I know that loading weight to your lifts plays a huge part when it comes to gaining strength, but loading must be done correctly if it is to be effective. The basic issue I want to address in regard to loading weight to your lifts is based on the following question:
When is it a good idea to load weight to your lifts, and when is it a bad idea to load weight to your lifts?
My personal opinion on this subject is that progressive loading must be done if the intensity of your sets is below the rep speed threshold. However, if your training intensity surpasses the rep speed threshold, you should not keep trying to load more weight to your lifts as it can easily lead to overtraining. Of course, these statements will mean nothing to you if you don’t understand what I mean by the rep speed threshold, so let me explain.
The Rep Speed Threshold
The rep speed threshold refers to the point in a set where you can no longer maintain a steady even rep pace. For example, we’ll assume Steve can bench press 200 pounds for ten reps before he reaches a point a failure where he can no longer repeat any more reps. If you were to observe Steve perform his set of ten reps, you would notice that he could maintain a steady even rep pace for the first seven reps, but his rep speed starts to slow down on his eighth, ninth and tenth reps. In this example, the rep speed threshold occurs between the seventh and the eighth reps because that is the point in the set where a noticeable difference in rep speed occurred. How would you take this information and apply it to loading when Steve is benching with 200 pounds?
First of all, if Steve is maxing out on reps and hitting failure at ten reps, he shouldn’t be loading weight to the bar. The reason for this is because he is pushing three reps past the rep speed threshold which means he is pushing extremely hard. Under these conditions, he will be trying to add more difficulty to something that is already extremely difficult. The result is too much stress which causes overtraining and the inability to gain strength.
What type of lifting conditions should Steve create if he wants to add weight to the bar? He should back off to six or seven reps. Let’s assume Steve stops at six reps. If he does this, he will be able to maintain a steady even rep pace for the entire set. Most likely, he will be able to keep adding five pounds per week before he hits the rep speed threshold with 210 pounds for six reps the third week. He will know he has hit the threshold if he can only maintain a steady even rep pace for five reps, and the sixth rep starts to slow down. If Steve wants to continue to add weight to the bar in future weeks, he needs to decrease the amount of reps to three or four in order not to overload his body to the point where overtraining occurs.
The bottom line is that Steve should only add weight to the bar from week to week as long as he is able to maintain a steady even rep pace for all his reps. When the additions of weight accumulate to the point where the last rep of his sets starts to slow down, he should either stop loading more weight, or decrease the amount of reps below his rep speed threshold.
Load And Hold
Another option is what I refer to as load and hold. In order to explain this, let us refer back to the same example of Steve using 200 pounds for six reps. We will assume again that he is adding five pounds per week which will eventually bring his poundage up to 210 pounds for six reps. It is at this point that he can no longer maintain a steady even rep pace for all six reps and his sixth rep starts to slow down after five even paced reps. This is where Steve would stop loading weight to the bar and would simply keep repeating workouts with six reps until he gains enough strength to perform all six reps using a steady even rep pace. This would probably take three to six weeks.
Microloading
I think the load and hold strategy works especially well with microloading which refers to adding weight in very small increments of a pound or less each week. If you can lift 175 pounds for ten reps using a steady even rep pace for every rep, you can improve by simply adding one pound per week. Eventually you will reach a poundage that prevents you from maintaining a steady even rep pace for all ten reps. When this happens, don’t load, but hold at the same weight for as many weeks as necessary until you can perform all ten reps using a steady even rep pace again. You are then ready to start microloading again.
In my way of thinking, your body only has two goals that it is trying to accomplish when it decides to gain strength. These reasons are listed below:
Reason #1:
When lifting a weight for an amount of reps that is difficult to lift, your body becomes uncomfortable. This being the case, it gains strength to make it easier to lift the same amount of weight and reps. This is especially true if you start out lifting at a level of effort that surpasses the rep speed threshold.
Knowing this is important because if your level of effort exceeds the rep speed threshold, the amount of training stress is sufficient to gain strength. Your body will gain strength in order to make the same amount of weight and reps easier to lift. Trying to load more weight on top of this will make the stress harder which is the opposite of what your body is trying to accomplish. If you keep making your training harder when your body is trying to make the same weights easier to lift, you will be training in contradiction to what your body is trying to achieve. The lesson to be learned is that loading isn’t necessary when you exceed the rep speed threshold. If you want to push past the rep speed threshold, keep repeating workouts until you gain enough strength for the same weight and reps to become easy enough to perform using a steady even rep pace. It’s at this point that you are no longer surpassing the rep speed threshold and you can add a little more weight until you cross the rep speed threshold again.
Reason #2:
When gradually adding small amounts of weight to poundages that start out easy or moderately hard to lift, your body will gain strength in order to keep the gradual additions of weight from becoming harder and harder to lift. Your body will especially try to gain strength as you approach the rep speed threshold in order to keep the additions of weight from causing you to cross the rep speed threshold. This is because the weight training stress will dramatically increase if you surpass the rep speed threshold and your body wants to prevent this from happening.
The lesson to be learn is that if you are not exceeding the rep speed threshold in your workouts, you should load a little weight to your workouts each week as it will help you to gain strength. Once the additions of weight cause you to surpass the rep speed threshold, adding more weight tends to be counterproductive unless you decrease the reps to avoid crossing the rep speed threshold. You can then add weight to the reduced amount of reps.
The bottom line is that if you are not pushing your sets to the point where you reach your rep speed threshold, it is advantageous to load weight to your lifts each week. In contrast, if you push yourself past the point of your rep speed threshold, there is no reason to immediately load more weight as it will lead to overtraining. Under these conditions, it is better to allow time for the same workouts to become easier. Eventually, you will be able to perform your sets with the same amount of weight and reps while maintaining a steady even rep pace without crossing the rep speed threshold. At that point, you are ready to load again. Best of training to you.