PT Pyramids for Pullups, Pushups, Dips and Situps

If you take a look at one of the pyramids, you will notice that it is numbered on both sides. It goes from 1-5 on one side, with the number 6 on the top, and then 5-1 on the other side. Each number represents a step in the pyramid. Your goal is to climb the pyramid all the way up, and all the way back down. So you can consider each step a "set" of your workout.

At the bottom, you will find "pullups x 1, pushups x 2, situps x 3". What this means is that at each "set" or step of the pyramid, you perform 1 pullup for every step you are on, 2 pushups for each step, and 3 situps for each step.

You start at the bottom of the pyramid, at number one. For each set, you times that set number by 1 and that tells you how many pullups to do. You multiply it by 2 to get your pushups, and multiply by 3 for situps. So you keep progressing until you get to the top of the pyramid, or your MAX At step ten you perform 10 pullups/ 20 pushups/30 situps. Now you start working your way back down the other side. So the next set you do will be at step 9 on the way back down. So, you'll do 9 pullups/18 pushups/27 situps. Keep going until you worked all the way back down to one. So here is a number summary of the pyramid:

Go up the pyramid: (or half pyramid workout)
Set/Step 1: 1 pullups/2 pushups/3 situps
Set/Step 2: 2 pullups/4 pushups/6 situps
Set/Step 3: 3 pullups/6 pushups/9 situps
Set/Step 4: 4 pullups/8 pushups/12 situps
Set/Step 5: 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 situps (Your first set sets are basically a warmup)
Set/Step 6: 6 pullups/12 pushups/18 situps
Set/Step 7: 7 pullups/14 pushups/21 situps
Set/Step 8: 8 pullups/16 pushups/24 situps
Set/Step 9: 9 pullups/18 pushups/27 situps
Set/Step 10: 10 pullups/20 pushups/30 situps (Here is where you should fail / max out)

Go down the pyramid: (or reverse order pyramid = toughest to easiest number of reps)
Set/Step 9: 9 pullups/18 pushups/27 situps
Set/Step 8: 8 pullups/16 pushups/24 situps
Set/Step 7: 7 pullups/14 pushups/21 situps
Set/Step 6: 6 pullups/12 pushups/18 situps
Set/Step 5: 5 pullups/10 pushups/15 situps (Still tough until this point reaching failure at every level)
Set/Step 4: 4 pullups/8 pushups/12 situps
Set/Step 3: 3 pullups/6 pushups/9 situps
Set/Step 2: 2 pullups/4 pushups/6 situps
Set/Step 1: 1 pullups/2 pushups/3 situps (Finish cool down)

In conclusion - the pyramid has a warmup. max out, and cooldown all built in AND will definitely help you with your PT scores.

Other creative ideas:

ADD: dips to the exercises for additional tricep /shoulder burn. I usually do the same number of dips as I do pushups.

ADD: Running 100 sprints to add some killer cardio. These will hurt you and you will lose your juice quickly so bring gaotroade for blood sugar / electrolyte replacement and water to drink...

Enjoy the workout idea. If you are interested in fitting pyramid workouts into a comprehensive training program check out the StewSmith eBook Fitness Store.

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