I have a question of personal interest here. It concerns the routine of weight lifting. I see people take say a decent weight, do it as much as they can. Next step is add more weight and go again. Then for a third time. MY question is, why not do the heaviest weight first? That's when you have the most energy and could get the most out of pushing that weight. Then lower the weight a little, go again. I personally believe that you would get more reps out of each set by doing this. Does this not sound logical? Perhaps this routine is more favouring tone then strength? If someone could give me the full low down on why people raise the weights each time I would bo so happy. IT jsut deson't make sense to me.
Thank you

There are two reasons I can think of not to move to the heaviest weight first. The first is physiological, and the second is neurological. Physically, if you jump to the heaviest weight first, you stand an increased risk of injury. The muscle is firing cold. You want a few warm-up sets to get blood flow to the region and warm the tissue. Warmer tissue is more pliable and can move through a longer range of motion.

Neurologically, your body uses the warm-up sets to begin to function more efficiently. Contrary to logic, you can actually life MORE if you warm up and work to the heavier weight. The reason is that while your brain contains the "memory" of the lift, the warm-up sets "retrain" the central nervous system to fire the motor units in your muscle more efficiently. It is actually learning to become more efficient as you are working up to the heavier lift - allowing you to load more weight.

In fact, there is a unique phenomenon called the neuromuscular junction. Your body has natural inhibitors that actually stop you from lifting muscle when a force is applied. These are neurological AND mechanical. By lifting a lighter weight, you actually decrease the response of these inhibitors, thereby allowing more weight to be loaded. This is why when people perform German Volume Training, i.e. 10 sets of 10 reps, often they find at set 6 or 7 they suddenly can perform more reps due to the neurological adaptation taking place within the workout.

I know this got a bit technical but I hope it answered your question.

Jeremy

Not to disagree with Jeremy, because he's the man, but I've noticed the opposite from personal experience. Bear in mind that I ALWAYS warm up and never lift "cold". Nevertheless, whenever I try to pyramid up in weight, I typically find myself disappointed.

For example, I used to begin my barbell curls at 60 lbs. and try to reach 80 lbs. by the third set. I could never do it. However, when I began my first set at 80 lbs. after a 5 minute warm-up, I could succesfully bust out 8 reps at 80 lbs. and continue with nearly the same intensity for two more sets!

Maybe it's psychological, or maybe I'm doing something wrong. LOL.

I think it's great to learn your body - it is different for everyone. You might be jumping up too fast. For arms, my pyramid is the equivalent of 2.5 pounds per side, so 5 lbs if I am doing both arms (i.e. I would not jump more than that). With bigger muscles, like legs, I'll do bigger jumps (i.e. 20 pounds, etc.)

And it is always FINE to disagree with me, because I do NOT know it all! I learn something almost every day here, so I enjoy sharing what I do know and then learning alternative views and even when my information is wrong. So thanks for the feedback!

Jeremy