unsure how to progress between weights
- Thread starter Gustavo1
- Start date
Easy.....KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!
Use your other hand to just give it a nudge, or quickly drop down to a slightly lighter weight and finish it up. Progress is made when you push the threshold. It's not huge science, don't stress it. You're also dieting & running a deficit...on some days you'll "have it" and on others you may feel a bit weak. It doesn't matter; do what you can & progress is inevitable. Like I say, keep up the good work!
Use your other hand to just give it a nudge, or quickly drop down to a slightly lighter weight and finish it up. Progress is made when you push the threshold. It's not huge science, don't stress it. You're also dieting & running a deficit...on some days you'll "have it" and on others you may feel a bit weak. It doesn't matter; do what you can & progress is inevitable. Like I say, keep up the good work!
Just keep at it, it'll come! Make sure you're giving yourself appropriately placed rest days and are eating enough protein to support the muscle changes that come with weight lifting.
Do some rows instead for a month. I bet your curls will go up without even doing them. Compounds win!
- When we go to the gym to lift, there is a purpose, and this purpose can
very from one person to the next. When you lift, what are you wanting out of it?
- What are your goals?
- What does the rest of your weight routine look like?
- What type of equipment do you have available to use and the amount of free available weights?
- If you are doing more than curls (hopefully), what are the rep ranges of your other exercises? What other exercises are you doing? What are your rest days? What sort of "volume" are you doing?
- How have you constructed your diet? It is absolutely possible that your diet could be resticting progression. Do you properly hydrate yourself during the course of the day? Hydration alone can hinder one's progress.
- How long have you been training?
- How long in this particular exercise. And, what type of curl is it?
After a lot of trial an error during my road to lose 35+ pounds, I learned many things about the performance in the gym, and have settled on a few things that have assisted me a lot in dealing with problems in the gym.
Here is just an example:
I began to shift my calories around or varying them, if you will. I knew that at a certain point (post noob gains), that my body was going to settle and adjust to what I was doing to it, and the deficits (in diet) were going to be limiting some of my capabilities in the gym. Just stands to educated logic.
I normally operate real well in a deficit environment, when its coupled with periodic shifting of calories. Meaning I even progress (regularly) in the suboptimal environment, though, I am like anyone else, I reach sticking points, and have to deal with them, and yes, they can become frustrating when working with it.
So there were a trend of deficits for a time (to facilitate fat loss), and if during this time, I hit a problem in one or more exercises (say getting past a sticking point in reps), I looked to my diet as the main culprit, since I am resticting its potential (biologically) through my diet.
So, I would increase my calories (reasonably, since I am in this to build muscle as well as lose some fat) for a couple of days (during rest period), and then go back in the gym with educated attack plan in the attempt to break the plateau (in a simple way at first)--attempting to "work with the problem".
IMO, at this point (besides trying to break the plateau), that increasing calories (these two days in this example) "assists" in preventing a downward metabolic shift (based on my diet trend), and is another reason I flip my calories around.
There were times I would "increase" (more than normal) some quick absorbing carbs (like fruits, etc) an hour or so before my workout, when faced with a problem like this, in the attempt to aide it further.
At this point, I know (as I ate over my MT line, reasonably), that I have a two day trend of providing extra calories (energy), and I was going in "biologically better prepared". Understand, I said, better "biologically prepared".
The first step in "assisting" in success.
The second one, is having an educated attack plan in the gym--based on personal experiences when working with the weight. There are MANY WAYS to break sticking points, but I always go for the most simple method first, and just dont make it all that complicated.
Sometimes I go in, and go passed the sticking point by more than 1 rep, sometimes 2, and sometimes, I am at the same sticking point (maybe the surplus trend was too short, eh?).
If I hit the the same sticking point (as I am angered because I am working it here, ya know?), I first attempt to rack the weight; the purpose here--is to IMPROVE in progression as compared to the previous workout, NO MATTER if a sticking point exists or not; I rest only a few seconds (10 to 15 or so) and push out a couple of more reps, and I WANT THESE TO BE TOUGH (as this very thing is the stimulus that will "assist" in breaking the sticking point). This is one view point among many.
These two extra reps (for example) post the very brief 10 to 15 second rest is something the body didnt experience, since experiencing the sticking point, and will aide in getting the particular muscle stronger the next time. However sometimes, I will add a set to what I am doing. Sometimes I will remove a set (maybe the muscle is telling me to back off a tad?). Its just working with it to figure out the friggen puzzle.
Sometimes I will change the order of the particular exercise to see what develops. Since we are talking bicep, most do not realize how small this muscle really is, and how much it plays in and facilitates the movement of the larger muscle groups.
IMO, one "can" easily over train this little "pimple" of a muscle (and compared to the other muscles, it is a little friggen elf in comparison), when one does various forms of back exercises, and then adds in direct BI work. So VOLUME can have a huge impact on sticking points (is the point I am making).
You need to provide more information. Because just saying your stuck at a certain rep point on a exercise, doesnt really give us the tools to work with in assisting you they way we could if you provided diet details, your training history (and volume), etc, etc.
Best wishes
Chillen
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Same here. The only reason I ever curl or do tricep extensions is just to feed my ego and get the pump so I can feel my arms while I'm in the shower.
Yup yups. I do shrugs, curls and forearm work as finishers. To make sure what's limiting me is getting the maximum stimulus for growth.
Once my arms catch up to my chest, legs and back, I will probably stop doing them entirely. Or not, we'll see. Elbow flexion does matter, after all. And the shrug motion is a pretty important part of a lot of movements. Hrm. Nevermind, I do them forevers. <3
Anyway, Gustavo, if it isn't yet clear, that's why, generally speaking, we have a "rep range". As a beginner especially you're working much closer to your 1 rep max than a more experienced lifter. As such when you add even a little intensity (weight), you'll experience a fairly hefty drop in volume (reps). This is normal. There's no real trick to it other than to keep at it until you can do the max reps in your range again... then add more weight.
Assuming good nutrition, an appropriate caloric intake, an otherwise solid routine, etc.
Once my arms catch up to my chest, legs and back, I will probably stop doing them entirely. Or not, we'll see. Elbow flexion does matter, after all. And the shrug motion is a pretty important part of a lot of movements. Hrm. Nevermind, I do them forevers. <3
Anyway, Gustavo, if it isn't yet clear, that's why, generally speaking, we have a "rep range". As a beginner especially you're working much closer to your 1 rep max than a more experienced lifter. As such when you add even a little intensity (weight), you'll experience a fairly hefty drop in volume (reps). This is normal. There's no real trick to it other than to keep at it until you can do the max reps in your range again... then add more weight.
Assuming good nutrition, an appropriate caloric intake, an otherwise solid routine, etc.
Hahaha, props for admitting it.
No, i do curls at the end of the session only 3 to 4 sets. I start with chest, back, and shoulder exercises. After that I finish with biceps and triceps. I guess ill do some rows instead of curls for a while to mix it up.
Now after 6 months of training i have about 10lbs left to get rid of so now my motivation also comes from wanting to look good shirtless, i guess toning my muscles and losing the last 10 lbs is my new goal.
My routine? Well i dunno the names of the exercises but I do a chest, back, and shoulder exercise (6 in total) and then I move on to curls and 2 triceps exercises. For every exercise i do at least 3 sets and 7 reps. For lower body workouts i jog for about 40 min and when im in the gym for lower body i do lunges and work my quadriceps and hamstrings.
The gym is pretty big so i imagine it has almost every kind of machine and a lot of free weights.
Upper body on Mondays, lower on Tuesdays, upper on Wednesdays, lower on Thursday, upper on Fridays (40 min soccer game too), 90 min soccer game on Saturdays, and Sunday I rest.
Im always drinking water, i guess i can take that up a knotch though. The curl is a pretty basic one i guess. I just stand up in front of the mirror and do the traditional curl.