Fitness

How Much Weight Should
You Use When Strength Training?

Me: How much is that?

Client: 20lbs.

Me: Yeah…let’s go heavier.

^almost a daily conversation I have with people.

Luckily, everyone who is participating in the 10-Week Transformation has learned how important it is to pick up sufficient weights if they want to see progress.

If you want to build muscle, get stronger, lose fat, and perform better, this is critical.

And, in my opinion, this is one of the biggest problems I see with exercise.

After having coached 5,000+ fitness classes with 8 different companies, I can decidedly say that most people are not consistently picking up the appropriate weights for them.

But it’s an easy habit to fall into.

I can fall into this trap, too.

It can be so easy to go to the gym or take your workout class and pick up the same set of weights you always pick up.

It’s easy to pick up the 10lb dumbbells because that’s what you always do.

It’s easy to just put a 25lb plate on the bar for squats because that’s what you always do.

But the problem is if we do what we’ve always done, we’ll get what we’ve always gotten.

And for a certain period of time, we will improve from doing the same thing consistently.

But then inevitably, we’ll hit a plateau.

We’ll not get any stronger and wonder why.

We look the same and we wonder why.

Then we start to think...

I need to change something with my diet or I need to change up my workouts.

Or maybe it’s my sleep.

Or maybe I should try intermittent fasting.

Or maybe I should cut out red meat.

Or maybe I should eat low carb.

Or maybe you think the sauna or a cold plunge...

And you know, I did see this influencer talking about this supplement, maybe that’s what’s missing.

But in reality, we look for things we aren’t doing to explain why we’re not where we want to be.

When often, you’re doing the right things, but not as intentionally as you could be.

Because it’s not just about what you do; it’s about how you do it.

The real reason might just be because you’ve stopped pushing yourself appropriately in the gym.

What does it look like to push yourself appropriately?

How much weight should you use in the gym?

That depends on your goal.

I’ll lay out three specific improvements that strength training provides:

1. Increase Strength

2. Hypertrophy

3. Increase Muscular Endurance

Each of these 3 improvements can happen simultaneously, however if you want one of them more than another, there is a more specific protocol.

I’m going to start the recommendations by getting very technical.

Then, if it’s too technical for you, and you don’t want to think about all the numbers, I’ll finish with something that’s less technical but still very effective.

As an umbrella for all 3 of these improvements, it is massively beneficial to understand where you currently stand with your level of strength.

If you know what your current 1-Rep Max is, the amount of weight that you are only able to lift/move for 1 rep, it can serve as the basis for our decisions.

This is how much weight can you do for 1 rep on the bench press, for a squat, for a deadlift, or for any exercise.

I will move forward with each improvement using your 1-Rep Max weight as the basis for decision making.

Let’s start with increasing strength.

Increasing strength simply means that your muscles have the ability to produce more force.

To produce more force, we need more mass aka. heavier weights.

To Improve your strength:

- Weight Selection: 75-95% of your 1-rep max

- Rep Range: 2-8

- Duration of Set/Time Under Tension: 10-20 sec

Example:

If your squat 1-rep max is 200lbs. Your weight selection should be between 150-180lbs for 2-8 reps.

Next is Hypertrophy.

Hypertrophy is the increase in size of your muscle cells.

To see hypertrophy take place:

- Weight Selection: 65-85% of your 1-rep max

- Rep Range: 5-20

- Duration of Set/Time Under Tension: 30-60 sec

Example:

If your squat 1-rep max is 200lbs. Your weight selection should be between 130-170lbs for 5-20 reps.

Lastly let’s talk muscular endurance.

Muscular endurance is the ability of your muscle cells to continue to produce force across time and fight off fatigue.

Think how many push-ups you can do in a row.

To increase your muscular endurance:

- Weight Selection: 50-65% of your 1-rep max

- Rep Range: 15+

- Duration of Set/Time Under Tension: 45+ sec

Example:

If your squat 1-rep max is 200lbs. Your weight selection should be between 100-130lbs for 15+ reps.

To re-emphasize, these do not always happen purely in isolation. Most of my clients see improvements in all of these categories simultaneously.

And that’s because, during our workouts, we implement all of these protocols at varying times.

Now, I’m a numbers guy.

When I was in high school, I memorized 70 digits of Pie.

3.141592653589793238462643383279502884

That’s about all I have memorized now…you can fact check me on above.

I think those are right but didn’t double check.

Anyways, that’s beside the point.

If you’re not a math person, and the numbers above overwhelm you, then think about performing sets that get you pretty close to failure.

To see improvements, you don’t need to go to failure every single set.

But most of the time, you want to get somewhere close.

Meaning, you want to finish a set feeling fatigued. You know you could’ve done 1 more rep, you probably could’ve done 2 more, you maybe could’ve done 3 more, but probably not 4.

Doing this consistently will ensure your pushing yourself sufficiently.

Don’t just do what you’ve always done because that’s what you’ve always done.

Get yourself out of your comfort zone.

Be intentional about what you’re doing.

Getting our butts in the gym is difficult, so while we’re there, we might as well make it worth our while!

If you have more questions, about anything discussed, feel free to shoot me a DM on Instagram @carrier_bestyou

And if you want me to coach you specifically and help hold you accountable to picking up the right weights, then you should sign up for the 10-Week Transformation today!

To getting stronger, looking better, and doing more push-ups,