When To Increase Your Weights In The Gym
The Gym can be a very intimidating place.
And there are few things more intimidating than increasing the weights you lift.
Whenever I rack on a few extra KGs I still hear my Mum’s Voice:
“You be careful Adam!”
And I respond like my 14-year-old self with a “Yes Mother” in my own head.
Ask most people who haven’t spent a long time in the Gym, or working out, and they will tell you that a Gym is a dangerous place and that if you lift too heavy…you will hurt yourself.
Interestingly the most common person to be injured in a Gym is a 27-year-old male,:
“Patients' mean age was 27.6 years (range, 6-100 years); 82.3% were male”
And most of the time…they are trying to get the Pectoral Muscles and shoulders of a Greek God:
“The upper trunk (25.3%) and lower trunk (19.7%) were the most commonly injured body parts” [1]
And women, I’m not sure what you have been doing but…
“Females had a larger proportion of foot injuries” [1]
Actually, I found some footage that might explain this:
From 1990 to 2007, 25 335 weight training injuries were seen in US emergency departments, correlating to an estimated 970 801 injuries nationwide
That is four injuries a day that went to an Emergency Department - in the whole of the United States.
“The most common diagnosis was sprain/strain (46.1%). The most common mechanism of injury was weights dropping on the person (65.5%)” [1]
The Gym is a relatively safe space to exert yourself physically.
It's far safer than contact sport participation.
Don’t get me wrong, Social Sport and participation in a Group Sports Activity are very very important…so much so that after years of retirement, I have rejuvenated my career as a Football Referee here in Australia.
Yes. This is in Australia. I was promised sun and sand…its all lies…
Social Sport is very important for many aspects of your wellbeing - but mainly:
Community
Humility
Sense of Achievement
Enjoyable Exercise
Eye Hand Co-ordination
And I recommend everyone finds a sport they enjoy to participate in but you do get more injures on the field of play than you do on the Gym Floor.
This is mainly due to the duration of exercise and fatigue setting in.
However, the stigma around the Gym being dangerous, especially for non-gym goers is very real and very true.
The fact that the most common diagnoses in the Gym were sprains/strains leads me to believe one main thing that too many people are “upping the weights” far too quickly, or misunderstand how, why, and when to increase the weights they are lifting.
Thus leading to the 46% rate of strains and sprains.
So here we are.
Let me take you through when to increase your weights in the Gym, so it remains effective for your goals, sensible for you ability and above all lets you be in charge of the decisions you need to make when it comes to putting on 5 more kgs!
Table of Contents for “When To Increase Your Weights In The Gym”:
What are Sets and Reps? A Practical History Lesson
What Sets And Reps Should I Chose?
How much weight should I actually choose? And at what Intensity?
Progressive Overload
When To Increase Your Weights In The Gym
Bottom Line
To be able to explain and empower you to make strong and informed decisions about your weight training, I will need to first explain to you why we have different numbers for Sets and Reps. I’m a firm believer in understanding the systems in place, and why, so that when you make decisions on those systems you are making a much more informed decision.
I can’t simply tell you when to increase your weights in the gym, without first telling you the context behind the decisions that will determine the weights you chose in the first place.
If you want to know the Golden Rule for When To Increase Your Weights In The Gym - it is written at the bottom of this article. But I would encourage you to get the education and context you need to help you make a better decision when the time comes to lift heavier.
So here is your context:
What are Sets and Reps? A Practical History Lesson
Simply put:
A Set is one group of repetitions of a particular exercise you will perform, typically with rest after the set is completed and before you commence a new set.
A Rep is the number of repetitions of a single exercise you will do within a set.
So if you did 10 push-ups, in three separate non-stop goes with a rest time in between each block of push-ups, you have achieved 3 Sets of 10 Reps of a Push-Up.
The History of a Set
When I write my programs I play around with Reps more than I do with Sets.
I ask my online clients to typically perform 3 sets of each exercise or 5 sets of each exercise. But very rarely fewer than that.
The reason behind this is steeped in lots of Science that is very much agreed upon in the Fitness Industry.
In May 2015, a study was done on 48 men with no experience in Resistance Training and it split them into three Groups: 1 SET, 3 SETS, and 5 SETS.
Over 6 months the men trained 3x a week and the study found:
“that multiple sets would result in greater changes in strength and local muscular endurance than single-set training and that there would be a dose-response for these same measures were supported.” [2]
Concluding that multiple sets are more beneficial than singular sets in un-trained populations.
And as I am called The Gym Starter I suppose that is what I should educate you about.
This 2015 study also found that any number of sets was effective for Body Composition:
“The percentage of body fat was reduced significantly and FFM (fat-free mass) significantly increased in all training groups, with no significant difference between groups”
The whole 3 sets of 10 are quite an interesting story….
A physician 1948 called Thomas L. DeLorme prescribed 3 Sets of 10 Reps of resistance training to his injured patients to help with their rehabilitation, and he recorded his results. Once they were published, that was it.
3 sets of 10 Reps became “permanently etched into the collective subconscious of the fitness community.” [3]
So that is our default starting point thanks to Dr Tom with Sets.
The History of a Rep
You can play around with Reps a little more in a workout - which is fun.
Because different Rep ranges elicit a different response in the Muscle.
The lower the number of Reps you are working in, the heavier the weight you should try to lift.
Here are the Guidelines:
1-5 Reps = Power
Think of this range as “very heavy, very intense” just want to get strong AF. Lots of concentrated effort and it will tax your Central Nervous System a lot more.
(Intense being a word we will come back to later)
Recommended Rest Time Between Sets: 2mins
5-8 Reps = Strength
Think of this as granite strength. Not explosive power, but solid and stable, useful for sports performance.
Not as intense as Power, but still aware you have worked hard.
Recommended Rest Time Between Sets: 90secs
8-12 Reps = Hypertrophy
Your “Popping” muscles. This is the range you want to be in to grow your muscles and make them show.
This range increases Sarcoplasm in your muscle, which is responsible for 30% of the total makeup of your muscle.
This is why it helps make them look bigger.
If only it was as easy as eating a can of Spinach!
Recommended Rest Time Between Sets: 60-90secs
12-20 Reps = Muscular Endurance
This would be where you want to be if you are an Endurance Athlete. Training and building your muscular ability to train for an extended period of time.
If you are working on this aspect of your training, then you will be typically be lifting lighter weights, but for a longer period of time.
If you’re a runner, triathlete, or cyclist this is where you will want to be, as you will not only create more ability in the muscle, but it will also help your injury prevention.
Recommended Rest Time Between Sets: 60secs
The Bottom Line on Sets and Reps
Think of Sets and Reps as an intricate web that interacts with itself.
Just because you are doing 12 Reps of an Exercise as opposed to 8 doesn’t mean you aren’t getting stronger.
Or just because you only do 6 Reps of an Exercise, it doesn’t mean that muscle isn’t gaining the long-term ability for that movement.
Each Rep Rage is a guideline. A guideline that supports all of the others at the same time.
What Sets and Reps Should I Choose?
Like with most things, I like to keep it simple when constructing a workout and this can be overthought, over-philosophized, and over-complicated very quickly.
So this is how my brain figures it all out…whenever I am programming for one of my clients on my Strong and Confident Coaching Program
The guiding principle of my structure is Intensity.
I have to consider their Goals, Ability, and above all enjoyment.
Intensity guides everything.
I want my clients to be working most intensely when they have the most energy.
Intensity can be established in three ways in a workout:
More Sets
More Reps
More Weight
I will show you these looks in a workout, in a little bit. But first I will need to talk you through how to judge your Intensity - as that will tell you how and when you should increase your weights in the Gym.
But if you want a very quick answer to What Sets and Reps should I choose?
My best advice is this:
Pick an Exercise.
Pick something. Anything within the Rep ranges I have outlined previously for your goals: 3 Sets of 10 Reps. 4 Sets of 12 Reps. 5 Sets of 5 Reps.
Pick a weight - any weight you feel comfortable with - but err on the side of caution, to begin with.
Then execute. See how it feels. And amend from there.
The next time you come to do that exercise, try and do a little more.
You can do this by either - increasing your Reps, increasing your Sets, or increasing your Weight.
If you want to stay in a particular Rep range, for a particular reason - muscle growth, endurance, etc, then when you find your ability is exceeding the weight you have chosen, you can either increase the weight or increase the Sets.
Most people chose to increase their weight - because it’s simply more time-efficient.
How much weight should I actually choose? And at What Intensity?
When you are in the Gym, on your own, without an expert…it is surprising how good you will be at judging what weight to use.
You won’t always get it right.
Sometimes it will be too light, sometimes it will be too heavy.
And that’s ok…because you need to remember:
Yes. I quoted myself.
Let’s move on…
Personal Trainers don’t automatically know what weights to choose for each client, we simply have the best guess….and amend from there based on the performance we see.
You too can only try something. And amend from there.
Once you have your starting point there is a guideline to let you know whether or not you are working hard enough throughout a given Set of movements.
Or the more accurate term for this is “Intensity”.
When it comes to resistance training you must apply a certain level of stress on the body in order to achieve the desired outcome. As in, its pretty pointless lifting 2kg Dumbells on a Bench Press if you aren’t working to the correct intensity.
A systematic review called ”Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods” on literature between 1996 and September 2019 which was published in 2019, concluded the following:
“Effective hypertrophy-oriented training should comprise a combination of mechanical tension and metabolic stress. In summary, foundations for individuals seeking to maximize muscle growth should be hypertrophy-oriented RT consisting of multiple sets (3−6) of six to 12 repetitions with short rest intervals (60 s) and moderate-intensity of effort (60−80% 1RM) with subsequent increases in training volume (12–28 sets/muscle/week)”
Now finding your One Rep Max (1RM) isn’t necessary to see results - and this study backs that up, as you need to be working to 60-80% of your 1RM.
How To Establish 60-80% Intensity
The guide you need to use to find this Intensity is called the RPE or Rate of Perceived Exertion Scale.
This is a subjective sliding scale from 1 to 10 which will determine whether or not you are working with enough Intensity in a Set to get the desired outcome.
When I write plans for those I work with Online I don’t tell them what weight to lift, I tell them what RPE to aim for - and let them decide for themselves whether or not the weight they have chosen, is creating a big enough stimulus on their body.
This is how we establish the weights you need to lift, without having a Personal Trainer there with you on the Strong and Confident Program.
The RPE Scale looks like this:
Throughout a workout, you want to be working through the RPE Scale in this manner:
Warm Up = 1-2 RPE
Main Movement For The Day = 8-9 RPE
Rest Of Workout = 6-8 RPE
Optional Cardio-Metabolic Finisher = 8-9 RPE
In an actual Workout that I have written for my Client Tim it looks like this:
You will notice that as the workout progresses the Target RPE drops. This is to account for fatigue over a workout. If you can keep the Intensity high throughout then be my guest - but remember it’s always a balance between what is possible and what is optimal.
If what is optimal might hurt you - let’s not do that.
The Main Movement in a workout is the most important part of your workout as well - which is why it has the highest intensity attached to it. In workouts, I write this is always a multi-joint compound movement, and if all a client does in a workout is that one exercise, to the desired RPE, then that is still a successful workout.
And then the rest of the workout is there to support my client’s goals from their fitness.
When it comes to what Weight to actually choose…as you can see there is no one size fits all. Everybody is different, and everybody is different, which is why I would encourage you to use a subjective answer as opposed to an objective one.
When it comes to increasing your weights - and crucially when to increase your weights…we need to discuss one more principle before we bring it all together.
Progressive Overload
Now, we need to go back to Ancient Greece, to learn about a Wrestler called Milo or Croton. Milo was the most successful Wrestler of his day, having won the Ancient Olympic Games, 6 times over. Milo was a six-time wrestling champion at the Ancient Olympic Games in Greece. In 540 BC, he won the boys wrestling category and then proceeded to win the men's competition at the next five Olympic Games in a row. He also dominated the Pythian Games (7-time winner), Isthmian Games (10-time winner), and Nemean Games (9-time winner).
In the rare event that an athlete won not only the Olympic title but also all three other games in one cycle, they were awarded the title of Periodonikes, a grand slam winner. Milo won this grand slam five times. [5]
So how did Milo build such strength and athleticism? Well, it comes in the principle of Progressive Overload - the core and guiding principle of any method of self-development, including building strength.
As legend has it, a baby Calf was born near Milos's home when he was a boy.
Every single day Milo put the Calf on his back and walked him on his shoulders.
Milo did this every day for four years.
The calf grew into a four-year-old bull, and as the animal grew so did Milo of Croton.
This is the guiding principle of strength training - to create a Progressive Overload over time.
As you can imagine your body will adapt to the same stimulus quite quickly also known as a “plateau”, therefore you need to change the stimulus to encourage growth.
Progressive Overload can be created in a number of ways:
Increase the weights you lift in the Gym
Increase the number of Reps you do
Increase the number of Sets you do
Improve your Form through an exercise.
Slow down the Tempo of your Reps or increase “Time Under Tension”
Do more workouts (to a point)
A 2011 study decided to test Progressive Overload.
Researchers found progressive overload — gradually increasing the weight and number of repetitions of exercises — to be effective for increasing bicep strength and muscle growth in both men and women. [6]
Every time you address a bar or a dumbbell, you should give yourself a thought, a task, a mindful check-in, to try and work on one thing on the progressive overload list.
Increasing Weight is always the easiest one to go for, especially as a beginner, but it is quite common to get caught between weights. I.e: 10kgs is too light, and 12.5kgs is too heavy for your Rep Range.
And this is when awareness of Progressive Overload comes into its own - by focussing more on form or time under tension at the same weight one day you will be able to make that 12.5kgs move like a hot knife through butter.
Drawbacks of Progressive Overload
With everything in life, there is a point of diminishing returns.
This is evident in a form of training knowns as German Volume Training - upon which you are expected to do 10 Sets of 10 Reps of an Exercise.
This study in 2017, found that with such a High Load of Volume the actual gains being made after 5 Sets were non-existent. Participants were just wasting time in the Gym and working out for the sheer sake of working out.
The study also concluded, which backs up the study from before when I was discussing Sets and Reps, that:
“To maximize hypertrophic training effects, it is recommended that 4-6 sets per exercise be performed, as it seems gains will plateau beyond this set range and may even regress due to overtraining.” [7]
Ergo more is not always better in the Gym.
Therefore always try to work within the parameters of what we outlined above in terms of Sets and Reps.
With regards to trying to achieve the principle of Progressive Overload, if you go for too much…too quickly it could have negative repercussions, injury for example.
Do it slowly, steadily, and surely.
The only other thing to add here is that the stronger you get, the more slow progression will occur.
“For males, baseline strength capacity appears to be negatively associated with hypertrophy, and thus stronger males may be less likely to experience the same degree of hypertrophic adaptation over 12 weeks as compared to weaker males.” [7]
This is why being aware of all of the aspects that can create a progressive overload is important because when you find you are lifting the same weight week on week, it can get demoralizing. So having other ways and means to demonstrate and experience progress is a great way to keep motivated.
When To Actually Increase Your Weights In The Gym
Now that you know why we do what we do when it comes to the Gym floor, you should be able to establish when it is sensible and logical for you to increase your weights in the Gym.
There are a lot of myths around this as well.
One of the most common ones is that you should “confuse your muscles”.
This is in a word:
Firstly, your muscles don’t have brains - so how can you confuse them? Secondly, there is ZERO Science to back up the Muscle Confusion theory. Thirdly, it will move you away from consistency and our bodies need consistency to be able to adapt. The more you change the less likely you are to see results.
If you really want to confuse your muscles, do it by adding a greater stimulus in a movement that you have been working on - as in - increase the weights you are lifting.
The Golden Rule is coming up…as promised.
I will now tell you EXACTLY when to increase your weights in the Gym
The Golden Rule is:
Increase your weights when in a Set you are no longer hitting “Target RPE”
By working towards your Target RPE you will be in the best position to strike a balance between the intensity required for growth (60-80% of 1RM) and your own personal ability.
Thus protecting you from Injury and still allowing Progressive Overload over time. RPE will take into account all the Progressive Overload factors, such as when you decrease or increase the tempo when you increase or decrease weight when you increase or decrease Sets and Reps your RPE should respond accordingly.
The human body can be a fickle system - especially when it comes to energy levels. RPE also allows for this. If you go to the Gym having slept well, fuelled well, and it’s early in the morning and you are full of beans.
You are likely to be able to produce more effort.
If you are sleep-deprived, tired, and just have no energy, you are likely to produce less effort.
RPE allows for these changes in your system and is more than likely still going to drive you to your goals as you will still be working to between a 60-80% intensity.
The Bottom Line
The answer to this question of when to increase weights in the gym comes down to balance.
You will always be balancing three main factors:
Your own physical ability
Your energy levels
Your likelihood to cause injury
Just walking up to a Barbell with an arbitrary number of KGs on it with no context or frame of reference as to whether you can actually do it, will likely not end well.
And this brings me to my last and final point on the topic.
Tracking your workouts is the key to your success.
You must track your workouts.
Without recording what you are doing then you will have no idea if you are actually making progress, or whether or not you are able to life the weight you want to set yourself.
Track the following data as a minimum:
Weight
Sets
Reps
RPE
If you write nothing else down - those four are the key to your success.
Then from there, when you see the Weight, Sets, and Reps staying the same - and the RPE coming down - you can increase your weights.
Or if you see the Weight, Sets, and Reps staying the same - and the RPE is increasing or not coming down - maybe take some weight off, and try to acquire the progressive overload in another way.
Time Under Tension
Higher Rep Scheme
More Sets
Add a workout into your week
The amount of weight you lift is your prerogative.
All I would ask is that you keep working hard, be consistent, and always try your hardest.
That deosn’t always mean lift more weight or always push yourself beyond belief.
Sometimes working your hardest can be just showing up.
Just remember to make sure every workout is effective to work to the Target RPE and adjust accordingly.
If you do that as each workout passes, you will begin to feel more and more like this:
Because really.
Thats the goal isn’t it.
Become Strong and Confident.
Be the Bad-Ass you were born to be.
Because you deserve to be.
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References:
Kerr ZY, Collins CL, Comstock RD. Epidemiology of weight training-related injuries presenting to United States emergency departments, 1990 to 2007. Am J Sports Med. 2010 Apr;38(4):765-71. doi: 10.1177/0363546509351560. Epub 2010 Feb 5. PMID: 20139328.
Radaelli, Regis1; Fleck, Steven J.2; Leite, Thalita3; Leite, Richard D.4; Pinto, Ronei S.1; Fernandes, Liliam3; Simão, Roberto3 Dose-Response of 1, 3, and 5 Sets of Resistance Exercise on Strength, Local Muscular Endurance, and Hypertrophy, Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research: May 2015 - Volume 29 - Issue 5 - p 1349-1358 doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000758
https://journals.lww.com/nsca-jscr/fulltext/2012/11000/Thomas_L__DeLorme_and_the_Science_of_Progressive.1.aspx
Krzysztofik, M., Wilk, M., Wojdała, G., & Gołaś, A. (2019). Maximizing Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review of Advanced Resistance Training Techniques and Methods. International journal of environmental research and public health, 16(24), 4897. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16244897
James Clear. 2021. How to Build Muscle: Strength Lessons from Milo of Croton. [online] Available at: <https://jamesclear.com/milo> [Accessed 27 June 2021].
Healthline. 2021. Progressive Overload: What It Is, Examples, and Tips. [online] Available at: <https://www.healthline.com/health/progressive-overload#benefits> [Accessed 28 June 2021].
Peterson, M. D., Pistilli, E., Haff, G. G., Hoffman, E. P., & Gordon, P. M. (2011). Progression of volume load and muscular adaptation during resistance exercise. European journal of applied physiology, 111(6), 1063–1071. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00421-010-1735-9