Pyramid Upper Body
Cathe FriedrichYear Released: 2002
Categories: Balance/Medicine/Mini/Stability Ball, Upper Body Strength
My overall impression of this workout is good. It does what it claims to do, which is to use a pyramid system of weight-training, to strengthen each muscle group in the upper body. Cathe made it a bit more interesting than the typical pyramid system, because she combined 2 or more exercises as opposed to doing a pyramid for only one exercise at a time. For chest, Cathe combined a chest fly with a bench press, did one set of both exercises, consecutively, with one set of dumbbells, then increased the weights and did another set of both exercises, increased the weights again, did another set of both exercises, then decreased the weights, did another set of both exercises, decreased the weights again to the lightest weights, and did the last set of both exercises. She did a pyramid for back, performing a supine lying overhead pullover followed by a standing double arm bent-over row (I didn't like this much because I didn't like repeatedly lying down and standing up). For shoulders, she did a combination of 3 exercises: a seated bent-over rear delt fly, followed by standing side lateral raises and front raises. For triceps, she did a standing bent-over double tricep kickback followed by a seated overhead French press using one heavy dumbbell. For biceps, she did a double hammer curl followed by a biceps curl. All exercises were done with dumbbells.
Abdominals were last, using a large stability ball. She did a series of exercises lying supine, where you raise the ball overhead and do a sit-up, and one where you sit up and kick the ball which is out in front of you. Another exercise involved sitting on the floor, leaning back and twisting while holding the ball. There was also a twisting exercise done seated on the ball. The toughest exercises were done in a plank position, with your hands on the floor and the ball under the shins. One exercise involved rolling the ball inward as you bend your knees toward your chest. The other exercise which was the toughest, involved placing the hands on the floor and bending at the hip joints and raising the body into a pike position while rolling the ball underneath you. I think this was one of the toughest abdominal exercises I've ever seen in all my years of exercising. I found it quite difficult to do for several reasons; the abdominals were already quite fatigued by then and it felt like a lot of pressure on the wrists. In general though, it's a very difficult and effective workout for abs, designed for the advanced exerciser.
There was a warm-up and a cool-down in this workout. There were also modifications shown, for example, in the ab section, with Brenda, our star VFer, who did not use the stability ball.
What I liked about the workout was that I think the pyramid system is very effective in working the muscles to fatigue. I think that continuous use of this system would get good toning results. There are however, some drawbacks, in my opinion. One of the drawbacks is that the variety of exercises is limited to 2 per body part (except for shoulders) and some of those exercises are not the most effective exercises for the body part. For example, there are no military presses for shoulders. I don't think that rear delt flyes are the best exercise for a pyramid system because most people use light weights and cannot go heavy on rear delt flyes. I think military (overhead) shoulder presses would have been a better choice to include in the shoulder giant set. I feel the same regarding the choice of lying overhead pullover for back, the form for which was not well-explained, and which many people may not do correctly at home without instruction. I also don't think that the lying overhead pulldown is the most effective exercise for back, and could potentially cause rotator cuff injuries, if performed with too heavy a weight or with improper form. I think that Cathe may have chosen it to do something different or for variety. In general, I feel that additional exercises for each body part is required for a truly thorough strength workout for upper body. I think that this tape is great, so long as it would be used in combination with others, such as Cathe's MIS, PS, CTX Upper Body and others.
The other problem I had with this workout is that I was losing interest and concentration because each pyramid up and down took so long. I found myself watching the clock. Part of the problem, in my opinion, was that there were too many reps for each set. A pyramid system is designed to allow a person to go heavier than they could normally go, because as the weights get heavier, the reps get less. I felt that Cathe did so many reps, at the heaviest weight, that it was not possible to go to the heaviest weight I could use for an exercise, and especially knowing that there was still a long downward pyramid coming after the heaviest weight set. I think that I could not go as heavy as possible since there was more than one exercise being performed each set.
Still, I would recommend this workout to advanced exercisers looking for an effective alternative to work the upper body.
Instructor Comments:
Cathe's experience and professionalism shines through on this video. She uses excellent form, gives form pointers throughout, seems friendly and cheerful and relaxed, and is in great condition---especially in view of the fact that she had her 2nd baby just months earlier!