starting with heaviest weight to lowest or low to high?

[pblade]

What is your working out method and why do you feel it works best?

I start off with low weights to warm up my muscle and then after each set I gradually increase the weight, however I am hearing some people actually start off with say for example their max, then next next would be 80% max, then 60%, etc. What are your opinions?

[JacktheThriller]

best thing is experiment and see how your different muscle groups react to different pyramid schemes, maybe your biceps need reverse pyramid, and alternatively your legs may need basic pyramid, a common misconception is that you train the whole body in the same way, you dont have to at all. Use weightlifting as a scientific method to figure out personal maximization. use different methods and different routines, dont use exercises you dont get anything out of, same for training styles

[O-Train]

You can't walk in the gym and lift your max. It just won't happen. Even if you could it's a terrible idea. Tune out those people you've been hearing.

[Praetorian]

The sets that make you grow are the ones at near maximum weight and intensity for a specific rep range. Pyramiding up in weight to your heaviest is fine as long as you are not taxing the muscle or the CNS and just using the below maximum weights as a warmup to increase blood flow and prepare the body and mind for the heavy weights. If you are using the warmups as actual training then you are greatly reducing the intensity of the workout and your ability to grow. That would in effect be running the 1500 metres and then going to do the 100m sprint immediately after...how fast do you think youll be?
The idea is to warmup sufficiently to prevent injury and prepare mentally for the heavysets but not tire yourself out.
P

[Victor85]

Like the rest of the other people who responded, I favour using the lower weights and increasing to heaviest as the sets progress.

When I was younger I was able to jump straight to the heavy weights right of the get-go. No warm up, nothing. Slowly it caught up to me and now I got some shoulder issues that chronicaly flare up. Listen to your body and figure out what works for you. My 2 cents

[LondonMuscle]

increasing the weight gradually is necessary to both warm and strength the muscles as well as ramp up the CNS getting it used to the neural pattern of exercise

i actually do very low rep warmups, triples and work up to max on my first exercise over 6-7 with shorter RIs cept for the last two sets where I take a bit more time... when I hit my 3RM I drop the weight about 20% and do one or two work sets there and then move on to the next exercise

so if bench is my first exercise for chest then id do 3x135, 3x225, 3x275, 3x315, 3x365, 3x385 and 3x405... all of the reps are done explosively with the intention of increasing muscle fiber recruitment but building up minimal lactic acid which is why the reps are kept low... after the last triple I will take a few mins, drop the weight 20% or so to about 325 and then do one working set at that weight and get as many reps as I can

after that routine you should be able to bench more at 325 than you could if you did higher rep warmup sets in a more traditional style... for the exercises that follow I do very little in terms of warm up sets as everything is totally warmed up, the CNS and the muscles

[Praetorian]

increasing the weight gradually is necessary to both warm and strength the muscles as well as ramp up the CNS getting it used to the neural pattern of exercise

i actually do very low rep warmups, triples and work up to max on my first exercise over 6-7 with shorter RIs cept for the last two sets where I take a bit more time... when I hit my 3RM I drop the weight about 20% and do one or two work sets there and then move on to the next exercise

so if bench is my first exercise for chest then id do 3x135, 3x225, 3x275, 3x315, 3x365, 3x385 and 3x405... all of the reps are done explosively with the intention of increasing muscle fiber recruitment but building up minimal lactic acid which is why the reps are kept low... after the last triple I will take a few mins, drop the weight 20% or so to about 325 and then do one working set at that weight and get as many reps as I can

after that routine you should be able to bench more at 325 than you could if you did higher rep warmup sets in a more traditional style... for the exercises that follow I do very little in terms of warm up sets as everything is totally warmed up, the CNS and the muscles

Exactly...I do slightly more reps but less sets to my maximum first set....the idea however is the same...warmup but dont tire yourself out(prepare the body and mind)...first set 5-6 reps ...drop the weight slightly for the second set 7-8 reps...and thats usually it....for less experienced lifters they can get away with more working sets because the level of intensity is inherently lower...ie less neural recruitment. The following exercises requir emuch less in the way of wrmups as well.
P