Website: www.gtpersonaltrainer.co.uk
Email: glen@gtpersonaltrainer.co.uk
I often get asked by PT clients how I know when to increase their
resistances being used; or when they should increase resistances when they're
working without me.
It's simple - because of chainges in your daily biorhythms you'll
have days when you feel stronger than others, and days when you feel
weaker too. Therefore, it's best to workout within a repetition range,
as opposed to limiting yourself to aiming for a single number. Otherwise
when you're feeling stronger you won't be stressing your muscles enough
or working them to fatigue, and when you're feeling weaker you'll
struggle to reach the relevant number, and find yourself breaking strict
form just to complete the set.
My advice is to work within a 3 rep range, no matter how many sets you perform e.g. 2 - 5, 5 - 8, 6 - 9, 9 - 12 , 12 - 15 etc.
When you can, with strict form, complete the higher repetition range
for 2 or more sets then you should increase your resistance slightly, so that you can only
perform the lower end of the range.
If you make small increases to
the resistance, each time you hit the higher repetiton range, then
you'll ensure 'overload' and subsequent muscular strength increases.
