How do I pick the right weight for a workout?

Coach, now that we’ve had our first training sessions together (and the workouts are great, by the way!), I need to know how to progress on my own, since I am not going to be working with you every time that I train. How do I know when to go up in weight, and how much?

 

Concept 3: The Central Nervous System Sometimes Recovers Intra-Series

In B1, the trainee fails at 9 reps, or one less than a full set. He keeps the same weight, and is able to perform 10 reps in set number two. This often occurs when shifting from one series of exercises to another. The central nervous system takes a little longer than normal to figure out what it has to do, but figures itself out after two or three sets of the new activity, and begins to super compensate again. This is a signal that your body is ready for another challenge.

Our trainee keeps the same weight for sets 2-4, however. While he completes the full volume, he has under-loaded himself for the workout. Never miss an opportunity to increase weight, if you can stay in the rep range. Had he increased in his third set to 35.6 lbs, that would have represented the standard 2% increase that the central nervous system  will accept, and he would probably have gotten all the reps, allowing him to move another 2% in his next set to 36.3 lbs. Although this increment is small within the scope of a single training session, if magnified over the course of a year, one can easily see how much progress might be missed.

Concept 4: Develop Work Capacity Before Strength Endurance

This concept applies particularly well to body weight exercises such as chins, where the weight is non-negotiable, ie., you cannot remove a leg for a couple of sets to make the weight lighter. Work capacity I the ability to repeat your efforts, while strength endurance is the ability to do maximal volume (number of reps) of work in a single set.

In this example, the trainee produces one great set of 8 reps, only to fall off sharply in subsequent efforts. As such, he has adequate strength endurance for the prescribed intensity bracket, but lacks work capacity.

A better way to approach the exercise in this case is to undershoot the efforts in each set until the end, at which point you can go for broke and use the rest of your remaining energy. In this case, the trainee should perform sets of 5 reps each set next workout until the final set, at which point he can shoot for 6,7, or even 8 reps. The way that you determine the correct number of reps to perform per set is by taking your average reps per set for the entire exercise, and round it up by one rep.
 

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