How to choose the weight exercises?
There is no simple answer to the question "how much weight should I lift in each individual exercise?". In fact, here we find ourselves at a crossroads with a lot of options, so let's go through them in order. This will allow you to adapt your training program to your needs, and you will always be sure that you are using the optimal working weight.
You can take a 10 kg barbell, lift it 75 times, and after a while you will feel tired and your hands will get bloodshot. You will definitely be sweating profusely. On the other hand, you can take a 40 kg projectile, lift it 8 times, and then throw it due to the inability to finish at least one more repetition. In both cases, you train "intensively". But which option should I give preference to?
This may seem strange to you, but the answer depends on your goals. If you want to get as strong as possible, you will use more weight than your colleague who wants to get as big as possible. And to increase muscle endurance, you will have to work with even less working weight.
The development of strength indicators requires a choice of working weight, which allows you to train in a range of repetitions from 1 to 6.
The set of muscle mass is based on weight training, which allows you to complete from 8 to 12 reps.
If muscle endurance is on the agenda, you will have to stop at the working weight, with which you can perform at least 15 repetitions.
Now let's take a closer look at all three training protocols.
1. Training for strength
The biggest and most powerful men and women – powerlifters, weightlifters, Olympians, strongmen – have a single goal: to become stronger. To lift heavy projectiles in competitions, you have to lift weights in training. And when we talk about weights, we mean really very heavy weight.
b2ap3_thumbnail_pauer. jrd to develop strength indicators, you need multi-joint movements, such as bench press, squats and deadlift. They involve several joints at once, for example, in the bench press, the shoulder and elbow joints are involved simultaneously. Such multi-joint activity generally activates more muscle mass, which allows you to lift a heavier projectile.
During heavy approaches, the work is done mainly by those muscle fibers that we call fast-Contracting; they respond better to strength training by increasing volume and strength indicators. However, they run out of energy very quickly, and therefore you will not be able to perform a large number of repetitions with a heavy weight.
The rest periods between the main sets should be long enough (5-7 minutes) so that incomplete recovery does not spoil the next set. Of course, lifting a heavy weight involves a preliminary warm-up, during which a series of approaches with progressively increasing weight precedes working with the maximum tonnage. Athletes who work for strength also try to avoid muscle failure, and this technique is adopted mainly by bodybuilders.
2. Training on muscle volume
Although those who train for maximum strength work with really heavy weights, their methods are not the best for maximizing muscle volume (hypertrophy). Bodybuilders and gym-goers who seek to gain muscle mass take a slightly different approach to determining the weight they should lift. It is proven that the weight with which you can complete 8-12 repetitions contributes to the maximum increase in muscle volume.
b2ap3_thumbnail_vinc. this statement requires some explanation, so let's start with them.
You must train with the right technique. You've probably seen videos on YouTube in which guys perform a bench press with a rebound from the chest, because the bar is too heavy, and to move it from its place, they have to use a little extra momentum. This is not considered a good technique. Each exercise contains its own "set of technical rules". Generally speaking, you should control the projectile and use only those joints that are predestined to participate in this movement. If the bicep lift involves your knees or thighs, you are connecting joints that you should not have used. There is a special term for this – reading-and it destroys the mantra of correct technique.
Perform "full" approaches of 8-12 repetitions. Of course, you can just put a little less weight on the bar and stop at 12 repetitions, but it won't be a complete approach. A full-fledged approach ends on the verge of muscle failure – at the moment when you can no longer complete another repetition according to all the rules. If you can do 13 reps, you are using too light a weight. Similarly, if you can only do 4-5 reps, the load is too high for maximum muscle growth. The Golden mean is the weight with which you can complete 8 to 12 repetitions without assistance.
Bodybuilders also train fast-Contracting muscle fibers, usually starting with compound exercises divided by the principle of body parts. This technique requires a large amount of training load (3-4 working approaches to compound exercises performed at different angles) and short periods of rest (60 seconds for small muscle groups and 90 seconds for large muscles).
3. endurance Training
Not everyone trains to become very big or very strong. You can train at a low intensity by choosing your working weight relative to your single-step maximum. This approach activates mechanisms in muscle fibers that make aerobic energy synthesis pathways more efficient, but do not increase muscle volume. As a result, the muscles can perform many repetitions for a long time without fatigue. An example is the musculature of classic marathoners, which is designed for continuous work over a long distance.
b2ap3_thumbnail_bodyfit.if your goal is muscle endurance, you should choose a light weight that will allow you to complete 15-20 or more reps. Such stimuli are not strong enough to increase strength or mass. This is because the muscles use slow-Contracting muscle fibers, which are designed for long-term work and do not increase in volume as it happens with fast-Contracting muscles.
Relationship between weight and number of repetitions
If you have already decided on a goal, it is easy to calculate what tonnage to use in a particular exercise. Obviously, there is an inverse relationship between the number of repetitions in the approach and the mass of the projectile. With weight gain, you will be able to complete fewer reps, and with light weight, you can perform more reps.
You can use the following table as a starting point. If your maximum bench press is about 100 kg, the number of repetitions that you can complete with a particular weight will be approximately as follows:
Weight 60 65 70 75 80 85 90 95 100
Repetitions 15 12 10 9 7 5 4 2 1
Such a power curve is unique for each athlete and each exercise, and you can draw a training Protocol based on it. Let's say this is your power curve in the bench press. Then you would have to train with a weight exceeding 85 kg in order to work on the force. When working for weight, you would train with a weight of 65 to 75 kg, and to develop endurance, you would have to use a weight that goes beyond the lower limit of this schedule, less than 65 kg.
Each of us has our own strength schedule for each exercise, and you can get acquainted with your own schedule during training. The key to success is to use a working weight that perfectly matches your goals. If you are used to starting an exercise with a warm-up approach, you can always hang the bar on the stops long before the muscle failure and tell yourself that this was another warm-up set, if you think that you are not getting into the right range of repetitions. In the next approach, adjust the working weight. By writing down your results in a Notepad or smartphone, you will save yourself from guessing at the next workout.
Fine-tuning the working weight
The hardest part is over, but that doesn't mean that an experienced Elevator operator can't fine-tune the working weight. Here are a couple of tips that will help you do this.
1. Build warm-up sets in ascending order
Some people consider warm-up a waste of time, but it actually helps you lift even more weight. Your fabrics will become more elastic if you follow the trajectory of the movement before the start of lifting a large tonnage. It should be noted that although bodybuilders train to muscle failure, warm-up sets never approach this point. Stop any low-weight approach long before muscle failure. A bodybuilder who plans to lift 100 kg in the bench press and complete 8-12 reps in each approach, during the warm-up you need to adhere to the following scheme: 60, 80 and 90 kg.
2. Heavy weight-at the beginning of training
Since your energy supply is only depleted during intensive training, put the most difficult exercises at the beginning of the training session when there is a lot of fuel in the tanks. You can even train at the lower edge of the hypertrophy zone, choosing a working weight with which you can only do 8 reps. During the training of the target group, change the number of repetitions in the approach and train with slightly different intensity: perform approaches with 10 (almost to failure) and 12 repetitions near the end. With the exception of warm-UPS, start the exercise in the lower range of repetitions and get to 12 repetitions in the approach to the end of the workout.
3. Be careful with progressive overload
The muscles adapt to the training stimuli, becoming bigger and stronger. Powerlifters and bodybuilders know that the main adaptation takes place inside fast-moving muscle fibers. If we present this as a graph, your power curve will shift up, and you will be able to perform more repetitions with each working weight.
How do I know when it's time to increase my load? Try the following method: when with some weight that you started with, you can perform 2 more repetitions on two training sessions in a row, increase the tonnage. If in the bench press you started with 8 reps with 100 kg, and now you can do 10 reps on two training sessions in a row, lift the load.
In upper-body exercises, such as the bench press, the working weight should be raised by about 5%. So instead of 100 kg, you need to put 105.
In lower-body exercises, such as squats, the working weight should be raised by about 10%. Instead of 100 kg, you need to put 110.
Let's say you have gained muscle volume and increased strength indicators. To continue progressing, you must put your muscles to new tests by increasing the load. As you can see, you have to progressively increase the load, otherwise you will just stand still. Complacency is your main enemy, no matter what your goals are, so push yourself to do more repetitions or use a little more work weight, and it will help you progress.
b2ap3_thumbnail_wisebuy.even the most dedicated lifters end up on the training plateau sooner or later. Techniques of high-intensity training, in which you correctly manage the working weight, can spur a set of weight and growth of strength indicators, but they should not be performed on a hunch, but after careful planning of specific training methods. Learn various techniques that will help you make your training process cyclical.
You will soon learn that the bigger and stronger you become, the less you see "random" results, and the more carefully you have to plan your training process. It seems counterintuitive, but you will find that the more you know, the faster you progress.
