How To Choose An Appropriate Weight

3001Fitness • Oct 12, 2018

Everyone that goes to a gym goes for a reason, they want something to change. They want to get “better at something” those things can range from body composition, improve their lifestyle, sports performance, reduce or prevent aches and pains, and just feel good overall.

 

No matter what your goal is, one thing that is always the same is, you need to continually challenge your body in different ways.

 

One way I feel that people fail to challenge themselves is with the weight that they use. Frankly most of the time it is too light.

 

Too help understand this I want to use a little analogy.

 

I am sure we can all agree that reading books is good for you and will help stimulate your brain and increase your cognitive abilities correct?

However in order to truly stimulate your brain would it make sense to constantly read a children’s book that is about 8 pages and mostly pictures day in and day out? You may get a little something out of it but you know you are much more capable than that. You would just be going through the motions. You would want to find a book that you can read successfully but provides some sort of challenge.

 

 

 

The exact same concept can be applied to lifting weights. In order to get stronger and see results we need to use an appropriate weight. This is not to say that lifting lighter weights is bad but if you are not seeing the results you want then maybe it’s time to change something.

 

 

 

Our muscles have the ability to create a certain amount of force. If we are using a weight that is too light our muscles will not be stimulated as much. It is pretty simple; in order to see change you must first choose a weight that is appropriate and second continually increase that weight as needed.

 

 

 

 

  • You may not know exactly where to start and that is completely cool. Here are a few tips.When trying a new exercise for the first time don’t be afraid to change your weight after your first or second set. Pick a weight you feel may be appropriate, if you feel that the last 2-3 reps were a challenge you probably have an appropriate weight. If you feel they were not challenging, try going up a few pounds.

 

  • Every 3-4 weeks you should try to increase your weight. Now lets say you have been doing 4 sets of 10 squats with a 16kg kettlebell for 3 weeks. It is week 4 and you want to push yourself. This does not mean that you have to now do 4 sets with an 18kg, you can do 1-2 warm up sets with the 16kg then give the 18 a shot. That is still progressive overload, don’t think about an all or non-mentality.

 

  • If you are not sure whether you are ready to go up in weight or not do something I like to call a plus set. To keep things simple let’s use the example above and say you are doing 4 sets of 10 goblet squats, you are contemplating going up in weight but not sure. For one of your sets do as many reps as you can past 10. If you get 2-3 more reps your weight is probably appropriate, if you get 4-5 more reps you probably are ready to go up but you will still get an effect with the 16kg, if you do more than 15 reps you definitely should increase your weight to see better results.

 

  • With all of this being said there is one last thing that is super important. None of these strategies work if you are doing different things every single day. In order to build strength, skill, and see the results you want you should stick to a routine for at least 4 weeks. If you come in the gym and randomly decide what to do that day you will never figure out what an appropriate weight to use is. I strongly recommend writing your weights down each and every day so you don’t have to try to remember everything.

 

Now I know there are two major reasons people are a little skeptical to increase weights.

The first reason being that they don’t want to get hurt. I don’t want someone to take what I said and turn it into “I need to use the heaviest weight possible”. That is not what I am saying at all. Focus on form first no matter what, being in a good safe position is always the number one priority with strength training. If you safely increase the weight as your body adapts to it you won’t increase your risk for injury.

 

Another common thing I hear is that people don’t want to get “bulky”. Now I completely understand that and my job is to help you get the results that you want whatever they may be. Lifting heavy weights does not make you bulky, it simply does not work like that. There are many different factors that determine ones body composition.

 

Remember I am also not saying that everyone needs to lift the maximum amount of weight they can, all I am saying is that in order to see results you must choose a weight that provides some sort of stimulus for our muscles.

-Coach Pat

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