{"id":30260,"date":"2023-02-08T00:28:24","date_gmt":"2023-02-08T00:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolineci-08283ad4cf-hfd4hchkb6g4gudz.a01.azurefd.net\/?p=30260"},"modified":"2023-02-08T00:28:24","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T00:28:24","slug":"when-should-i-increase-my-weights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinescircuits.com\/blog\/2023\/02\/08\/when-should-i-increase-my-weights\/","title":{"rendered":"When should I increase my weights?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone who reads my blog regularly will know I am a huge advocate of strength training – the benefits are endless. From stronger muscles, improved bone health, mood boost and immunity enhancing, strength training really is wonderful! And the best part is that you don\u2019t need to lift heavy weights to reap the benefits of strength training, but you do need to keep challenging yourself. Your body needs to be challenged and it is this challenge which creates change \u2013 this is called progressive overload (more on this later).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When lifting weights, that fatigue feeling you get towards the end of a set is called exercise induced fatigue or peripheral fatigue and it is this which causes muscle tissue break down. Contrary to how this sounds, this is actually very beneficial because as the muscle tissue repairs, it repairs in an enhanced state, making the muscle stronger than before. The key here is that it happens during recovery so you must make sure you\u2019re giving your body adequate rest time to reap these benefits.<\/span>
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Over time, to keep seeing improvement and changes, you need to keep applying the principle of progressive overload. Now what does this mean for you in your training? It could be that over time you gradually, and I do mean gradually, increase your weights, it could be increasing the number of reps or sets you are doing or by changing your program.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no specific formula on when to do this. My advice is when you\u2019re new to strength training, start small. Start with\u00a0 light dumbbells (I recommend everyone to start with 2kg) and focus 100% on your technique. Then measure how you are finding your sets – if you can do all the reps without any difficulty then it’s time to switch up. My advice is that the last 2-3 reps should be a challenge. However the key is to move up weights slowly, small increments will help ensure that your form stays good while you build strength. It may also be that you can increase for some exercises but not others – ie you may feel stronger in your lower body than upper body so adjust accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

A couple of questions to therefore ask yourself before you increase the weight are:<\/span><\/p>\n