I’m often asked why, in my classes, I have my clients start with a heavy weight set and reduce the weight in subsequent sets. There’s a good reason for doing this. The method of going from heavier to lighter weights is called Reverse Pyramid Training (RPT).

Here are 3 benefits of RPT:

BENEFIT #1 – YOU DO YOUR HEAVIEST SET WITHOUT FATIGUE

In an RPT workout, you’ll be doing your heaviest set first while you’re completely fresh. This means being able to handle heavy weights with more ease and power than ever before. No other training style allows you to lift as close to your limits as RPT. You do your heavy set first when you have the greatest strength potential and get full muscle fiber recruitment from the beginning. The fatigue created by that heavy set may actually make the lighter sets more effective because you’ll be lifting closer to failure.

BENEFIT #2 – YOU DO JUST ONE HEAVY SET WITH MAXIMUM EFFORT

With RPT you’re only performing your heaviest set once.

That’s it! One heavy set is all she wrote, baby. If you take that set to the absolute brink of your capabilities, you will not be able to replicate that set again for the rest of your workout.

What’s amazing is that there is a great wave of relief when you know that you only have to do that heavy weight for one set!

Mentally this is a huge advantage; it puts you in the winning mindset and ensures maximum effort. This will lead to consistent personal milestones like you’ve never experienced before.

BENEFIT #3 – YOU DO TWO EASIER SETS AFTER THE HARD SET

The beautiful thing about your maximum effort set is that it will SUPERCHARGE your body! You see, lifting a heavy weight requires near maximal muscle fiber stimulation from the very first rep. This is unlike light weights, in which you only recruit all of your muscle fibers on those last few really tough reps.

By performing your heavy set first, you shift your body into a temporary state of heightened muscle fiber activation. This means that all of the lighter sets you do afterward will promote more muscle growth than if you did them beforehand.You can see this for yourself when you go to do your lighter sets; the first few reps will feel extremely easy. This is because you’ll be using more muscle fibers than you’d normally use for that weight.

Not every personal trainer uses the RPT method. There are as many ways to strength train as there are to cross a room. Which one is best? The one that WORKS! The RPT method has been very successful for me and for my clients. I believe in the results.