In the last article I focused on the concept that there is a right time to repeat the same workouts until they become easier. The right time to repeat workouts until they become easier is when you start by pushing each set to your marker rep. What is a marker rep? It occurs when you can no longer maintain a steady even rep pace during a set. In other words, if you can maintain a steady even rep pace for eight reps, but your ninth rep is the first rep that starts to slow down during a set, your marker rep is your ninth rep. If you keep pushing to the same marker rep over the course of several workouts or weeks, the slowness of the rep will eventually disappear. This simply means that you will be able to perform your last rep at the same pace as the previous reps in a set. When this happens, it is a sign that your strength has increased.
When to Add Weight
Just as there is a time to allow the same workouts to become easier, there is a time to add weight and make workouts harder. In this article, I will focus on when and how to add weight to your workouts. The bottom line is that it is best to add weight to workouts where you are not reaching your marker rep. We can look again at the example of someone who has the ability to do eight reps with a given weight before reaching their marker rep on their ninth rep. If they have not been pushing all the way to their ninth rep, they are in a good position to add weight to their workouts. How much weight should be added and how often? One option for determining this is to use the three points of progression method.
Three Points of Progression
The three points of progression method is taken from the book, The Peak Strength Principle. The method is based on using three consecutive workouts to progress through three different points of intensity within a set. The key to this is precision. If you are training to failure and try to add weight on top of what you are already doing, it’s not going to work for very long. You must start from the right level of intensity when adding weight. Three points of progression will help you to do this.
Three different amounts of weight will form three points of intensity. The reps will be kept the same in each workout. It is critical to start out with the right amount of weight when adding to it in the next two workouts. To illustrate how this works, we’ll imagine that Rob is doing sets with eight reps. In order to plan his workouts, Rob must already know how much weight he can use for eight even paced reps without slowing down his rep pace. With this knowledge, he will plan three workouts as follows:
1st point of intensity
Rob’s first workout should be done with a weight that is two to three percent lighter than the weight he can use for eight even paced reps. (By clicking on the bold links, you can find good sources for calculating lifting percentages ExRx.net, or percentagecalculator.net.)
2nd point of intensity
Rob’s second workout should be done with the exact weight that he can use for eight even paced reps. To accomplish this, he will be using two to three percent more weight than the previous workout which was done at the first point of intensity.
3rd point of intensity
Rob’s third workout should be done with a weight that is two to three percent heavier than the weight he can use for eight even-paced reps. This means the third workout will push Rob all the way to his marker rep. In this case, his eighth rep will be slower than the others. However, this should not occur during his first two workouts. An example of three consecutive workouts using the three points of progression method is shown below for the squat:
3 points of intensity with 8 reps
2 or 3 sets x 8 reps @ 250 pounds = 1st point of intensity
2 or 3 sets x 8 reps @ 260 pounds = 2nd point of intensity
2 or 3 sets x 8 reps @ 265 pounds = 3rd point of intensity
Notice that ten pounds was added to the second workout and only five to the third. This is because adding the suggested amount of two to three percent for each workout is awkward as two to three percent of Rob’s max would be probably be about six to eight pounds. Most weight plates don’t come in these increments. To compensate for this, ten pounds were added to the second workout, and five pounds were added to the third workout. If Rob (or you) happens to have very small micro weight plates, then he (or you) can add even increments of six to eight pounds.
Progress by Repeating Three Workouts
When using this method, Rob has options for how he can continue to progress. First, he can simply keep repeating the same three workouts until his third workout improves to the point where he can do all eight reps without slowing down his rep pace. There are other options in regard to how Rob can add weight. Rob can use micro loading, or he can use a more extensive linear progression program. However, these options will be discussed in the next articles. Until then, best of training to you.
To see the next article on Linear Progression, Click here