It’s a trial and error game to be fair and if your executing each set as intended you’ll no doubt see some decent gains in strength and this will therefore change the weight you need over time.
Unfortunately, it’s you, women who tend to underestimate the weight and us men who overestimate the weight, for fears of looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger and dreams of (for us men), you likely pick up a weight much less than what’s effective for your goals. You likely see little results and soon you’ve had enough and ditched the whole thing.
If it was that easy, men wouldn’t be in the gym every day picking up the heaviest weights they can shift off the rack, but they are! while consuming every protein shake and recovery drink they can afford. So trust me, If you’re to tone up, you WILL develop some lovely tone and definition but will NOT look like Arny! You will NOT.
When I ask my clients to perform a set of exercise and I’ve set them for example, 12 reps, I’ll always say. I want you to do 12 reps, the 12th should feel tough, possibly not doable but you defiantly don’t want to be able to do 13 or 14! That’s the intensity you’ll need to get the results you want. This is a classic example of why personal training is so valuable because you will do it and you will do it right.
Don’t just do the reps, do it right, the right intensity for your goals, if you’re in doubt and want some sound advice and a training planed designed for you, consider training online with a qualified personal trainers or in person training..
How many Reps should I be doing?
The number of reps you should be aiming for in your workout is a product of the goal you wish to achieve, be that, strength, power, hypotrophy (muscle size) or muscular endurance. Personal Trainers are trained on this using the repetition maximum continuum which you can see below. Although most of the time your goals will fall into one of these four categories, they can also fall between these categories depending on your desired goals.
Ok, so you have now decided you would like to gain a little tone and definition. Where is that in the repetition maximum continuum? Well you’re right it is not explicitly defined but it is there. We want to gain tone which is a slight increase in muscle size and of course strength.
Starting at the end of the strength range and going into the tail end of the hypotrophy range would be perfect for achieving muscle tone and definition, not too much, not too little. Therefore a rep range between 12 and 16 would be appropriate for this goal.
Now, you just need to select the correct weight.
The Repetition Maximum Continuum
The Repetition Maximum Continuum is useful for guidance into the number of reps we should aim for however as useful as this is it tells us nothing about the intensity or does it?
Well, 1 REP would be your 1 Rep Max. (Therefore you can only perform 1 rep at that weight and no more)
So, How do I choose the correct weight
In most cases, selecting the correct weight would involve performing a 1 rep max test! However, in my opinion, it is not always necessary not to mention someone training for endurance has no intention of lifting super heavyweights and 1 rep max is a hugely intense test. Therefore we won’t cover this here and instead opt for a simpler approach.
A simple guide is asking yourself at the rep range;
Could I do more reps?
If the answer is yes you should consider a heavier weight.