When to increase weight.

[lost180]

When do you normally decide to increase weight? Do you go by how challenging it is or do you follow some sort of schedule?

And also how do reps/weight/sets work? I don't want to get super bulky like a body builder but I want strength, power, and endurance. The information I read on how to go about obtaining these goals is all so tricky. If doing 3 sets of a certain weight becomes less challenging what does adding another few sets in do for me? Nothing? Do I always need to increase weight?

I hope that's concise enough. It's hard to explain I think.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

There's really no one right way to progress weight. I usually have people increase when they can perform the max reps on each set with good form.

As far as sets/rep ranges:
1-6 reps is power
8-12 is muscle building
Above that is muscle endurance

The number of sets will usually depend on the number of body parts in the routine and the number of exercises per muscle group. So if its a leg day you could do multiple exercises for 3 sets or 8sets of just squats.

Sorry there's not a more difinitive answer, but at the end of the day there's many roads to the same goal.

[lost180]

I've been doing 3 sets of 10 reps for most exercises depending on how difficult it is. The whole power, muscle building, endurance thing confused me because I suppose I don't understand how exactly they differ.

For instance the 1-6 reps gets you power. And I assume those are done with very heavy weight. But that doesn't build muscle? Is that because you're not pushing yourself beyond what you can do so you're just maintaining a certain level of strength? Same thing for the difference between endurance and the other two. You're not building muscle because you're not using a weight that's heavy enough to tear the muscle so that it repairs and grows bigger?

Sorry, I ask a lot of questions.

[Brian Ayers, CSCS]

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you on this one. Basicly it comes down to the fact that you may still be building muscle doing 1-6 reps or 15+ reps. The type of muscle you are building is just different. When you are working the more endurance range you are focusing on the Type 1 muscle fibers and when your are working in explosive power range you are working more type 2 fibers. The hypertrophy zone of 8-12 reps is getting more of both.

Now to throw you even more of a curve ball... everyone's ratio of type 1 to type 2 fibers is different. That's geneticly built into you and will not change. That's why some people have amazing endurance and some people are naturally more strong.

And even more of a curve ball... you may have a lot of type 2 fibers and beable to get really strong, but because of a fast metabolism they have trouble building size. I've seen guys way stronger than I am, but half my size.

Confused yet? Bottom line is that dispite what you might be told, you have to find out what your body responds best to and then build on that. Or decide what your goals are and then work toward them. You may get lucky and match up geneticly, or you may have to fight your body to get there. If I wanted to be an endurance athlete I could get there, but I would be fighting my body's genetic propensity. I would certianly never be a Lance Armstrong, but how many people are?

[lost180]

Yeah, that's certainly confusing. I'm just going to not think about all the scientific crap for now and just keep doing what I'm doing because I know I'm getting stronger. When I first installed that pull up bar like a year ago I couldn't even hang for a second. I'd get on and drop right back down. Now I can hang for maybe 15 which doesn't seem like much but I can drop and get right back up and hold it for almost just as long and it takes more reps before I get tired to the point that I kinda drop right away.. And for a while I wasn't even using it. This is just the progress over the last month or two. I didn't really start a routine with it until just recent. I'm hoping to finally see a d**n pull up in my future.

[aaron]

Hi guys.,,
All eggs related are awesome to gain size,...
and the use of eggs with boil potatoes simply are also useful one to gain maximum size quickly,..

[aaron]

Hi,..
Don't increase fatty foods to increase weight. It is ok. if you are thin but healthy. You can reduce your exercises and try drinking cold water or ice cream after each meal.

[barclay5]

Hi aaron,..
I agree with you Omega 3 eggs supplement was best to gain size quickly,.,.