too small increments

[trump]

Howdy all, my apparent "first" post, yes, but I use to be on these boards a few years back. The old userid was rowdy....

Anyways, injuries and work forced me out of lifting for too long, so I'm finally back with a solid 3(?) years of SD....

  I've joined the local gym, use to be a garage lifter.  I'm pretty keen to get back into it and start my first cycle.

The problem is my 15/10/5RM arent leaving much gap for increments on some exercises. The smallest increment I can use is generally 2.5kg or 5kg on the cable machines.

So, with many exercises I only have room for one increment, then the next one hits my next max.

eg:
Barbell Curls
15RM - 17.5kgs
10RM - 22.5kgs
5RM - 27.5kgs

So, in say the week of 10s, my thought is to do something like the following:

1) 17.5 x 10, 2 sets  
2) 20 x 10    
3) 20 x 10, 30sec rest, 3 reps      
4) 20 x 10, 30sec rest, 6 reps
5) 22.5 x 10
6) 22.5 x 10

Essentially, I plan to add some extra reps in an attempt to keep the progessive loading going all the time. The 3 and 6 reps are random numbers I've just plucked out of the air. I dont really want to zig-zag, as I tend to adapt pretty quick I feel.

Also, my gym only has 2.5kg increments for its dumbells, so this is a bit high for upper body exercises, that use two dumbells. ie effectively a minimum 5kg increment for an upper body exercise.

My thought was to go buy some wrist/ankle weight things joggers use, that weigh around 1kg each. Then, I can just slap them on when I need a small inc on a dumbell exercise.

So, I'm throwing this out there for comments and  suggestions.

 

[Martin Levac]

Progress the load immediately to the next load for each subsequent workout. When you reach your max, reset to the first load on the next workout. Progress up again, try to reach a higher max. If you do reach a higher max, reset to one step higher low load on the next workout. Progress back up again. And so forth.

Example:

20kg
25kg
30kg
20kg reset
25kg
30kg
35kg new max
25kg new low load
30kg
35kg
etc

As you reset back to your low load, you will allow for more recovery than if you were always trying to lift your heaviest each workout past your first. The result may be the same in the end but the way I suggest will be easier. If you find that you can lift one step higher than you current max but not for as many reps, do that but put the weight down after each rep, count m-time (look up max-stim), pick the weight back up, do one rep, repeat until you reach your desired number of reps. This particular method allows either greater load than otherwise or more reps than otherwise.

As far as rep scheme goes, I only suggest that you do what you can.

Get a second opinion.

 

[Totentanz]

If your increments are too small, then use fewer increments. As long as the weight is sufficiently heavy, you can use it for multiple workouts without a problem. I often only progress the load once a week when I am doing 5s.
So...

20 20 20 25 25 25
could be an example

The wrist/ankle weights is a decent idea too and one I used in the past when I used to do dumbbell exercises that required very small increments.

 

[quadancer]

Martin had a good idea, and Tot said it for me.
Since you're technically "New" again, you're just trying to get strength up so you can make some size. In your case, strength is needed first, but should come up quickly regardless. You can also go by your local stereo shops, city dump, yard sales or wherever and find some old speakers for cheap. A speaker magnet about the size of a hamburger patty will usually weigh about 1-1/2 lbs. and makes a great platemate. You can usually pry them off with a hammer and chisel.
I've done similar to Tot, but just repeating any weights I couldn't get the full set for. Next workout I would be stronger and progress from there.

 

[trump]

Thanks for the comments guys. Yeah, I had thought of just keeping it simple like Totentanz suggests, its been ages so I shouldn't adapt too quickly to the same weight across 3 workouts. I'd feel better with this approach then zig zagging.