When To Progress

[Legion Kreinak]

I was just curious, regardless of using weights or not, any type of training, be it cardio or strength training, how do you know when to increase? I hear to just go up 5% mileage/weight every week, or every other week to force endurance and strength gains. I'm just curious, so I have a guideline to follow there.

 

[Night Fly]

I am trying to get my squat poundage up...so I set a goal that I would try to go up 10 lbs every week on my last set. If I can't do that...I will do 5 lbs.

I think you just have to go with what you feel...and sometimes realize that even if you don't feel strong that day...you may be able to do more than you think.

Heck...I don't know, really. That is just what I do. If you are wanting some kind of percentage...you might want to ask spatts or someone like that. She's really good with that kind of stuff.

 

[supersizeme]

You don't need to overcomplicate it by getting into percentages and whatnot, especially considering how new you seem to be at this. These are all things that you're going to have to figure out for yourself. Some people get stronger faster than others, and some people build endurance faster than others. You can't really go an put an arbitrary number on what your progress needs to be. Just get a handle on where your limit is, be it how far you can run without having to stop and walk or how many reps you can crank out with a certain weight and work towards breaking that limit. Then once you find that you're easily reaching that mark, you kick it up a notch. You run another couple hundred yards or a mile or whatever before you start walking. Or you pick up the next heavier set of dumbells and start working towards a set number of reps.

 

[supersizeme]

You don't need to overcomplicate it by getting into percentages and whatnot, especially considering how new you seem to be at this. These are all things that you're going to have to figure out for yourself. Some people get stronger faster than others, and some people build endurance faster than others. You can't really go an put an arbitrary number on what your progress needs to be. Just get a handle on where your limit is, be it how far you can run without having to stop and walk or how many reps you can crank out with a certain weight and work towards breaking that limit. Then once you find that you're easily reaching that mark, you kick it up a notch. You run another couple hundred yards or a mile or whatever before you start walking. Or you pick up the heavier dumbells and start working towards a set number of reps.

 

[spatts]

I give it my all every time, and I might not make any progress for a few weeks, then all of a sudden, a huge PR. I go in spurts. I figure my body has building phases and recovering phases, and it knows what it's doing. I just follow the cues.

 

[Mildot]

Well said, supersizeme.

I use a 5x5 or 4x6 system on my squat, deadlift and bench. When I reach 20 total reps, I bump the weight up 10 lbs. Working well for me.