My old man always told me to keep it simple. And in this business, simplicity is something that will drive your success a lot further than you realize. We live in a world where “over-information” is real. Open up Instagram for five minutes and you are told all sorts of things: Water is bad for you, do not eat carbs, eat carbs, and staring at the weights is the same as lifting them…A little cheeky? Perhaps…but I am not that far off.
When we get people through our on-boarding process at the gym some choose to run parts of their programs on their own. Number one question we get is: how much weight should I use?
The short answer is to get coaching! We will regulate everything for you and you do not have to think!
But…we do not like keeping people in the dark and want to teach these basic gym skills so people are more successful.
During sessions, I like to eventually let people pick out their own weights based on their previous experiences with certain exercises. If their load management is good, we will increase in subsequent sessions.
The main topic we want to drive home to our clients is the minimal effective dosage model. How can we apply as little amount of stress to the body but drive home as many positive adaptations as possible? Simple…we challenge our clients but not to the point where they are crawling out of the gym or they cant feel the left side of their face.
For beginners
Pick a weight! Choose something that you know you can handle and then increase from there. Research is pretty conclusive on this one. Beginners can use as little as 40 percent of their one-rep-max and still get stronger. So…take advantage of it while you can!
Key is to not overload people in the beginning. They need to feel what it is like to be under load first. Once that confidence is built up and form is good, we can worry about the weight.
Subjective weights
All of my adults do not know what their one rep maxes are on certain lifts. I think the risk vs reward is not there and at the end of the day…that is not what we are chasing for 99 percent of our adult population.
After we perform a set of a particular exercise, we always ask our clients: “how difficult was that on a scale of 1 to 10?”.
10 being the most difficult thing you have ever done and 1 is like picking up a pillow.
This is commonly referred to as RPE.
RPE means rate of perceived exertion.
So…if someone gives us feedback that a particular set is an 8 out of 10, that means they can realistically get only two more repetitions at that weight. Following the same simple math, if that same client were to give us a 5 out of 10, we know they can perform 5 more repetitions at that weight.
So…if their program states that they need to do all of their sets at an RPE 8, that 5 is not going to cut it!
All of out clients are used to the RPE model and most of their weights they use are derived from that very same system.
Rep Ranges
Another way is to provide a rep range for people to hit.
For example lets say we want a client to perform 3 sets of 8-12 reps on the bench press with 100 pounds.
We want that client to stay with that same 100 pounds until that can do all three sets at 12 repetitions.
Week 1
- Set 1: 100 x 12
- Set 2: 100 x 10
- Set 3 100 x 9
Week 2
- Set 1: 100 x 12
- Set 2: 100 x 10
- Set 3 100 x 10
Week 3
- Set 1: 100 x 12
- Set 2: 100 x 12
- Set 3 100 x 12
You can use the above model for a long time. Increase weights by 5 to 10 pounds per week and start the process all over again!
The RPE system is really weird at first and we get a lot of stares at clients but once you become disciplined, the system can get you pretty darn strong.
Want to hear me rant about RPE in person? Schedule your free consultation here: www.getjdfit.com
