Micro-loading
Micro-loading small amounts of weight to your lifts is a valid option for progressive strength training workouts. What is micro-loading? It simply means to add a pound or less to your lifts instead of the typical five to ten pounds to your lifts. I believe the main reason most lifters to try to improve in increments of five to ten pounds is that the smallest weight plates in a typical gym are two and a half to five pounds each. Beginning and intermediate lifters may increase in five to ten pound increments, but lifters who have been lifting for more than a couple of years generally do not.
Gaining five to ten pounds of strength at a time gets harder and harder over time, however, even advanced lifters can gain a pound of strength at a time. The key is to do it over and over again so that those small additions of strength add up to big gains over time. This can be done with micro-loading if (and this is a big if) you do it right.
A basic precision point training principle is that there specific conditions when it is best to repeat workouts with the same amount of weight and reps until they become easier, and there is are specific conditions when it is best to add weight and make the workouts harder.
When do you allow the same workouts to become easier? When you push to your marker rep. The marker rep is the point in the set where the pace of your reps starts to slow down in comparison the previous reps of the set. Instead of trying to increase weight, you simply repeat workouts with the same weight and reps until they become easier. You will know when this has happened when the last rep is no longer slower than the previous reps of the set.
What about increasing the weight? When is best to do this? If you don’t push all the way to your marker rep, the conditions change and it is best to add weight in order to make progress. One way to add weight in an effective manner is to use micro-loading. More explanation is needed.
When adding weight, one of the goals of your body is to gain strength in order to avoid a severe training stress when weight is progressively added. It can’t do this if you begin with a severe training stress and try to add on to it. However, if you start out with a training stress that is not severe, and you add to it little by little, then your body will gain strength in order to keep the additions of weight from becoming so hard that they become severe. The reason for emphasizing this point is that you must begin with the right amount of effort when micro-loading.
Adding Weight to the Right Level of Effort
The starting point must not be a severe training stress. The level of effort that you should start with when adding weight is the limit rep. The limit rep is the last rep that you can perform using a steady even rep pace with a given weight. You may be able to do fourteen reps with 200 pounds for the bench press, but if your rep pace starts to slow down on your last four reps, then your tenth rep is your limit rep because it is the limit of reps that you can perform using a steady even rep pace. This would be the starting place for micro-loading small amounts of weight when using 200 pounds for ten reps when doing the bench press.
When starting with the limit rep, the strategy is fairly simple; add one pound (one half pound to each side of the bar) from week to week. If you started out with ten reps with 200 pounds for the bench press, you should still be able to do all ten reps using a steady even rep pace after adding a pound. If you keep adding a pound every week, you may eventually reach a point where you add enough weight to cause your tenth rep to start slowing down. If this happens, you have two options;
Option1: You can use the “load and hold method” or;
Option 2: You can drop back five pounds and start micro-loading again.
Load and Hold
So what is the load and hold method? In our case, it simply means that you start with your limit rep and micro-load one pound at a time until you reach a weight that causes your last rep to slow down. For example, if you start with ten even paced reps, keep adding one pound per week until the tenth rep stats to slow down. When you reach this point, you hold at the same weight; meaning repeat workouts with the same amount of weight and reps until the slowness of the tenth rep vanishes and it can be done at the same rep pace as the previous reps of the set. Once the tenth rep has become faster and easier, you can start micro-loading again.
Drop Back and Start Over
Your other option if you reach the point where your tenth rep starts to slow down is to drop back five pounds in weight and start micro-loading again. For example, let us imagine that you started with 200 pounds and were able to add on ten pounds before your tenth rep started to slow down. At that point drop back to 205 pounds and start adding a pound every week again and try to get past 210 pounds before your tenth rep starts to slow down.
Micro-loading With Single Reps
Of course these strategies for micro-loading can be used with any amount of reps. The key is to begin with your limit rep when starting the process of adding small amounts of weight. If you are trying to add on to a single rep, start with a weight that allows a smooth nonstop lifting motion throughout the entire lift and add small amounts of weight from there. If your reach a point where you can no longer maintain a smooth nonstop lifting motion for the entire lift, then stop adding weight until your form smooths out, at which point you can start micro-loading again.
Obtaining Micro Weights Online
One of the biggest problems with the advice that I just gave in this article is that you may not have small weight plates to add. The best thing to do is to look online for micro-weights and order some to take with you to the gym. Make sure that you get microplates that weigh a half pound or less. If you get eight half pound plates, you’ll be able to add on four pounds before switching over to two and a half pound plates to each side for a five pound increase.
Olympic Plates and Standard Barbell Plates
I must warn you that most of the micro-weights on the internet are for Olympic barbells which are 2 inches in diameter at the end of the barbell. If you are using a standard one inch barbell at home, you can try looking up a hardware store online called Fastenal. You can order washers from Fastenal that have a center hole that is one inch in diameter. Make sure the washers are USS (Unites States Standard Size). It takes three USS washers on each side of a barbell to equal a pound.
If you find yourself stuck, micro-loading can reignite gains and help you to start making progress again. Be precise about how you progress, and you will find success. Best of training to you.