When Should You Increase the Amount of Weight You Lift?

To continue getting stronger & gaining muscle, should you lift heavier weight or perform more reps? We've got your answer!
Nothing beats attaining personal bests in your workouts. Whether it's the first time you benched a goal weight for a single rep or squatted it for 10, those big, round numbers matter. Each is a milestone you must conquer before reaching your next one.
Comfortably lifting a weight that was once out of reach shows you how your body can adapt to loads you place upon it. But reaching the next level of strength and size requires you to continue increasing the demands on your body, a concept known as progressive overload, which is a basic tenet of resistance training.

If your goal is to build muscle size, what is the most effective way to make additional gains? You have two principal approaches to choose from: more weight, or more reps. Adding more weight or doing additional reps can both increase the overload. Powerlifters commonly build their programs around sets of three and five reps, because using maximum loads for just one rep is a measure of strength, not the best way to build it. This is also why single reps aren't a part of traditional bodybuilding programming.

More commonly, people pursuing maximal increases in muscle size train in the 8 to 12 rep range.

Use the "2 for 2" rule when deciding if it's time to increase the amount of weight you're lifting: When you can do two more reps with a given weight than you started out, and with for two consecutive workouts, increase the weight.

Say, for example, you can do 80 pounds on the bench press for a clean, but effort-filled set of 8 reps. With time and the right approach to training, you'll ultimately be able to achieve 10 reps at that weight. When you do that for two chest workouts consecutively, that's your cue to increase the load.

But how much more weight should you put add? Here's a tried-and-true approach:
·         When doing upper-body exercises, increase the load by about 5 percent. So, instead of your working weight being 80 lbs. on the bench, it now becomes about 84-85 pounds. Of course, expect your rep # to drop, but that only means you start the process over again, training to increase your strength back up to 10 reps.

·         With lower-body exercises in which you're typically stronger, increase the load by about 10 percent. So, if you've been squatting 100 lbs. for 8 reps and can finally achieve 10 reps for two workouts in a row, your new top weight becomes around 110 lbs. That may seem like a big jump, but have a little faith, you can handle it.

Of course, this approach won't last indefinitely. You'll still encounter training plateaus along the way. When that happens, you’ll have to get more creative and use more advanced training principles. But for building your base, there's no substitute for having reasonable expectations, setting achievable goals, keep a mind for increasing your resistance, and getting in your reps.