How much weight should you use to gain strength? There are all kinds of philosophies. The one rep max method, which was popularized by Ivan Abadjev was the primary component of training for the Bulgarians from the 1970’s and 1980’s when their weight lifters dominated the world. Some of the best East Europeans and Russian lifters are said to have preferred doing most of their lifts in the 70%-80% range of their one rep max. Powerlifters who use the Westside Method generally focus on two workouts for the bench press and two workout for either the squat or dead lift. The first workout for each exercise is a speed day, and the second workout is a one rep max day. For the speed workout, they generally use 50% of their one rep max the first week, followed by 55% the next week, and 60% the third week. When doing their max effort day where they shoot for a one rep max, of course they use 100% or near 100% of the maximum weight they can use for a lift. Another common method for deciding how much weight to use is the gradual progressive overload method. Lifters use this method by starting out with a weight that allows for about 10 reps and increase the weight each week until they reach a week where they are doing a one rep max. If we look at all these examples, there are a lot of variations in regard to how much weight that people like to work out with. The same could be said for bodybuilders.
Generally lifters who want to increase their strength insist on focusing on using heavy weight during their workouts. Nonetheless, if you take a closer look, you’ll see a lot of light lifting that seems to sneak its way into strength training. You may not be familiar with it, but powerlifting coach Louie Simmons believes in using the repetition method to compliment the other training that the West Side power liters use in what is often considered to be the strongest gym in the world. The repetition method consists of doing a lot of reps with as little as 30% of a lifter’s one rep max. Louie says the great Vasili Alexeyev, who was a world record holder in the clean and jerk, used the repetition method. Bud Jeffries who is a strong man competitor and a one thousand pound squatter believes in using lots of light weights along with heavy weights to gain strength. The list of bodybuilders who have used light weights is also extensive including Sergio Oliva and Rory Leidelmeyer who would use up to 100 reps per set on occasion. John Brown used over 50 reps per set on occasion. Johny Fuller went through a period of training where he always used 32 reps, and one of the most eye piercing physiques that I have ever seen belonged to Serge Nubret, who worked out with weights that consisted of less than 50% of his one rep max, yet he was massively strong for his bodyweight.
So how do you find out which weight range works best for stimulating strength. If you are like me, there is no single weight range that always works best so I integrate various weight ranges into a workout. This has always worked better for me than using just one weight range in each workout. My ability to retain the benefits of using a given weight range is awful, which means I regress if I neglect light, medium or heavy weights for very long. Others can train successfully for several workouts just focusing on one single weight range, whether it be light, medium, or heavy. In view of our individual differences, there are different methods that can be used to diagnose if there is a weight range that seems to be especially effective for stimulating strength in a given individual.
For people like me who need a variety of weights in every workout, light medium and heavy can be used in every workout, but the amount of light, medium, and heavy can be varied from one week to the next. For example, a person could emphasize light weights during each workout for one week while doing a smaller amount of work with medium and heavy weights in each workout. During the second week, medium heavy weights could be emphasized while doing a smaller amount of exercise with light and heavy weights. During the third week, the emphasis could be on heavy weights while doing a smaller amount of exercise with light and medium weights. If strength seems to go up during a given week, it may be an indicator that the weight range that is being emphasized is effective at building strength for that person’s body.
Another strategy is to focus on just using light weights at the start of a training cycle and gradually increase the weight each week. You have to do one lift at about 90% of your one rep max to test your strength at the end of every week in order to see if there is a weight range that is especially effective for you.
The last approach that you can take is to do two workouts that emphasize one weight range, followed by one workout that utilizes the other weight ranges. For example, you could do two light workouts in a row followed by a workout in which you use both medium and heavy weights. You would then do two workouts in a row where you only use medium weights, followed by one workout where you use both light and heavy weights. You can then do two workouts in a row where heavy weights are emphasized and you follow this with a workout that includes the use of light weights and medium weights. The objective is to see if emphasizing a given weight range that is used for two workouts seems more effective for producing strength than other weight ranges.
My last bit of advice for finding effective weight ranges isn’t for everyone, but I’ll put it out there for those who have the means and the desire to do it. My advice is to start out with just 40% of your one rep max for a given lift. Make a video of yourself doing just one rep and blast it up hard. Add on 10 pounds and take a video of yourself doing another rep. Keep adding on 10 pounds and keep taking a video of yourself doing one rep where you are pushing the weight up with maximum force until you have added on enough weight to reach the max weight you can lift. Play your video of each rep back in slow motion at one quarter speed. Time each rep that was done at each weight with a stop watch. Write down the time it took to lift each rep at the different weights. Look for any weights that cause a sudden shift in rep speed. If you come to a weight where rep speed starts to slow down more rapidly compared to the previous 10 pound increments, take special note of all such weights. If you can graph it out, it’s even better. A given weight that seems to mark a point where rep speed suddenly slows down more than at previous weights is a clue. You want to train right at the breaking point where rep speed starts to slow down more than previous, as you may find it to be a precision point in terms of choosing an effective amount of weight to use. Best of training to you.