I've run into a little problem. According to the book (page 139), the author suggests that one should try to increase weight in every exercise in every workout. And he says,
"Sometimes it'll be impractical to move up that steadily. With dumbbells, for example, the increments are too large to allow for that kind of progress. Some gyms won't offer any dumbbell weights that aren't divisible by five, so moving up from 5 to 10 implies a doubling in strength, and from 10 to 15 means another 50 percent jump. You'll get stronger on Alwyn's program, but nobody increases their strength that fast."
Now, the author doesn't offer a solution to solve this problem. And this is exactly the problem I'm having.
I'm now at STAGE 1 WEEK 4 and I mean my gym is exactly like he said. Sometimes I had to combine two pairs of dumbbells to get the weight I wanted and that was pretty inconvenient.... especially when my hands are too small to hold 2 dumbbells in each one at the same time.
Anyway, I would like to know how other NROLFW followers deal with this situation.
Speaking in kg, the increments in my old gym were 1 to 10 kg with 1kg (2.2lbs) increments and then 10 to 32 kg with 2kg (4.4 lbs) increments.
Since those 2 kg increments were too much to stay in a certain rep range, I've been using ankle/wrist weights that were 2 lbs each (900g), which I rounded up to 1kg for easier calculations.
I've been very pleased with this low-tech solution.. maybe not as sophisticated as what some use: plate mates. Those are magnets that you click onto the dumbbell itself.. but not every dumbbell has a metal end. In my current gym the dumbbells have a piece of plastic at the end, showing the weight of that db, which would makes using plate mates inconvenient.
When it comes to barbells, in former gym I used the fixed weight barbells that have a slimmer cuff (30mm?) and allowed me to use the disks in use for BodyPump. Current gym has miniature disks of 0.5-1-2 kg which fit onto standard size barbells (with 50mm cuffs).
With me, I'll accept lower reps with heavier weights if I feel it's time to increase the weight. Then I'll build up to the desired rep range with the heavier weights.
But that's a reflection of the fact I've been doing this for close to 40 years. I can afford to be patient!
But it is not ideal when you would prefer to do a specific amount of reps.. and even if you weren't aiming for a specific amount of reps, it is just more motivating when you can go up in weight frequently, even when it's only 0,5kg at the time.
I just moved up to the next weight and did as many reps as I could handle.
I second that.
I just finished stage 3 and I still use this method - First set I do on any exercise, I use the same weight I did in the last session, kind of as a gauge. If I can do more than the amount of reps that I'm supposed to do as per the program, or it just feels "easy", I'll go up in weight for the next set .
So for example, and I'm using this to show the extreme, on my DB incline bench press I was doing 30lbs weights and at one point I was able to do 8 reps. So i thought, let's try 35lbs DBs. Holy Mother, I couldn't even get those suckers up!
So i had to:
a) actually ask for a spotter (i.e. a dude to push the weights up for me - I was so embarrassed)
b) only do 1 set of 5 at 35 and then went back to 30s for my last set. (not without trying 35s again on that last set btw, but even with this bro spotting me I couldn't get them up - hahah! I was so disappointed and he felt my pain)
Needless to say, on some exercises I sometimes I stay at the same weight for a couple of sessions. The DB single leg romanian DL and the DB single arm overhead squat i've made no gains in strength. I really just had to concentrate on form for these two, and that was hard enough!
My gym jumps in 5lbs increments as well. I increase weight when ready, and make sure I complete all the reps required. I start off heavy first (the weight I am trying to get to), complete all the reps (take as long as needed), and then decrease back if I can't finish a set.
It would look something like DB Shoulder Press: 2 sets/12 reps. First set at 15lbs per arm (complete all 12 reps, taking as long as necessary to complete them). Second set at 10lbs per arm (complete all 12 reps, taking as long as necessary to complete them). This helped me increase weight significantly. I was still able to move up in weights at a pretty descent clip and wasn't sacrificing my form.
But it is not ideal when you would prefer to do a specific amount of reps.. and even if you weren't aiming for a specific amount of reps, it is just more motivating when you can go up in weight frequently, even when it's only 0,5kg at the time.
I agree with you on this and I also see nothing wrong with a kind of steady incremental gain. As I see it, whatever works best for you, and helps you stay focused and motivated!
Not sure if this is used in the NROL programs, but one of my favourite workout templates uses double wave loading (e.g. do 8-7-6-8-7-6 reps). If you have to change weights 6 or more times for 1 individual exercise, you don't want to spend too much time counting disk weights.
Quite often people despise calculating weights so much they stick to the same load throughout the workout.. being prepared in advance helps cut down waiting time.
Thank you everyone for all the good advice. It's very helpful. I think I'd like to try increasing the weight even though it means I will have 1 or 2 reps short. I still wonder, though, whether there is a difference between using the same weight but increase the reps and increasing the weight but do lower reps. Would my muscles get the same benefits from either one of them.... or not?
A question about weight increment
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