Football, basketball, and weight training have one thing in common; they can all be done on the basis of a preplanned course of action, or they can be done based on reactions that are dictated according to moment by moment situations as they develop. A read offense in football and basketball will give the players the opportunity to see what needs to be done and do it, instead of having to stick with a set of scripted actions that may not make sense as a play unfolds and develops. An adjustable weight training program is the same way, you can adjust your workout according to how your body is responding at any given time, instead of being bound to an inflexible scripted plan for the next twelve weeks.
Lifters often formulate an extensive series of workouts that are based upon predetermined weight training progressions. They do this by planning a training cycle according to a projected goal. If their goal is to increase their bench press from 200 pounds to 240 pounds in twelve weeks, they form an entire twelve week plan based on their final goal of 240 pounds. For example, the final goal of 240 pounds would be planned for the twelfth week, and the lifter would count back by ten pound intervals each week until he reaches his starting weight the first week. This means 240 pounds would be used in week twelve, 230 pounds would be used in week eleven, 220 pounds would be used in week ten, and so on. This plan would dictate that a lifter begin their first week of a twelve week cycle with 130 pounds for the bench press.
The next step when formulating a predetermined weight training plan would be to assign an amount of reps that correspond well to the amount of weight that is to be used each week. For example, ten reps could be used for weeks one through three, eight reps could be used for weeks four through six, five reps could be used for weeks seven and eight, three reps could be used for weeks nine and ten, and one rep for weeks eleven and twelve. This preplanned program would be written as follows:
Week 1: 3 sets x 10 reps @ 130 pounds
Week 2: 3 sets x 10 reps @ 140 pounds
Week 3: 3 sets x 10 reps @ 150 pounds
Week 4: 3 sets x 8 reps @ 160 pounds
Week 5: 3 sets x 8 reps @ 170 pounds
Week 6: 3 sets x 8 reps @ 180 pounds
Week 7: 3 sets x 5 reps @ 190 pounds
Week 8: 3 sets x 5 reps @ 200 pounds
Week 9: 3 sets x 3 reps @ 210 pounds
Week 10: 3 sets x 3 reps @ 220 pounds
Week 11: 3 sets x 1 rep @ 230 pounds
Week 12: 1 set x 1 rep @ 240 pounds
This is an absolutely brilliant strategy if you know the rate of gain that your body is capable of and you are able to keep up with your projected progress. But what if your body doesn’t respond according to the rate of gain that you had planned? This happens all of the time to lifters who use this strategy; especially to inexperienced lifters. It also happens to lifters who are closer than they think to their adaptive ceiling where it suddenly becomes more difficult to keep gaining strength. They base their progress on how fast they were able to gain in the past without realizing their gains are going to slow down during their projected training cycle. Even experienced lifters can have a difficult time knowing how much strength they can gain by the end of a training cycle. Unless you can accurately predict how your body is going to respond from week to week, you are better off planning a progression system that can be adjusted at anytime according to how your body is presently responding.
If you want to add weight to your lifts or shift to a new rep range on the basis of being truly ready to do so, there are a couple methods that I recommend in order to monitor your progress from workout to workout or from week to week. These methods will enable you to know when to add weight, and when to switch to a new rep range. You will be empowered to make adjustments according to how your body is responding at any given time.
For the first method, start by choosing an exercise that you want to improve at and use the following steps for determining when you should add weight or shift to a new rep range:
Step 1: Start by choosing a weight that you can do for ten reps using a steady even rep pace for all ten reps. If you have to strain in order to complete all ten reps, you are starting too heavy; you should be able to do the set without straining or slowing down your rep pace at all throughout the entire set. Use this weight for your first workout.
Step 2: In the next workout (or the next week), add five pounds to the amount of weight that you used for your first workout. You can either add five pounds of weight from workout to workout, or you can add weight at a slower pace by adding weight from week to week. Continue to do ten reps per set.
Step 3: Keep doing ten reps per set and adding five pounds of weight from workout to workout or week to week until you reach a workout where you can no longer do all ten reps using a steady even rep pace. The key is to be aware of when you reach a weight that causes your tenth rep to be done at a slower rep speed than your first nine. When this happens, your tenth rep is called a marker rep. The marker rep marks the point in a set where you can no longer maintain a steady even rep pace.
Step 4: When reach weight that causes you hit your marker rep on your tenth rep, keep repeating workouts with the same weight until you gain enough strength to do all ten reps without slowing down on your tenth and final rep of each set.
Step 5: When you accomplish step number 4 by doing ten all ten reps without slowing down, add five pounds in your next workout and only do eight reps. Keep doing eight reps and adding five pounds to each workout, (or each week) until you can no longer do all eight reps using a steady even rep pace. This is when the eighth rep becomes a marker rep that is slower than the first seven.
Step 6: Once you reach a weight that causes you to hit your marker rep on your eighth rep, do not add weight. Keep doing eight reps and using the same weight every workout until you gain enough strength to do all eight reps without slowing down on your eighth rep. Once this is accomplished drop to five reps per set and add five pounds from workout to workout.
Step 7: Keep adding five pounds to your five rep sets from workout to workout or week to week until you reach a weight that causes you to hit a slower weaker marker rep on your fifth rep. Repeat your workouts with five reps with the same weight until you gain enough strength to do all five reps using a steady even rep pace without any evidence of the fifth rep being a marker rep. If you want to do the same thing with three reps, then repeat the process with three reps.
By the time you finish the whole cycle, you should have a new single rep max and should be able to start the cycle again with more weight when beginning with ten reps.
A variation of this method is to do the same thing without repeating workouts with the same weight when you reach your marker rep for a given rep range. This means that when you hit your marker rep with a given rep range, you will add five pounds in the next workout and immediately move to the next rep range with less reps. The marker rep is the determining factor that shows when you should move to the next rep range instead of predetermining this ahead of time without any regard for how your body has been responding.
If you like to add weight to your workouts from workout to workout, or week to week, you can try this method and adjust your workouts according to how your body is responding from week to week. Best of training to you.