Table of contents:
- When to Gain Weight: The Two-for-Two Rule
- How to gain weight in the gym
- How to gain weight while exercising at home
- When you shouldn't put on weight
2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44
Once you've achieved certain results with your workouts, it's worth considering whether to increase your weight, reps, or difficulty, depending on your goals. Lifehacker's instructions will help you decide when it is time to increase your working weight, and do it right.
Exercising with the same weight, you come to stagnation, and not only in muscle growth, but also in weight loss. Your body adapts to the workout, and after training, you do not get the muscle hypertrophy or the accelerated metabolism that people who lose weight tend to strive for.
Increasing your working weight is a must for exercising both in the gym and at home. However, increasing it too quickly will not do anything good and may even lead to injury.
When to Gain Weight: The Two-for-Two Rule
If you want to increase muscle mass, then most likely you are using low reps and a lot of weight, close to the one-time maximum.
It is important to understand here that for progress, the weight must be such that the last repetition in the approach is on the verge of muscle failure. The two-for-two rule allows you to determine when you stop exercising to the point of muscle failure.
This rule was suggested by Thomas Baechle in the Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning textbook. This is how it sounds.
If on the last set of any exercise you can do two more reps and are doing that for the last two workouts, it's time to increase the weight.
For example, you do 4 sets of 8 reps of dumbbell biceps curls. If you can do 10 reps in the last set two workouts in a row, then it's time to increase the weight.
There is another, faster option for increasing the working weight - the fixed set scheme.
How to gain weight in the gym
With fixed approaches
If your plan includes 4 sets of 10 reps and you can do the exercise the same number of times on the last set as in the first, it's time to increase the weight.
When you try an exercise with a new weight, the number of repetitions in sets naturally decreases. For example, in the first set you will be able to do 10 repetitions, in the second only 8, and in the third and fourth, 6 each. This is a completely normal pattern for mastering a new weight.
Gradually, you will increase the number of repetitions in the set until you can complete 10 repetitions in all four sets. This means it's time to put on weight again.
Unlike the previous two-for-two pattern, in this case you don't have to test yourself with additional repetitions in the last set. As soon as the number of repetitions in all approaches is equal, increase the weight.
Which scheme to use? Decide for yourself. In my opinion, the “two for two” rule allows you to make your workouts safer and to make sure that the technique does not suffer as you increase the weight.
In pyramidal training
In pyramidal training, both the working weight and the number of repetitions change.
In an ascending pyramid, you start out with a lot of repetitions with a low working weight and gradually increase it, decreasing the number of repetitions. For example, in the first set, you do a 60 kg barbell deadlift 12 times, then 10 times 65 kg, 8 times 70 kg and 6 times 75 kg.
Warm-up sets with light weight are not performed until the muscles completely fail. This should only happen on the last set with the highest weight.
The descending pyramid, on the contrary, begins with short approaches with the highest weight: exercises are performed until the muscles completely fail, in subsequent approaches the weight decreases, and the number of repetitions increases.
Increasing the weight in pyramidal training is necessary in the same way as with a fixed number of repetitions. It is best to target the shortest set with the heaviest weight.
If in the hardest approach to muscle failure you can perform more reps than the program should do, it's time to increase the weight, and in all approaches, including warm-ups with a large number of repetitions and low weights.
If you are just starting to exercise, you can increase the weight by 5-10%, if you have been exercising for a long time - by 2-5%. Usually it is 1-2 kg for small muscle groups and 2-5 kg for large ones.
How to gain weight while exercising at home
All-purpose rubber fitness bands can be used. If you are just starting out in fitness, they can help to facilitate the implementation of some exercises with your own weight, and if you, on the contrary, need to increase the load, the bands will help you do this without dumbbells and pancakes.
Each tape corresponds to a certain number of kilograms. For example, there are belts that create a tension similar to 23 kg, and there are thin models that replace only 5 kg.
Typically, belts are color-coded and each manufacturer has a different weight range. This is a kind of support with which you can develop target muscle groups and prepare to do bodyweight exercises.
Not everyone will be able to do push-ups with the correct technique at least once. By pulling on the rubber band, you can do this without problems, gradually preparing the muscles for stress.
The same goes for pull-ups, single-legged squats, bar push-ups, and other exercises. Change the elastic bands to thinner ones or increase the number of repetitions as you develop.
They can also be used to complicate bodyweight exercises or existing free weights. For example, you can do ribbon squats or lunges, chest pulls, leg raises, and other exercises. And after training, you can do stretching exercises with them.
And another opportunity to increase the load outside the gym is to do more difficult exercises. For example, a dumbbell deadlift can be made more difficult by doing it on one leg, regular push-ups can be replaced with handstand push-ups, and regular squats can be replaced with pistol or shrimp squats.
To avoid injury, increase the difficulty gradually and learn more about the technique for each exercise.
When you shouldn't put on weight
When increasing weight, carefully monitor whether this does not affect the execution technique.
For example, if you increased the weight on the bar during squats and after the first set, your knees began to curl inward and your back began to bend, then it is too early for you to increase the weight.
Getting used to doing the exercises incorrectly can harm your health and increase your risk of injury in the future. Therefore, if you feel that you cannot perform the exercise correctly, it is better to reduce the weight and consolidate the correct execution.
How often do you increase your working weight?
Recommended:
What to choose for weight loss: cardio, interval or strength training
High-intensity interval training helps you burn more calories through oxygen debt. Does this mean that it is better for weight loss than cardio?
"Why am I losing weight so slowly?" - how to lose weight and maintain the result
If the pounds go off more slowly than you would like, do not be discouraged and do not look back at others. It is not speed that is important, but the achievement of the goal. One day the thought that the weight is going away slowly penetrates deep into your head.
How to Choose the Right Weight for Strength Training
When and how many pancakes can be hung on the barbell so that strength training will allow you to build muscle without harm to your health
Leo Babauta on working and non-working motivations to learn
Blogger Leo Babauta will tell you what the motivation for learning should be so that the ardor does not fade in a few days, as well as what motivations do not work
When should you stop losing weight and start working on a set of muscles?
Lifehacker's fitness expert answers. This question was submitted by our reader. You, too, ask your question to Lifehacker - if it is interesting, we will definitely answer. Good day! Interested in the issue of health. Obese people who decide to change their lives for the better first lose weight (dry out) and then gain muscle mass.