Question about progressive overload

[bennym]

Let’s say you have 3 working sets on an exercise to failure. Just as an example.

You are working in the rep range 5-12 reps.

You do your set and you get:
50kg x 12 reps
50kg x 10 reps
50kg x 8 reps

you’ve reached the top of the rep rage for the first set of the exercise.

Do you just progress the weight for all the sets? So move 55kg for example and do all 3 sets with the 55kg? So maybe looks something like this:
55kg x 8 reps
55kg x 6 reps
55kg x 5 reps

or would you only progress the first working set in weight (since that’s the set that hit the top of the rep range with the original worthy) and progress the other 2 sets with the same weight as before but increasing reps?

So could end up looking like:
55kg x 8 reps
50kg x 12 reps
50kg x 10 reps

Then the second set would increase in weight also since it hit the top of the rep range and so on….

 

[bennym]

sorry was meant to post this in beginner forum, apologies.

 

[Sectør]

Probably didn’t need to make an entirely new thread for this with all the training threads there are

But if you’re max rep target is 12, and you’re getting it easy, then next time increase the weight and just do as many reps as you can still get with the new weight (I wouldn’t cut the set short unless you’re just way over your rep target and the weight is too easy)

If anything in your example

I’d go to 55kg. Do like 2 top sets with max reps you can do, if the 2nd set starts to feel too heavy or your rep count is falling off a lot, can do a backdown set with 50kg for the third and go for max reps

So:
55kg max rep
55kg max rep
50kg max rep backdown set (If 2nd set reps start getting too low after increasing weight. If youre still well in the rep range target on 2nd set could just keep 3rd set at 55kg)

But that’s severely overthinking it. Just increase the weight if you’re able to and do as many as you can. As long as you’re in that 6-12 range you should be fine, even 5 reps could be fine, but I probably wouldn’t start doing 2-3-4 reps if you’re really trying to max out hypertrophy

 

[w4rr10r]

You could do straight sets and look at the first set as your money set and if it hits the top end of the rep range while maintaining control and connection, bump all sets up. You could also progress each set independently and even assign different rep ranges to each (like a top set and backoff set, say 6-10 and 12-15). As long as you're progressing in some metric (weight, reps, control) and keeping things honest (same tempo, stance/grip, etc.), I don't think it really matters.

 

[qbkilla]

Imo as long as your training to failure, so you can actually track progress, it's about preference. You could do rest pause where you add the mini sets up and if you exceed the range (20-30rp)...add weight. For straight sets i use the 1st set as a barometer. If I get 10 + the first set, add weight to all 3. For certain exercises for various reasons (bicep curls, injury prevention) or tricep extension (where i prefer higher reps to get a mind muscle connection) i wait till I hit 12 reps to increase.

I think being consistent and making sure you standardize form/tempo are more important...so your actually progressing and not just cheating a little more each time to add weight.

 

[Brock456]

Sounds like too much shit and overthinking. If it were me, I’d do 1-2 sets.

If you can get that 50 for 12 reps, move up to 55-60 and get as many as u can. Assuming it’s 6-8 reps, that’s Set 1.
Set 2 - back off with lower weight for more reps.
Done.

 

[Cerberus777]

One more rep or 5lbs same reps. KISS

 

[buck]

Don't think there is any 1 right way.
I would think how many reps you get after upping the weight on your third set could be a deciding factor.
5 reps was about the lowest i tended to go for.
If you get 4 reps on your third sets when adding weight then it would mean you added weight to soon.
And if i could barely get the 5th rep i would likley stay with that weight and go over 12.
But a rep here of there doesn't matter much to me.

 

[WeakFNG]

When I was doing say 4 sets of 12, I would pick a weight i knew I could get 8-10 good reps with. I'd then use that weight until I got my 4 sets of 12 good reps. Then depending on the goal or exercise, either add some weight and work towards the 4x-12 again, or move to working towards higher rep sets with the original weight.

I tend to over simplify due to my lack of intelligence...