There are many humps and roadblocks that people encounter during the course of a workout or weightlifting regimen. These roadblocks are often similar for most of these exercisers. At the start of the plan there is a lot of progress. Sometime later, the progress begins to slow down. Then the progress stops. Sometimes, there are even cases when the progress begins to regress.
To be able to prevent these humps and roadblocks from impeding your weight lifting progression, you should increase the amount of weight that you use in your workouts.
Increasing the weight that you use in your workouts will test and challenge the strength of your muscles. This will signal your brain to tell your muscles to keep getting stronger and to keep growing. If your muscles are continuously tested, they will continue to develop, get bigger, and get stronger. You should remember though that increasing weight is not as simple as adding several more plates to your barbell or dumbbell. You should increase the amount of weight in your workouts smoothly and incrementally. You need to be very smart about increasing these weights.
There is no concrete rule about the amount of increase that is needed when trying to add to the weight you use in your workouts. Just like your entire workout, it needs to be suited to your personal needs and capabilities. This is because each person’s body is different from every other person. What works great for somebody might not work so well for you. Thus, you should get to know your body well in order for you to be able to progress better in your weightlifting exercises. Aside from your personal characteristics, the type of exercise you are doing and the specific equipment you are using will also affect the amount of increase that you can add to your current weight limit.
The best way to determine how much increase you need is to add up the weight in increments. The rule of thumb is to increase the weight by 10% and adjust it from there. If after adding 10% of additional weight you find it too difficult to perform at least 60% of the regular number of reps you do, you should decrease the weight. If however, even with the additional 10 percent of weight you can still do 90-100% of your usual number of repetitions, you should add more weight. You might have been using the same amount of weight for such a long time that your muscles have gotten strong enough to be able to handle up to a 15-20% increase.
Remember to be extra careful when you are increasing the weight that you use in your workouts. Perform your routine slower than your usual pace. Let your muscles know that they are in for a little more exercise than they are used to. Make sure you warm up properly before getting into the full routine. As much as possible, you should always have a spotter with you the first time you increase the weights you use in your workouts.
