Does anybody else lift from Heavy to Light?

[HOV]

I read an article on Mucsle Magazine years ago and read that lifting heavy to light has decsent benefits. Said benefits are that if you do so in that order that it's best to lift heavy in the beginning when at full strength.

Example:
I would start off with a light warm up bench set at around 105 lbs

Then I would immediately lift my max set at around 285 lbs

And then slowly regress my sets until I reach back down to around 105 lbs.

I do the same exact thing with all of my workouts, no matter which mucsle group I am doing.

So my questions are, does anybody else do this? Is this a great idea?

 

[Megadautilus]

I don't lift like that, but I feel like that would be more of a hypertrophy approach if done right.

 

[Mad child]

Always warmed up first with light weight/high reps. Then pyramid.

 

[tdluxon]

I read an article on Mucsle Magazine years ago and read that lifting heavy to light has decsent benefits. Said benefits are that if you do so in that order that it's best to lift heavy in the beginning when at full strength.

Example:
I would start off with a light warm up bench set at around 105 lbs

Then I would immediately lift my max set at around 285 lbs

And then slowly regress my sets until I reach back down to around 105 lbs.

I do the same exact thing with all of my workouts, no matter which mucsle group I am doing.

So my questions are, does anybody else do this? Is this a great idea?

Never tried it but I have kinda questioned in the past the logic of doing several sets before getting to the max, struck me as a little counterproductive. Obviously you need at least some amount of warm up though

 

[7even]

I do this all the time with a light warm up at first. I really don't understand why people work their way up to their max.

 

[Pitbull]

I do this all the time with a light warm up at first. I really don't understand why people work their way up to their max.

It can be unsafe and not a good idea to ddeadlift 600lbs+ with just a light warm up! Ramping up prepares your body for the heavy weights. There are good reasons why people work up to their max.

 

[Tavares1988]

I only do that in bench press but with other muscles i only lift what i can

 

[TehWeak1]

Sounds pretty odd. Either the articles author did a poor job at explaining it, or you did not understand it, or we're dealing with really weak people, or a combination of the three in some form or another.

 

[nhbfan8080]

I read an article on Mucsle Magazine years ago and read that lifting heavy to light has decsent benefits. Said benefits are that if you do so in that order that it's best to lift heavy in the beginning when at full strength.
......

Warmup sets should be a few reps each, not a full set of 10, except for the first (or first few) set of very light weight. Its better to do a few warmup sets to make sure your joints are ok before the work sets.

 

[Hotora86]

I do, I feel it is safer to start heavy and move down as I get tired.

 

[NurseKnuckles]

I do, I feel it is safer to start heavy and move down as I get tired.

Heavy, like how heavy?

 

[Hotora86]

Heavy, like how heavy?

Heavy enough to be able to do max 6 reps.
Lower the weight and do 6-8.
Lower again and do 8-10.

 

[7even]

Heavy, like how heavy?

I don't know about him, but for deadlifts I will do a warm up of ten reps of 315.

After that I will do ten reps of 405.

After that I will do five reps of 385.

After that I will do five reps of 365.

Then I will do ten reps of 335, then back to doing ten reps at 315.

I never do my one rep max, but I work my way down.

 

[TehWeak1]

if you're banging out 10 reps of 405, that isn't heavy. Even 6 reps isn't all that heavy. But now I see what the article was likely saying. Carry on.

You see when someone says to me to go heavy, I perceive that to be 2-3 reps, which is likely 85-95% of my max. Which would be a fucking really stupid thing to do without properly warming up with lighter weights first.

 

[ROcknrollracing]

5/3/1 in reverse. I believe Jim calls this the "bastard 5/3/1" where you work up to your top set amrap then do your two back offs at the lower percentages. I did actually do this but quit it because the progression is too slow for someone as myself who is capable of faster progress. I would simply do the AMRAP then drop down and equal the reps on two more amraps with the lower percentages. If you do it this way you are starting off at higher reps which allows for more hypertrophy and then as the weights get heavier each cycle obviously the reps get lower and you are working more toward the strength end of the spectrum. But all in all I do think it is an effective way to train.

 

[Cmart]

We're talking about drop sets, which you would indeed find in Muscle&Fitness because they're largely used in bodybuilding:

"What are drop sets?
Drop sets are essentially a technique where you perform an exercise and then drop (reduce) the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure. Called the "multi-poundage system", this method was discovered in 1947 by Henry Atkins, who was the editor of Body Culture magazine."

http://www.muscleandfitness.com/workouts/workout-routines/gain-greater-mass-drop-sets

In my opinion there's no real downside to using them, especially for hypertrophy.

 

[DrBdan]

Or reverse pyramid which Bastard 5/3/1 is an example of..

 

[JimRussel]

Heavy enough to be able to do max 6 reps.

If you can do 6 reps with it, it's not heavy lol.

 

[JimRussel]

Drop sets != reverse pyramid.

 

[Chad R. Thundercock]

Drop sets != reverse pyramid.

You a programmer, Cratos?