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Weight Training

Lifting weights and pushing iron around quickly gets boring - both for you and for your muscles. To keep both you and your body on its toes, try varying the routine a little.

When you were first shown strength training you were probably taught to perform a set of repetitions three or four times at the same weight.

When you could do all that comfortably, you upped the weight a notch. That's been the theory of strength building since the days when Samson used to practice horizontal shoulder presses on pillars. It's a system that works, but that doesn't mean it's the only one, and whether you're trying to tone up or bulk up it pays to vary the routine.

PYRAMID POWER

There's nothing that complicated about pyramid sets. You start with lighter weights and more repetitions, then increase the weights and decrease the repetitions with each set. Starting with 'light and lots' helps stretch and warm the muscles before you hit them with the heavy stuff and so helps prevent injury. Psychologically it also becomes easier to move up to heavier weights; although each set gets heavier it also involves fewer reps. Us men in particular tend to enjoy pyramid sets because we're forever trying to play with heavier dumbbells or notch the machine up one more number than before. The pyramid system means that the final set is probably using a heavier weight than we could manage in the classic approach (albeit for fewer repetitions), so we get to walk away from the machine feeling well chuffed.

Try this pyramid set with dumbbells - please note that these weights are just for guidance, if you happen to be built like a carthorse then clearly you would need to up the weight.

Try doing curls, standing in front of the mirror, and using a 'hammer' grip so that when your arm is at the top of the lift the weight is vertical in your hand, as if you were holding a hammer. Don't move your upper body or shoulder to help with the exercise.

• Set 1 - 1 kg dumbbell, 12 reps
• Set 2 - 1.5 kg dumbbell, 10 reps
• Set 3 - 2 kg dumbbell, 8 reps

You get the idea. The same principle can be applied to any of the weight machines, the Smith machine or the free weights.

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