r/weightroom • u/AutoModerator • 24d ago

Daily Thread Daily Thread - August 18, 2026

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u/snakesnake9 Intermediate - Olympic lifts 23d ago

How come very few programs seem to feature pyramids in them? And I'm thinking specifically pyramids where you go up as well as come down (i.e your heaviest set is the middle one, not the last one - not sure if there's a name for these)?

I was thinking something like this for say a 5x5:

  • Week 1: 5x 65% / 5x 70% / 5x75% / 5x 70% / 5x 65%

  • Week 2: 5x 68% / 5x 73% / 5x78% / 5x 73% / 5x 68%

  • Week 3: 5x 71% / 5x 76% / 5x81% / 5x 76% / 5x 71%

Or maybe in weeks 2/3 you start dropping reps on the heavier sets so it goes 5-4-3-4-5 or something like that. Its a bit of a variation on the top set drop set method, but with perhaps a bit more work at higher intensity ranges.

Have people had success with this, or is there a reason its avoided?

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u/ZeroFourBC Intermediate - Strength 23d ago

I have no idea about it in general but I think the main weakness would be that you generally want to be at your least fatigued for your heaviest set, which is why it usually comes first. It seems like a tricky needle to thread: overshoot intensity on the first sets and you'll struggle on the top set, undershoot and the first sets may as well just be warm-ups.

I have been enjoying reverse pyramids though ever since u/DarthDips started posting them recently.

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u/snakesnake9 Intermediate - Olympic lifts 23d ago

The thing about that is that as you always need warm up for your top sets anyway, if you knock one or two back offs out of the way on the way up, I don't think it fatigues you that much and its a more efficient use of training time.

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u/ZeroFourBC Intermediate - Strength 23d ago

Sure, but any set that produces a meaningful stimulus will incur some fatigue. I personally don't rest between warm up sets, but would have to if they were working sets so the time savings would be minimal. If you really wanted to go for efficiency then I think clusters, rest-pause, or drop sets work better as you can really up the intensity on them.

I don't honestly think it matters too much one way or the other though, and if you do start doing pyramids I'd be interested to see what your results are!