Pyramid Workout: Chest & Back
Pyramid Workout: Chest & Back
A pyramid style workout focuses on only 1-2 exercises with a large volume of repetitions and heavy weights. These workouts are reserved for the days where you can spend a little extra time in the gym. And that time is worth it! Pyramid workouts are incredibly effective for isolating muscle groups.
With each exercise below, you will start with 10 reps and then decrease to nine reps, followed by eight, seven, six, all the way to one. Once you get to one rep, you’ll increase all the way back to ten, stacking the reps on top of one another. This totals over 470 reps per each exercise!
As you decrease your reps, you’ll increase your weight. You should be at the heaviest weight, truly challenging yourself on reps 1-4.
- Focus: Chest, Back, Core and Shoulders
- Time: 1 hour
- Warm Up: Five minutes of cardio
Here are the two exercises to focus on for the chest and back:
Lateral Pulldown
- Equipment: Seated Pulley Machine
- Reps: Pyramid (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
- Weight: Females: up to 50 lbs.; Males: up to 70 lbs.
- Tips & Tricks: Keep the arms and back straight; focus on isolating your lateral back muscles as you pull down
Vertical Chest Press
- Equipment: Bench; Dumbbells
- Reps: Pyramid (10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10)
- Weight: Females: up to 35 lbs.; Males: up to 50 lbs.
- Tips & Tricks: Isolate the inner pectoral muscles as you pull your arms to center
Blended Pumpkin Smoothie and Soup Recipes
Pumpkin recipes abound during the end of year holidays. Usually in the form of pies, ice cream, flavored coffee and more.
Thought I would take you a few minutes to prepare a couple blender recipes. Hopefully none of your pumpkin goes to waste!
Pumpkin Pie Smoothie
Holiday Pumpkin Smoothie
- 1 cup pumpkin purée, fresh (best option) or canned
- 1 large ripe banana
- 1 cup unsweetened soymilk or coconut milk beverage
- 1 tablespoon honey or agave nectar
- 1/2 to 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 to 1 cup ice
Nutritional Info:
Per Serving:160 calories 2.5g fat, 33g carbohydrate, 5g protein
Blend until smooth.
Pumpkin Soup 
Pumpkin Soup
- 1 Cup Broth, MSG Free, Chicken or Vegetable
- 1/4 Canned or Freshly Made Coconut Milk
- 1 1/2 Cup Pumpkin Puree, fresh (best option) or Canned
- 1/2 Cup Onion
- 1 1/2 Garlic Clove
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. Turbinado Sugar or Brown Sugar (or agave nectar)
- 1/2 Tsp. Ground Nutmeg
- Salt / Pepper to Taste
Nutritional Info:
Per Serving:80 calories 3g fat, 14g carbohydrate, 2g protein
For best flavor saute onion and garlic before hand. Blend all elements until hot. (Add warm or hot water to speed up the process).
The time, date and name of the new Blender Training program has been chosen and you are going to love it!
Details coming soon!
There is still time to ask me questions before the training begins!
Red and Green Christmas – Vitamix Recipes
Depression & Robin Williams: Overcoming Mental Health Issues
