Exactly HOW Fast Should You Increase The Weights?

You know, writing a blog really hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be. As I go through my day, many of my clients ask me the same questions that I find myself answering over and over again. Normally I don't even notice myself doing this. But, since starting this blog, I have all this great material to cover!

Today we'll focus on a very important point. The point of working out is to expose your body to a particular stimulus that causes it to adapt. Thats pretty simple, right?

Say you go into the gym to do bicep curls. You begin by doing 3 sets of 12 reps with 12 lbs in each hand. The first time you do this, your body will perceive this to be a significant new source of stress. Your body responds with inflammation through muscular soreness the next day or two, builds up a new reserve, then the next time you go to the gym and do 3 sets of 12 reps with 12 lbs in each hand, not much happens. Maybe you feel fatigued afterwards, but not much soreness afterward.

This process is brilliant. Your body essentially responded to the stress by increasing its reserve, so that the next time it happens, it won't be much of a stress. This is VERY important to understand, particulary when you go to the gym next time.

This adaptation phenomenon is the EXACT reason why you MUST increase the stress on your muscles EACH and EVERY workout. You need to send a signal to your body that the stress will come again, and each time it will be greater than the last. Over time, your body will become very efficient at rebuilding its resources for the next bout of exercise.

How fast should you increase the weights?

The answer: AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!

The truth is, in my experience, most individuals do not workout to anywhere near their true capacity. For example, if I selected a weight that I KNEW someone could handle in the squat for 8-10 reps, a weight that I knew would be VERY challenging to get the 10th rep with, most trainees, particularly at the beginning and early intermediate levels will start to breakdown primarily mentally at the 6th rep. Why? Because, outside of training your muscles while working out, you are training your mental focus and drive. Its very easy to tell how much mental toughness and focus someone has in their outside life when you see them lifting weights to their maximum capacity.

Here are some different scenarios:

Some will simply GIVE UP completely when it gets "hard". They won't even attempt the next rep, because they just "know they won't be able to do it".

Some will attempt the rep, but once the going gets tough through a certain part of the range of motion, they will stop the set, and essentially tell themself "well, I gave it my best shot".

Others will attempt the rep, and squiggle, squirm, and do just about ANYTHING they have to in order to finish the rep. They seem to not want to have "failed" at finishing. I usually have to stop these people early because they'll keep going way beyond good form.

In many cases, individuals will actually progress through these stages during a workout routine, especially with me, because I set this as a goal for the person. As a result, I get to witness changes to other areas of their lives as a result, even when they don't realize how weight training could have assisted them in this process.

So, here is the take home; Remember, you are training your ability to adapt to stressors when you go to the gym. EVERY single time, you MUST strive to increase the stress in order to force adaptive changes in your body. Finally, your MIND is VERY important in this process.