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HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT WEIGHT?
🕑 Added 2022-12-12 18:22:18 +0000 UTCHOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT WEIGHT FOR STRENGHT TRAINING?
One of the most frequent questions that my readers ask me is about progression of load in exercises. And more specifically, the choice of the right weights in the exercise. The matter is that this weight is not static, and it must constantly change, according to the principle of overload. And that’s where the problems begin. Not only is it difficult for beginners to understand what weight should be used for this or that exercise. Even if they have already chosen proper weight once, it should be changed next workout. A lot of questions arise and they are all extremely important. Let’s look into this.
LOAD PROGRESSION
LOAD PROGRESSION (INCREASE) IS NECESSARY FOR PROGRESSION (INCREASE) OF MUSCLE SIZE!!! This is the first point. I’m not going to go into detail right now. If this issue is important to you, read the article “How to Grasp Supercompensation”. In a few words:
- YOUR BODY DOES ONLY EXPEDIENT THINGS (it wastes energy when forced)
- IT IS NOT EXPEDIENT TO GROW MUSLES (CONSUME RESOURCES) (if it is not necessary)
- PROGRESSIVE LOAD = such NECESSITY (to grow muscle)
CONCLUSION: IF THE LOAD DOESN’T CHANGE, MUSCLES WON’T CHANGE EITHER!! Would you hire another worker at a chair production company, if your current staff can handle the existing number of monthly orders without problems? No. You won’t because you will have to pay, and there will be no benefit (i.e., it is not expedient for you). When will you hire such worker? Only when there are more orders and your current staff can’t cope with them. Only then will you begin to increase the number of workers when it is necessary. Right? Well, progressive load is the new orders for chairs. Only in the first case, it leads to muscle growth, and in the second case, it results in the growth of personnel at your company. It’s the same.
It’s one of the most basic ERRORS for everyone training at gyms. PEOPLE DO NOT CHANGE THE LOAD FOR YEARS (NO LOAD PROGRESSION) AND THEREFORE THEY DO NOT GROW FOR YEARS!!!
WHAT IS THE LOAD
Great. We realized that there’s a NEED FOR LOAD PROGRESSION. Let’s move on. What is the load anyway? Most people think it’s WEIGHTS ON A BARBELL. So this is true. But it’s only one part of the load, because the LOAD IS MULTIFACED and it has different components. For example, you can make 4 bench press sets with 100 kg weight and 5 reps per set. Or you can change the weight. You can take, for example, 50 kg, but do not 5, but 15 reps with this weight. You can also do 10 sets rather than 4. In which case would the load be bigger? In the former case you lifted 100 kg X 5 reps X 4 sets = 2 000 kg, while in the latter case you lifted 50 kg X 15 reps X 10 sets = 7 500 kg. Feel the difference? And we do not take into account a lot of other important things which affect the load. For example, the speed of movement or the principles of increasing intensity such as supersets or forced reps.
CONCLUSION: THE LOAD INVOLVES ALL ASPECTS OF TRAINING. It is WEIGHT ON A BARBELL, NUMBER OF REPS AND SETS, REST TIME AND TIME UNDER LOAD etc.
WEIGHT ON A BARBELL is the easiest and intuitive factor in this endless list. That’s why beginner athletes are advised to achieve load progression by increasing the weight on a barbell. It’s hard to make a mistake or get confused. You either squat 50 kg or 100 kg or 250 kg... And even a fool would see that the load changes. And if he doesn’t understand it, at least he’ll see that the legs of the guy who squats 250 kg are much bigger than the legs of the guy who does it at 50 kg.
Okay. That’s clear. Load consists of different aspects and can therefore be increased in different ways. What are the MAIN WAYS?
LOAD PROGRESSION METHODS
- WEIGHT ON A BARBELL (dumbbells, machines, etc.)
- NUMBER OF REPS PER SET (But keep in mind, best growth range = 6-12 reps)
- NUMBER OF SETS (increase in total load per workout, more exercises or more sets in each exercise, or both)
- SUPER TECHNIQUE (using the principles of increasing intensity such as: supersets, forced reps, complex sets, drop sets, etc.)
What should you pay attention to? The 1st and 2nd methods of progression (WEIGHT ON A BARBELL, NUMBER OF REPS) are the safest for the body’s regenerative abilities, because using these methods you simply cannot physically take more load than your body is capable of at the moment.
The other two methods to increase the load are more dangerous as “natural safety mechanisms” are less and less engaged and therefore when implementing the methods an athlete can get such a large overload of the muscle and the body as a whole, that it will drive him into a state of OVERTRAINING (then any growth will stop at all).
This is very relevant for the NUMBER OF SETS and SUPER TECHNIQUE. If you start adding sets and exercises without control, or if you start to use massively professional methods of increasing intensity (supersets, negatives, forced, etc.), in most cases you will get regress instead of progress.
Remember, for 99% of gym visitors, the main ways to achieve load progression is to use WEIGHT ON A BARBELL + NUMBER OF REPS since it guarantees muscle growth, on the one hand. And it is safe for muscles and body, on the other hand. What else do you need?
HOW MUCH WEIGHT SHOULD YOU PUT ON THE BARBELL
The weight on the barbell will primarily depend on the number of reps that you plan to make in a set. These two parameters are inversely proportional. THE MORE WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL = THE LESS REPS; THE LESS WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL, THE MORE REPS.
Why am I telling you this? Because in order to choose the WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL, you need to decide HOW MANY REPS YOU WOULD DO in the exercise. You can do 1 rep, or you can do 10 or 50. In each case, the weight will change significantly.
KEEP IN MIND: THE OPTIMAL NUMBER OF REPS FOR MUSCLE GROWTH WILL BE FROM 6 TO 12!!!!
This number of reps would ensure that your muscles stay under load for the right time. Less reps - more strength (no muscle growth). More reps - more stamina (no muscle growth). In most cases, that’s how many reps you need to do for muscle growth. The next point is about MUSCLE FAILURE (i.e. failure to do another rep in the exercise). MUSCLE FAILURE MUST OCCUR WITHIN 6-12 REPS. This is important. Let’s say you choose the weight with which you can easily do 50 reps, but you stop after 6-12 reps. The muscles will not grow (too light load), as the failure will not occur at the right limit of reps. Now we’re ready to select the right weight to put on the barbell.
YOU NEED TO CHOOSE A WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL THAT ALLOWS YOU TO REACH A FAILURE WITHIN 6-12 REPS.
This weight would be different (individual) for each person, in each exercise, because everyone has his own training history. Moreover, somebody does the exercise slowly and somebody does it quickly, so the former needs less reps (6-8) and the latter needs more reps (10-12). For example, I do 6 reps in heavy presses, and 10 reps in light flyes. BUT I’m not out of the right range. I choose such WEIGHT so that failure would occur at 6-12.
Among other things, WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL will depend on a number of other individual features, such as REST BETWEEN SETS (more rest - more weight) or MOVEMENT TECHNIQUE (the less secondary muscles work, the less weight on the barbell), etc.
CONCLUSION: WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL IS ALWAYS INDIVIDUAL because it depends on fitness, rest, speed of movement, form and many other individual features. YOU MUST CHOOSE WEIGHT BASED ON EXPERIENCE (so that the failure would occur within the right reps limit).
Before I tell you the specific algorithm of initial weight selection in the exercise, I want to touch upon the issue of FORM, because the form will have a very strong influence on the weight you can manage. What am I talking about? YOU CAN TAKE MORE WEIGHT BY COMPROMISING YOUR FORM because the load goes partly to secondary muscle groups. WHEN YOU USE THE PROPER FORM, YOU WILL WORK WITH LESS WEIGHT because all the load will be safely concentrated in the right muscle. Since our goal in bodybuilding is to GROW MUSCLES (not increase in strength), KEEP YOUR FORM RIGHT (it makes the exercise more difficult but more useful for specific muscles).
PROFESSIONAL BODYBUILDERS ARE LOOKING FOR A WAY TO MAKE MUSCLE WORK HARDER, NOT EASIER. This is an extremely important moment. Do not look for ways to lighten the load with such techniques as “cheating” or other violations of form. This makes the LOAD LIGHTER rather than heavier (regression instead of progression).
ALGORITHM FOR CHOOSING INITIAL WEIGHT
Let’s say you decided to do bench press. You have a specific scheme which recommends to do 6-10 reps in a working set. Which weight should you choose, if you never pressed before? Let’s make an experiment.
TAKE MEDIUM WEIGHT (it’s usually 40-50 kg for men) AND TRY TO DO 10 REPS.
- We did less (failure after 8 reps) = BINGO (we chose the right weight since 8 is in the range of 6-10 reps)
- We did the planned number of reps (10) = INCREASE THE WEIGHT (the load is too small, since the failure did not occur in the range of 6-10)
ADD 5-10 kg (if the last rep was hard - add 5 kg, if easy - add 10 kg) I.e. we put 60 kg and do the next set.
- We did less than 10 reps = BINGO (this is our working weight. We found it)
- We did the planned number of reps (10) = INCREASE THE WEIGHT.
WE ADD ANOTHER 5-10 KG, i.e. if we did 60 kg, put 65 kg or 70 kg. Do the 3rd set.
- We did less than 10 reps = BINGO (this is our working weight)
- We did 10 = INCREASE THE WEIGHT
- etc.
This is how we “feel” the right working weight. After you do it once, you WILL KNOW WHAT WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL YOU MUST USE in this exercise. So you won’t be experimenting at the next workout. After warming up, you will take the working weight and do the exercise with it. This will be the weight from which your muscles will grow best, because the failure will occur in the right range of reps.
CHOOSING THE NEXT WEIGHT (WITH LOAD PROGRESSION)
After we have chosen the weight we need in the exercise, the problem of progression of such weight arises. I.e. WHAT WEIGHT SHOULD YOU CHOOSE FOR THE NEXT WORKOUT? The answer is quite simple: YOU NEED TO TAKE HEAVIER WEIGHT IF IT ALLOWS YOU TO STAY WITHIN THE REQUIRED RANGE (6-12) OF REPS.
Usually it is + 2 +5 kg at the initial stage of training and + 1 kg at an advanced stage. The more trained your muscles become, the harder it will be for you to add kilos to the barbell. Finally, there will be a moment when you will practically stop adding more weight or the progress would slow down so that it would be not visible in two consecutive workouts. Therefore, at an advanced stage, you will have to move on to other ways of LOAD PROGRESSION mentioned above (increase the load volume, use super techniques, etc.). But that will be later. And how do you add weight now?
There are different ways. I’ll tell you about the most simple and clear method for most athletes. Let’s assume that at the previous chest workout you did a number of bench press sets.
- 20 kg X 20 reps (warm-up)
- 40 kg X 15 reps (warm-up)
- 60 kg X 12 (working set)
- 60 kg X 11 (working set)
- 60 kg X 10 (working set)
- 60 kg X 10 (working set)
The first two sets we did to warm up our ligaments and muscles with light weight. After that, we put our working weight and did FOUR WORKING SETS where the number of reps gradually dropped as fatigue was accumulating. It’s a common example.
Now we have the next workout and we need to increase THE WEIGHT ON THE BARBELL. Let’s say we added + 5 kg and that’s what we did:
- 65 kg X 8
- 65 kg X 7
- 65 kg X 6
- 65 kg X 5
You can see that the number of reps has decreased as the weight has increased. In the first THREE sets we were able to do the number of reps within the right range (6-12), and in the FOURTH one we were unable to do it (we did only 5 reps), i.e. violated it. What should we do at next workout? We should try to do more reps with the new weight, or reduce the weight where we did not manage to stay within the right range. Here’s what we did (for example):
- 65 kg X 10
- 65 kg X 9
- 65 kg X 8
- 60 kg X 11
You see that we did more reps with the weight we had at the previous training. What is this? This is the LOAD PROGRESSION that we needed. And even in the last set (where we seem to have decreased weight), we did more reps than two workouts ago (THIS IS THE PROGRESS).
What are we going to do next? At each next workout, we will try to INCREASE THE NUMBER OF REPS IN WORK SETS UNTIL WE REACH 12. When this happens, we will add +5 kg again (the number of reps will decrease) and start again until we reach 12 reps with this weight. THE CYCLE LOOKS LIKE THIS
- WE ADD WEIGHT = NUMBER OF REPS DROPS (in 6-12 range)
- WE TRY TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF REPS AT EACH WORKOUT
- WE REACH 12 REPS = ADD MORE WEIGHT
It is a very simple and reasonable way to control your progress in an exercise. At an advanced stage, you may no longer play a game with a range of repetitions, and just put more weight when you feel ready for it. That’s what professionals do. But it’s only after they have studied their body and their reaction to weight progression.
I can tell you how much weight I will be able to work with today even at warm-up sets, because I used the scheme that I described to you for many years before. If you can’t do it exactly that way, it’s logical to use a more simple and reasonable way.
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