Q. Robin, I am Loving your blog, I have learned so much from you in the past few weeks, and I could not find anything on techniques to enhance my weight training workouts. Could you explain the difference of Drop sets, Pyramids and Super slows?
Thank you, your friend Heather.

  Hi Heather, thank you I have explained the 4 different techniques below for you. I hope this helps you out!

A. There are several effective techniques you can use to enhance your weight training workouts. First off there are the Super Slow...

The super slow technique is based on slowing down your movements to prevent momentum and achieve the maximum contraction from your muscles. When using this technique, you take a minimum of 4 seconds to lift the weight  (positive phase) and a minimum of 4 seconds to return the weight to the starting position (negative phase). Increasing the amount of time you take to lift and lower the weight makes the exercise more difficult, especially when you increase the time for the lowering phase. The time taken for the negative and the positive phases does not need to be the same. For example, you can take 5 seconds to lift and 10 seconds to lower. You can perform 4 to 8 repetitions per set.

Using the super slow technique helps prevent injury to your joints, makes it easier for you to maintain proper form and results in faster strength gains. However, you will not be able to lift heavy weight.

You can perform a super slow set once a week for each muscle. For each exercise, you would perform one set using the super slow technique and then perform all other sets normally.

Negatives...

When you perform negatives, you emphasize the negative phase of a weight training exercise. In weight training, the lifting movement is called the positive phase and the lowering movement to return the weight to the starting position is called the negative phase.

Since you can generally lower more weight than you can lift, this technique allows you to use heavier weight than usual, using a spotter helps you lift the weight, you are then left on your own to concentrate on lowering the weight to the starting positioning in a slow, controlled motion. Take about 4 to 10 seconds to lower and then repeat until you complete a set.

Performing negatives helps to increase your strength and is a good way to get familiar with handling heavier weight. You can do negatives once every week or two to increase your strength gains.

You need to be particularly careful when performing this technique with free weights, since heavier weights increase your risk of injury from dropping the weight or using incorrect form. Using a machine to perform negatives reduces the risk of injury. Keep in mind that concentrating on the negative phase also places a lot of stress on your muscles, which increases the amount of muscle soreness that can occur after your workout.

Drop Sets...

When you perform drop sets, you start with heavy weight and reduce the weight each time your muscles reach failure so you can perform additional repetitions. To perform one drop set, you start by completing as many repetitions as possible with heavy weight and you continue to reduce the weight until you reach a weight that allows you to perform about 15 repetitions.

You would usually reduce the weight a minimum of three times during each drop set. For example, you can perform 6 to 8 repetitions with heavy weight, reduce the weight and perform 10 repetitions, reduce the weight again and perform 12 repetitions, and then reduce the weight and perform 15 repetitions. You should aim for 2 to 3 drop sets for each exercise, resting for at least 2 minutes between drop sets.

Drop sets are useful when you want to vary your routine so your muscles do not get used to being worked the same way. You can perform drop sets as the last exercise for a muscle group to help tone and define the muscles worked. For example, you can perform drop sets for your last tricep exercise.

Pyramids...

To exercise using pyramids, you start with light weight for the first set of an exercise and then gradually move to heavier weight for each successive set. Then you work backwards, decreasing the weight so that you perfrom the last set of the exercise with the same amount of weight you used for the first set.

You can perform about 12 to 15 repetitions when using light weight and about 4 to 6 repetitions when using heavy weight. Aim to perform 6 to 10 sets to complete a pyramid, resting 1 to 2 minutes between pyramids. If you are using a machine, you can increase or decrease the weight by roughly one plate each time. When using free weights, you can use increments of about 5 pounds.

There are two main types of pyramids: ascending and descending. Ascending pyramids involve using light weight for the first set of an exercise and gradually increasing the weight with each successive set until you reach about 4 to 6 repetitions for the last set. This is the most common type of pyramid. Descending pyramids involve starting with heavy weight and then moving to lighter weight for each successive set until you reach about 12 to 15 repetitions for the last set. Before starting descending pyramids, make sure you warm up your muscles properly. Descending pyramids are more difficult than ascending pyramids, but will result in greater strength gains.

Performing pyramids is great for building muscle strength an mass. You can perform pyramids for every weight training exercise and at every session.

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