Pyramid Upper Body

[berry99]

I did PUB last night for the first time. I was doing pretty well until it came to biceps. I started with what Cathe uses, which is 10, 12, 15. But my biceps were screaming after the first hammer curl set. So, I went down in weight, but it was so hard.

Normally my biceps aren't this weak. Do you think that my biceps were tired from all the other exercises that I did beforehand?? Does anyone else have this problem? Or are my biceps in really sad shape?

Karin

 

[twosquared]

>Normally my biceps aren't this weak. Do you think that my
>biceps were tired from all the other exercises that I did
>beforehand?? Does anyone else have this problem? Or are my
>biceps in really sad shape?
>
>Karin
>
>No answers, just a I KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN!!! I've experienced the same. I normally would have tried 5,8,10 but do pyramid at 3,5,8 and sometimes I just stay with the 5's for the heavy set as well.

 

[amybajamy]

That bicep workout is a tough one. There are a lot of reps. I usually use 8, 9, 10, but if I'm particularly tired I have to lower my weight more. I think the other exercises probably do pre exhaust the biceps too. I love that workout though, I feel so worked when I'm done, especially my biceps!

Amy

 

[ivorygorgon]

PUB is tough. I just finished with biceps at 5-8-10 and it was hard. I thought the shoulder segment was by far the hardest segment though.

 

[clareMc]

I think the entire upper body gets "puffed out" with this one and by the time you get to biceps, you are ready to scream anyway!!!

I can match Cathe and usually do, it becomes a mental challenge by the end. Concentration and focus are the key and don't let yourself flag when Cathe erupts into laughter at her "out of body experience"!!

Even though I match her, it's no walk in the park and yes, this is becasue we are already tired by this stage and the reps are multitudinous!

Practice, keep at it. Also, you can change the order of the exercises each time you do it too. So next time start with biceps and then do the others as you like. This way, you can keep challenging all upper body muscle groups, rather than work up some great pecs and lats, but have weak triceps, shoulders and bis. If you then do chest last, you will really be challenging them, differently to how they are normally challenged by going first.

Clare

 

[jillybean]

For me, my forearms get pretty fatigued during PUB's chest flies and dumbbell rows. Because of this, my forearms are really tired during the biceps segment. I go heavier than Cathe on every segment of PUB - except for biceps. You are not alone.

 

[NY25]

LOVE this workout!! One of the reasons the biceps fade so fast is because this is one exercise sequence that totally focuses in on just that muscle group. There are no supporting muscle groups to "help out" (i.e. in chest, you're still working biceps,shoulders, in minimal supporting ways). So the focus is extreme and fatigue occurs quickly. With that said, I was particularly excited last time I did this workout, as I did the biceps pyramid up with the same weight as Cathe!! (10-12-15). I will admit, however, that I dropped down to 10-8 on the way back down the pyramid, but it's only a matter of time.... yea, me!!

 

[bab_indy]

I agree that since the biceps are at the end of the workout there may be some fatigue already happening. Also the pyramid is a killer workout! I've been doing this for over a year and am just now at Cathe's weight for the chest and full biceps.

There's also minimal rest between reps and that can impact your lift load as well. As others have noted there are ways to modify until you're ready to get the weight up.

- rest longer between sets/reps
- lift heavier on the way up and drop it down on the way down
- just do up or down not the full pyramid
- do the full weights but shave off a rep or two
- use smaller increments. If you don't have 1lb dumbbell increments (I don't) use wrist weights (I have 1lb and 2lb ones) to add a smaller weight increase

And above all do it consistently. I'm now at or above the weights used in the DVD. The chest took me a long time to increase. I started with 3-5-8. Now I'm almost ready to move to 12-15-20! The tris and shoulders are all heavier and I'm ready to move beyond 25lb for the pullovers. However the biceps at 10-12-15 is STILL a challenge me. I can do 20lb curls by themself. But at the end of this routine with the pyramid it's particularly challenging.

It WILL happen!

 

[berry99]

Thanks for the info bab_indy. Also, congrats on making it to the weight that Cathe uses. RIght now I can't even imagine getting there for chest and biceps. How often to you do PUB?

 

[bab_indy]

Once a week usually. Saturday is my "heavy" weights day. Thanks for the congrats. The chest was a long haul. I can almost do "sissy" pushups now. Mostly I'm in awe of Cathe.

 

[lfcjasp]

I did this one this evening. Have done it once before (I remembered Cathe laughing and mentioning having an out-of-body experience during the biceps curls and also telling someone she liked some song), but didn't remember what weights I'd used. Did alright selecting the weights, though I really struggled with the 8#'ers during the rear delt lifts (my heaviest on these!).

I didn't try to match Cathe on the weights, except for the shoulders and triceps on some legs of the pyramids.

The biceps weren't fun. Used 8-10-12-10-8...my arms don't even look right! My whole upper body wants to just go lie down and sleep If I don't have a raging case of DOMS tomorrow, I'll be really lucky!!!!