Question

[Beth-B-Fit]

The Pyramids are my favorite Cathe workouts. My question is: what type of workout are the Pyramids considered? Muscle Endurance, Hypertrophy? Strength? What do you think?

Then to follow up: what other workouts are similar?

Thanks for any input.

Beth

 

[CDPotier]

It is only my opinion

It is only my opinion, and I may be wrong, but I think they are strength plus endurance workouts. I prefer Muscle Max myself, and I do not like to use the high step now.

 

[maddiesmum]

My experience of them is that they are largely endurance. High number of reps and fast speed of reps. I can never really increase my weights with this workout, at least not from actually doing the pyramids themselves. I can only increase my weights with them from doing a rotation that specifically targets strength --like S&H-- and then coming back to them. This is my experience.

I know that MrsPrincess disagrees with me on a theoretical level with respect to pyramid workouts in general. I am sure she will chime in here soon with her explanation.

There is room for disagreement. What does your experience of the workouts tell you?

Clare

 

[Beth-B-Fit]

I guess I use them as strength workouts because I use the heaviest weights I can for the top of the pyramids. I also pause and catch my breath/stretch/drink a little water during the cycles because I am trying to go heavy. It is amazing how many total reps there are for each pyramid. Is it just the best of both worlds?

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Pyramid High rep

Pyramid is a high rep workout. I have not tried it myself but I would not try it with heavy weight cause it is a pure endurance workout.

In my opinion there are too much reps to modify the workout turning it into a heavy session. This means you will, eventually, be working-out against the beat of the music and focus not only on the form but also on counting! Which I am not good at thanks goodness Cedie does it for us lol Heavy set are 8-10 or maximum 12. I would bare these details in mind.

I agree with clare Pyramid is an endurance workout. There are other cathe's workout you could do. Muscle max is a heavy workout, you can even lift heavier should you wish to. Pure strength is an old program but it is a goody one. Reps are 10. Two sets but you can add set if you want to.

All the best,

Nathalie

 

[mini-natty]

Hi there,

I have to chime in on this .

I have been doing a rotation of PUB for almost 1 month now. My first experience with it also left me a bit confused, questioning if it was an endurance workout. A friend from one of my check-in's who was not familiar with the Pyramids, asked me to classify the workout. I thought it might have been Hypertrophy, but now that I hear Clare and Natalie's take on it, I would have to agree with it being more endurance-based. Come to think of it, all those reps with practically no rest between sets, definitely gives it an endurance feel IMO. I can confirm however, that PUB has given me muscle definition, more than lets say STS M1 did, which is undoubtedly classified as Endurance. SO from my personal experience, it is Endurance with a slight Hypertrophy effect . A hybrid of the two -- if that's even possible .

Natasha

 

[nckfitheart2009]

Pyramid -

To Mini-natty,

Glad you pointed out gaining definition from Pyramid. In my opinion each body is different. I gained some definitions through endurance program too. Pyramid is an effective technique. I have done shoulder pyramid on 4DS and I could feel it.

I will be adding pyramid to my cathe collection for sure

Ladies I think Superset and push and pull are more hypertrophy and enable lifting heavy.
It could be an alternative to Pyramid, what are your thoughts?

xxx

 

[Beth-B-Fit]

I like PP for upper and lower body splits. I know it's crazy but doing the PP lower body 3x through is tough and gives me great DOMS! I have actually done that premix and pyramid'd up from lightest to heaviest for the first 2 groupings. My body loves the pyramid concept, I guess, and it decreases the repetitiveness of doing the same two exercises 3 times before changing.

I think if you did PP straight through it would be hypertrophy because you could go real heavy with weights and then take a break when you needed.

I have not done SS enough to comment on it. I just got a ball that is fit to my height and plan on doing it soon. I had a ball too big and finally decided to just replace it with the right size. It has made such a difference! I have been going back to DVD's that use the ball and are enjoying them so much more. I could just kick myself for getting that first ball! Live and learn though. I'm off to do BodyMax 2 now-just the upper body with the right size ball!

Beth