Once you start the 4 x 8 Power Workout, you must be willing to add weight. There seems to be two basic types of people when it comes to adding weight.
The first is the person who is only partially motivated. These people have enough motivation to work out, but they are content to keep using the same amount of weight, year after year without any real ambition to increase their poundages. The result is that they are stronger than they would be if they never lifted weights, but after gaining a small amount of strength, they never continue to add weight to keep getting stronger.
The second type of person can hardly wait to add weight. They are always pushing as hard as they can to add as much weight as possible at the fastest rate possible. This strategy does seem to work at first as these lifters tend to improve at a rapid rate, however, there comes a time when their willingness to strain and struggle to lift as much as possible backfires and stifles strength gains due to overtraining. This tend to happen to those who add weight before they are ready.
Add Weight When You Are Ready
There is also a third type of person who is less common. This is the person who is willing to add weight to his lifts, but only when he is truly ready. In order to add weight, you must sense that the amount of weight that you have already been using for an exercise is becoming easier to lift on a regular basis. The whole goal that your body is trying to achieve when it gets stronger is to make it easier for you to lift the same amount of weight. If you are wise, you will let your body achieve this goal by sticking with the amount of weight you are using until it consistently becomes easier to lift. Only then do you add weight.
Get Better Before You Add Weight
What should you be sensing in order to determine that your workouts are becoming easy enough to add weight?
Those of you who are stopping your work set 2 reps short of failure should keep using the same weight until you feel like you are stopping 3 reps short of failure.
Those of you who are stopping your work set 1 rep short of failure should keep using the same weight until it feels like you are able to stop your set 2 reps short of failure on a regular basis.
Those of you who start out pushing your sets all the way to failure should keep using the same weight until you are strong enough to stop your set 1 rep short of failure on a regular basis.
When the weight feels as though it is consistently easier to lift, you can increase the weight. Always get better at lifting the amount of weight you have been using before you add more.
Be Progressive Yet Patient
In order to get the most out of your training, you must be both progressive and patient. In other words, you must have enough ambition to add weight when you are ready. At the same time, you must be patient enough to refrain from adding weight until you are ready. Those who learn how to strike the proper balance between being progressive yet patient will experience more progress over the long term. The bottom line is that if you add weight at the right rate, you will make the most of your strength gaining ability. Best of training to you.