the premixes have just the upper part, and just the lower part, as well as a total body mix with just the Pyramid up.
As I said, I'm doing S&H now, and I'm really curious to see how I'll do with the Pyramids and with PS now.
I've only done S&H several times, mostly cuz I haven't been doing Cathe that long (@4 months). I'll do the three parts on three consecutive days, cardio the next, rest the next. Then I go back to either PH (my personal fav) or MIS to do a total body in one day. I definitely notice a difference in my strength! And S&H doesn't seem "that hard" when I do it. But it surprises you a few days later.
Thanks for the comparison. S&H is not boring for me. Do you do the entire series in one night? Or do you break it up, too? Looks like I'll complete my collection sooner rather than later!
And I forgot about the stability ball work at the end. Selective thinking. It'll take me forever to "pseudo-master" the pikes! Cheryl
Thanks for the comparison. S&H is not boring for me. Do you do the entire series in one night? Or do you break it up, too? Looks like I'll complete my collection sooner rather than later!
And I forgot about the stability ball work at the end. Selective thinking. It'll take me forever to "pseudo-master" the pikes! Cheryl
Hi !
I love the pyramid workouts because they are the ones that gave me the most strength and definition in both upper and lower body ! (And I have all of Cathe's strength and endurance workouts). But, as the exercices work the muscles always in the same way, I don't do them too long, I use the other strength workouts for balancing and changing the muscle sollicitations.
I love the pyramid workouts because they are the ones that gave me the most strength and definition in both upper and lower body ! (And I have all of Cathe's strength and endurance workouts). But, as the exercices work the muscles always in the same way, I don't do them too long, I use the other strength workouts for balancing and changing the muscle sollicitations.
MadnNatsmom
Cathlete
I haven't done PUB yet, but why I like PLB is that I feel I work both endurance and strength-wise - endurance when the reps are higher with the lower weight, strength-wise when you are at the 3rd level up using heavier weights but fewer reps.
It's a different workout and it's my favorite lower body strength right now.
It's a different workout and it's my favorite lower body strength right now.
Carol122201
Cathlete
Do you perhaps find strength training boring in general? Maybe it's just not your thing. I love strength training, and I tend to do more of it than cardio which is something I need to work on. Anyway, I love the Pyramids because going up in weight like that helps me push past what I thought I could do. It's in doing the Pyramids that I've added weight to my barbell, and gone up in weights when I use dumbells. I love the muscle definition I'm gaining! I love all of Cathe's strength training workouts, but so far, the Pyramids are my favorites too.
Carol
Carol
See, this is what I was looking for - reasons to buy another DVD! Carol, I forgot to mention that I LOVE strength training. It has improved a bad hip (no cartilage) and given me upper body strength that I never thought possible. In my thinking, I couldn't get past the thought of doing sooo many reps in the same way. Now, you'all have got me excited about it!
My cardio is strictly recumbent bike to take the pressure off my hip. This is all to avoid hip replacement surgery down the road. And yes, at 53, I'm too young for that. Talk about boring!! But I did go to a two day conference and walked MILES with a 25 lb. bag on my back. People half my age were complaining that their legs, feet, back hurt from the walking - not me. I do Cathe! Cheryl
My cardio is strictly recumbent bike to take the pressure off my hip. This is all to avoid hip replacement surgery down the road. And yes, at 53, I'm too young for that. Talk about boring!! But I did go to a two day conference and walked MILES with a 25 lb. bag on my back. People half my age were complaining that their legs, feet, back hurt from the walking - not me. I do Cathe! Cheryl
nancy324
Cathlete
Cheryl-
I love strength training, but the pyramids are not my favorites. I like them enough though that I do them reguarly for variety. Their primary purpose for me is to have something to change off to when I know I've been doing the same stuff for too long, like my favorite, Pure Strength.
I find that I have to do a bit of modifying for the ball work. For example, for the outer thigh lifts, I can do the first leg okay, but the second leg turns to mush after holding my body up for so long. I just do the thigh lifts on the floor now. And I only use dumbbells for the pyramids because all the changing of the barbell plates was annoying to me.
Overall, I think these workouts could have been planned out a bit better than they were. (Sometimes I am concerned that Cathe is trying to turn out too many workouts too quickly, and is therefore unable to take the time necessary to have them all make sense. Maybe she gets too much pressure from those of us on this forum to always be filming the next workout.....just a thought.)
I love strength training, but the pyramids are not my favorites. I like them enough though that I do them reguarly for variety. Their primary purpose for me is to have something to change off to when I know I've been doing the same stuff for too long, like my favorite, Pure Strength.
I find that I have to do a bit of modifying for the ball work. For example, for the outer thigh lifts, I can do the first leg okay, but the second leg turns to mush after holding my body up for so long. I just do the thigh lifts on the floor now. And I only use dumbbells for the pyramids because all the changing of the barbell plates was annoying to me.
Overall, I think these workouts could have been planned out a bit better than they were. (Sometimes I am concerned that Cathe is trying to turn out too many workouts too quickly, and is therefore unable to take the time necessary to have them all make sense. Maybe she gets too much pressure from those of us on this forum to always be filming the next workout.....just a thought.)
Cheryl,
I do each volume of S&H on different days. I workout early in the mornings during the week, so I do one of the workouts on a weekday, and the other two on the weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
I think that you will enjoy the Pyramids once you get them. Doing just the up or down premixes are great when you're pressed for time.
Have fun!:7
I do each volume of S&H on different days. I workout early in the mornings during the week, so I do one of the workouts on a weekday, and the other two on the weekend, one on Saturday and one on Sunday.
I think that you will enjoy the Pyramids once you get them. Doing just the up or down premixes are great when you're pressed for time.
Have fun!:7
Hi Cheryl! Well I happen to be in the minority. I'm one of the people that doesn't see the attraction either. Doing the entire upper body for me is very fatiguing b/c I like to lift heavy & this is an endurance tape. This isn't the way I train. I wanted the pyramids to be similar to Pure Strength where Cathe does split routines. Needless to say I do this tape rarely. Kathy
nancy324
Cathlete
Kathy-
As I suggested in the suggestion area of these forums, wouldn't it be great to have another 3-part comprehensive strength training series like Pure Strength? (That is, after Cathe has had a LONG break..like in a couple of years from now...)
-Nancy
P.S. Let's start to plan our next get together soon!
As I suggested in the suggestion area of these forums, wouldn't it be great to have another 3-part comprehensive strength training series like Pure Strength? (That is, after Cathe has had a LONG break..like in a couple of years from now...)
-Nancy
P.S. Let's start to plan our next get together soon!
I like the idea of a pyramid style workout to bust through plateaus, but this style of training is very different in the gym environment than on a video. In the gym, pymrad training falls into the category of High Intensity Strength Training and is designed to bring the muscle group to total failure with the assistance of a personal trainer to spot the client through the reps. It is not meant to be done in a superset fashion as in the videos, but without the help of a home personal trainer, this is the next best way to fatigue the muscle group without a spotter. The goal of a pyramid style workout is to recruit new and differet muscle fibers due to the lack of rest. The fatigued fibers in a normal strength workout recover during our rest sets and are used again in the next set of the same exercise. But without any rest in between sets, new fibers are forced to be recruited when their predecessors tire out.
My take on the pyramid upper body workout is that with 1) a full pyramid set, and 2) a superset of two exercises done back to back for the same muscle group, a lot of stress is being placed on the muscle groups and connective tissues with so many sets/reps. Also, the smaller muscle groups like shoulders, biceps and triceps are getting plenty of work with the chest and back exercises so by the time we reach them in an isolated fashion, they are pretty much toasted. Therefore, the PUB workout would best be done by either 1) Doing a pyramid up only series for all exercises or 2) Doing the full pyramid for chest and back, and a half pyramid (up or down only depending upon how you're feeling) for shoulders, biceps and triceps.
Tackle the abdominal/core section (which is excellent) later in the day or on another day, after your muscles have recovered from the pyramids.
PLB is different in that the legs can take much more "abuse" than the upper body. I have many barbells at home and set them all up for different intensities, so never have to struggle with set-up in between sets. This makes the workout SO much nicer! :7 I found that when changing the barbell, my mental math skills failed me (those darn 7.5 and 2.5's!) and I never started on time with Cathe and her amazing crew!
-Roe
My take on the pyramid upper body workout is that with 1) a full pyramid set, and 2) a superset of two exercises done back to back for the same muscle group, a lot of stress is being placed on the muscle groups and connective tissues with so many sets/reps. Also, the smaller muscle groups like shoulders, biceps and triceps are getting plenty of work with the chest and back exercises so by the time we reach them in an isolated fashion, they are pretty much toasted. Therefore, the PUB workout would best be done by either 1) Doing a pyramid up only series for all exercises or 2) Doing the full pyramid for chest and back, and a half pyramid (up or down only depending upon how you're feeling) for shoulders, biceps and triceps.
Tackle the abdominal/core section (which is excellent) later in the day or on another day, after your muscles have recovered from the pyramids.
PLB is different in that the legs can take much more "abuse" than the upper body. I have many barbells at home and set them all up for different intensities, so never have to struggle with set-up in between sets. This makes the workout SO much nicer! :7 I found that when changing the barbell, my mental math skills failed me (those darn 7.5 and 2.5's!) and I never started on time with Cathe and her amazing crew!
-Roe
KathyH,
Just to clarify, in a true gym style weight workout, there is only a 6-20 repetition scheme for a given set. A set never goes beyond 20 repetitions. So to determine what you are getting (strength or endurance), consider the number of reps in a given set, not the grand total of reps in all of the sets added together for the muscle group. 15-20 reps will give you muscle endurance, strength, tone and health benefits. 12-15 will give you muscle endurance, strength, size and health benefits. With each rep scheme, one would select enough resistance to fatigue within hte 15-20 or 12-15.
So, the pyrmaids don't really fall into pure endurance or pure strength(but more high intensity) due to the lack of rest (It is a very advanced training mode). And the 12-10-8 rep scheme definitely falls into the strength/size category versus endurance/strength category.
It appears (to me anyway) that members here are judging strength and endurance by adding up all the reps done for the number of sets in an exercise versus looking at it by the number of reps PER SET. Any time a muscle is doing more than it is accustomed to doing there will be gains in both strength and endurance. It is quite impossible to separate the two.
Just to clarify, in a true gym style weight workout, there is only a 6-20 repetition scheme for a given set. A set never goes beyond 20 repetitions. So to determine what you are getting (strength or endurance), consider the number of reps in a given set, not the grand total of reps in all of the sets added together for the muscle group. 15-20 reps will give you muscle endurance, strength, tone and health benefits. 12-15 will give you muscle endurance, strength, size and health benefits. With each rep scheme, one would select enough resistance to fatigue within hte 15-20 or 12-15.
So, the pyrmaids don't really fall into pure endurance or pure strength(but more high intensity) due to the lack of rest (It is a very advanced training mode). And the 12-10-8 rep scheme definitely falls into the strength/size category versus endurance/strength category.
It appears (to me anyway) that members here are judging strength and endurance by adding up all the reps done for the number of sets in an exercise versus looking at it by the number of reps PER SET. Any time a muscle is doing more than it is accustomed to doing there will be gains in both strength and endurance. It is quite impossible to separate the two.
Hi Nancy! Most definitely I would LOVE to see another strength split routine just like Pure Strength. I usually wait until Cathe herself asks a few months before she actually plans anything. I put the suggestion out on the Ask Cathe forum & then everybody else joins in on the bandwagon & its usually what I ask for. Probably some time next year watch out for my post. I did a test run not too long ago on suggesting Cathe do a yoga tape & you should've seen how many others jumped on the bandwagon! It was so funny! I had suggested using more of the stability ball (I got that) + kickboxing (I got that), pyramid (sort of got that), slow & heavy (got that), dancy step routines (got that). See what I mean? Ha!
PS: I emailed Iris yesterday at her home about brunch. I'm up for it but it would have to be the first week of Dec. as I'm planning for Thanksgiving at my house so I'm busy. Let me know what everyone wants to do. Talk to you soon, Kathy:*
PS: I emailed Iris yesterday at her home about brunch. I'm up for it but it would have to be the first week of Dec. as I'm planning for Thanksgiving at my house so I'm busy. Let me know what everyone wants to do. Talk to you soon, Kathy:*
Hey Roe!
thanks again for another informative post on the pyramid style training. I am happy to see you back on the boards, I missed your no-nonsense posts. And now I have also learned your real first name. It's an elegant name. Do you ever use it socially or professionally?
Wishing you well,
Clare
thanks again for another informative post on the pyramid style training. I am happy to see you back on the boards, I missed your no-nonsense posts. And now I have also learned your real first name. It's an elegant name. Do you ever use it socially or professionally?
Wishing you well,
Clare
So Roe, do you think the Cathe Pyramid is a good way to increase definition? I'm going to buy it anyway but was just impressed by your knowledge in your posts. I've received so much good info and opinions in this thread! When Cathe says "educated crowd", she's not kidding. Cheryl
I am curious about the total body premix on this dvd. Has anyone done it? Is it pyramid up or pyramid down? Does it include the leg work on the ball? Does it include abs? Is upper body first or lower body? Sorry for all the questions, but I haven't been able to find this info anywhere else on the website. TIA!!!
Hi Clare,
I use Roberta in the workplace but friends and family call me Roe or Roey (Well, not parents, just sister!).
Alexis, yes, I do think the Pyramids would be great for increasing definition. Of course the amount of defintion is determined by genetics but there will most definitely be strength gains from this type of workout. However, it is very important to note that any type of high intensity training should be used to break plateaus only for a short rotation and not as a regular training mode. Also, one should build a solid strength base prior to engaging in high intensity training. Exercise physiologists recommend that at least six months of strength training is required as a pre-requisite to high intensity training.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask for clarification if needed.
-Roe
I use Roberta in the workplace but friends and family call me Roe or Roey (Well, not parents, just sister!).
Alexis, yes, I do think the Pyramids would be great for increasing definition. Of course the amount of defintion is determined by genetics but there will most definitely be strength gains from this type of workout. However, it is very important to note that any type of high intensity training should be used to break plateaus only for a short rotation and not as a regular training mode. Also, one should build a solid strength base prior to engaging in high intensity training. Exercise physiologists recommend that at least six months of strength training is required as a pre-requisite to high intensity training.
Hope this helps! Feel free to ask for clarification if needed.
-Roe
jacqued
Cathlete
I love the total-body premix on this DVD. To answer your questions. It's pyramid up. It doesn't include the ball work or the ab work. And it's mixed, you start with lower body and alternate with upper body. If I remember right you do two lower body exercises then two upper and so on. You should try it sometime. It's great!
Jacque
Jacque