Selecting and Progressing Your Weights

Strategically choosing your weights for training is a critical aspect of long-term training success. Going too light can lead to inadequate overload, while going too heavy can result in fatigue management issues and missing weights. The Principle of Overload dictates that training must become harder over time. If you start a training cycle too heavy, there won't be enough room for you to increase weight over the weeks to satisfy this principle. Simply put, this will be training hard, harder, hardest and then deload. When transitioning from one block to another, consider what you are basing your weights on, such as percentage (%s) or RPE. If basing on %s, remember that they are just a suggestion and should not be treated as a hard and fast rule. If basing on RPE, use your previous block to inform your decisions and adjust by feel on the day. Tracking your maxes in the exercises you are using is crucial to choosing weights that allow for Hypertrophic and Strength gains. Failure to track max singles, rep maxes, and volume PRs will make it difficult to choose weights that allow for Hypertrophic and Strength gains and ultimately violate the Principle of Overload.