Should I add 5 lbs or try to do more reps

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
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Is it ok to add 5 lbs every workout instead of adding more reps with the same weight if I want to keep the reps in the 8-12 range?
 
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Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
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Right now I can bench 170 lbs for 8 reps and I hope to get to 225 lbs for 8 reps before next year.
 
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purbeast0

No Lifer
Sep 13, 2001
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If you want to up your strength, go for like 8 reps and if you can get that easily, put more weight on. Keep putting weight on until you can only get like 6 or 4. Then as you build up more strength, rinse and repeat with heavier weight.
 

deadlyapp

Diamond Member
Apr 25, 2004
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Both will break down your muscles similarly, however it depends on what your goals are. If it's size, then adding weight and maintaining reps in the 8-12 range will be your best course of action. If it's strength, then spending some time in hypertrophy, then strength (3-5 reps) then resetting that cycle every 8 weeks or so would be a good course of action.

You need to keep doing progressive overloads, and you do that through weight increase, rep increase, or a combination of the two.
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
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gallery_3022_112_122119.png

Yes, add weight if you can. Can be 5 or 2.5. Just add weight.
AND
Every couple of weeks, do a workout slightly lower weight and go nuts on reps.
 

SNC

Platinum Member
Jan 14, 2001
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Right now I can bench 170 lbs for 8 reps and I hope to get to 225 lbs for 8 reps before next year.
If you put in a good bit of effort you should be able to get to that by Aug easy. What is your routine? One of the ways I gained back in the pre 2 plate era was to establish my 3x7 max after warming up with the bar for one set of 20 then 135 for one set of 12 and one set of 10. I would then load the bar with my 3x7 max plus 10. I would then do 2 sets of 5 and then as many as I could for the 3rd set. When I could hit 7 I would then move to 6 for the first 2 sets. When I hit 3x7 I would add another 10 and repeat. Every workout would end with 3 sets of deloading by taking 30 pounds off and doing a set of 8, 10 pounds off and another set of 8, take another 10 off and do 8 more. That would put you in the 50-60 + rep range and finish the first exercise. Any pushing movement need to be counted by a pull so a crap ton of low cable rows, lat pulls, bent over dumbbell rows, landmine pulls all in the 3x6-8 range depending on weight. Then another group of pressing, with dumbell flat, incline, decline and finishers with cable crossovers or dumbbell flyes. Then depending on what you have in your gym some finishing back pulls with cables. Then eat a shit ton of food and sleep well. Do that every 3 days for 2 months and you will get to 8x225 in short order. One thing that helped me a ton was when I believed that a big back was necessary for a big bench. So work the back hard! On arm day a ton of focus on triceps will speed up the bench too.
 

Red Squirrel

No Lifer
May 24, 2003
67,201
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I guess theres's tons of different trains of thoughts out there so not sure which one is best, but I personally do 5 sets of 5 reps. I make sure that I have trouble finishing the 5th but can still finish it. If it's easy, then I add weight. I will probably reach a point where it's a bit unrealistic to add more weight (I'm far from there now) so at that point I will probably just increase the reps.

I may also depend if you are strength training or endurance training. Idealy you probably want to do both but if you're concentrating more on one that will influence whether you do more weight or more reps... at least that's my train of thought, I may be wrong, and this is just an uneducated guess.

Myself I just do it to try to stay somewhat fit, since I am not really that active.
 

mike8675309

Senior member
Jul 17, 2013
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You have to ask yourself what you are doing the work outs for. Are you training for a body building or power-lifting comp, or are you just messing around in the gym to stay in shape, gain some strength?

There are very specific programs that body builders or power lifters use to gain what they want to gain. What you are doing is neither of them. Does that make it bad? no. If you want to get stronger (i.e. be able to lift a little more after each week) then you need to do progressive overloading of the muscles. That overloading can be in increasing reps, or increasing weight.

Jeff Nippard did a recent leg workout with John Meadows and that can give you an idea of what a brutal workout can be like. But he does talk about what the benefit with his workouts is.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pep2_4nhgE

Check out John's thoughts on other workouts on his channel
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmSEdfW3LpEKyLiCDWBDdVQ
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
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81
I alternate from one method to the other as the whim takes me. Pushing the weight up every week eventually gets pretty grueling, so I'll back off a bit and go for more reps. Eventually that gets grueling too, so I switch back. Technically focusing single mindedly on pushing more weight for a set number of reps is the optimal way, but there's something to be said for switching things up simply to keep yourself interested.
 

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
1,343
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91
Here's an update to my progress. Yesterday I benched 180 lbs for 7 reps, not 100% sure if I could do 8 reps but I did not attempt an 8th rep because I did not have a spotter. I seemed to have hit a wall on bench press at 180 lbs for 7 reps. About a 1.5 months ago I was benching 195 lbs for 3 reps but seem to have plateaued there as well so I decided to increase my rep range to between 8-12 (8 being the minimum reps I want to achieve in the set) and reduced the weight. About 5 weeks ago I was benching 165 lbs for 8 reps. I did get a little better at bench through the course of the month but I think I'm progressing too slowly. I'm 40 years old and weigh 160 lbs, so I'm not sure if my bodyweight or age are holding me back at 180 lbs for 7 reps for bench press.
 

monkeydelmagico

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2011
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Is it ok to add 5 lbs every workout instead of adding more reps with the same weight if I want to keep the reps in the 8-12 range?

Pretty much what I've been doing, adding a bit of weight every couple weeks.

About 5 weeks ago I was benching 165 lbs for 8 reps. I did get a little better at bench through the course of the month but I think I'm progressing too slowly. I'm 40 years old and weigh 160 lbs, so I'm not sure if my bodyweight or age are holding me back at 180 lbs for 7 reps for bench press.

Took me longer, around 3 months to go from 165 to 185 for an 8 count rep. I'm older at 47. How often are you doing bench work? I only do straight bar bench press once per week. I also do once a week with high rep barbells and push-ups.
 

pauldun170

Diamond Member
Sep 26, 2011
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Here's an update to my progress. Yesterday I benched 180 lbs for 7 reps, not 100% sure if I could do 8 reps but I did not attempt an 8th rep because I did not have a spotter. I seemed to have hit a wall on bench press at 180 lbs for 7 reps. About a 1.5 months ago I was benching 195 lbs for 3 reps but seem to have plateaued there as well so I decided to increase my rep range to between 8-12 (8 being the minimum reps I want to achieve in the set) and reduced the weight. About 5 weeks ago I was benching 165 lbs for 8 reps. I did get a little better at bench through the course of the month but I think I'm progressing too slowly. I'm 40 years old and weigh 160 lbs, so I'm not sure if my bodyweight or age are holding me back at 180 lbs for 7 reps for bench press.

It's not a race.
Unless you are competing, any progress is good progress so don't worry.
2 things (among many) can hold you up, diet and overall training.
My first question to you is how are your deadlifts and squats doing?
If you are neglecting deadlifts....start doing them.
That being said, try this
It's basically the old McCallum breathing squat routine hijacked for bench press with some slight tweaks.
Warm up
Start off with a set of wide grip cable rows or something equivalent.
For your bench warm up, straight bar for couple of sets to get the blood flowing. Warm up should take awhile.
It's been awhile so I can't remember the original formula for working out your starting point but might be half your 1 rep max.
Try this once a week (assuming your current 1RM is bout 220-ish based off your 195x3 comment)
After the light warm-up routine on bench
20 reps of 110. Proper grip. None of that elbows out BS the kids do. STEEEE-YICT!!!!!
Every week, add 5 pounds. (2.5lb plates are your friends. )
Do this for about 4 weeks
5th week revert to your normal bench routine and take it down a notch. Focus on form or just keep it casual. 5th week is rest week.
6th week return to 20 rep routine (You should be up to 130x20 at this point)
On the 10th week, normal bench routine and then try for your 1 rep max.
On the 11th week, start from scratch based on your new 1 rep max or switch back your old routine.
If you go 2 weeks without making progress then you may have a diet issue.
Summary: You will bench once and only once a week. You will do 1 set of 20. Done right, where the chosen starting weight is properly calculated your last 5-3 reps will be nightmares and the last rep should knock you on your ass.
During this period establish a deadlift day. For example...Monday is your crazy bench day where bench takes a couple of minutes. Friday is when you 45 minutes in front of the bar for deadlifts.
Deadlifts will help you build the core strength that will assist you in your bench.
 

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
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91
I've been stuck at benching 185 lbs for 7 reps for the past 2 weeks (4 workouts). About 3 months ago I could only do 195 lbs for 3 reps and could not get past that so I lowered the weight and upped the reps as I thought that maybe I didn't have enough volume in my bench presses, but I still feel I'm progressing too slowly on bench press despite. I'm wondering if I should start Strong Lifts 5x5 or should I replace barbell bench press with hammer strength bench press for 3 months and then return to barbell bench pressing? I don't know if I'm too advanced to make progress on the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as I've been training for around 16 years. I never tried an official workout program and always did it my way.
 

SNC

Platinum Member
Jan 14, 2001
2,166
201
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I've been stuck at benching 185 lbs for 7 reps for the past 2 weeks (4 workouts). About 3 months ago I could only do 195 lbs for 3 reps and could not get past that so I lowered the weight and upped the reps as I thought that maybe I didn't have enough volume in my bench presses, but I still feel I'm progressing too slowly on bench press despite. I'm wondering if I should start Strong Lifts 5x5 or should I replace barbell bench press with hammer strength bench press for 3 months and then return to barbell bench pressing? I don't know if I'm too advanced to make progress on the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as I've been training for around 16 years. I never tried an official workout program and always did it my way.
http://www.smolovjr.com/smolov-squat-program/ I know it says squat in the URL but its a bench program. Do not take the light weight at the beginning and up it. You will need the ramp up to complete the last week. I just about died after the final 10 sets of 3.
5x5 is a great one for adding strength. and DIET!! I am stuck at 325 for 5 right now, it gets harder and harder as the weight adds up. A video of you benching might shed some light on issues. If you are going for all out bench numbers there are some things you can do to up your numbers without getting one bit stronger.
 

SlitheryDee

Lifer
Feb 2, 2005
17,252
19
81
I've been stuck at benching 185 lbs for 7 reps for the past 2 weeks (4 workouts). About 3 months ago I could only do 195 lbs for 3 reps and could not get past that so I lowered the weight and upped the reps as I thought that maybe I didn't have enough volume in my bench presses, but I still feel I'm progressing too slowly on bench press despite. I'm wondering if I should start Strong Lifts 5x5 or should I replace barbell bench press with hammer strength bench press for 3 months and then return to barbell bench pressing? I don't know if I'm too advanced to make progress on the Strong Lifts 5x5 program as I've been training for around 16 years. I never tried an official workout program and always did it my way.

I don't know how many sets you're doing, but adding a couple more might be one way to make progress. 3 sets is a pretty typical format for a lot of bodybuilding style regimens. Maybe you could have the first three sets be the ones that count as progress, but add a couple more after that for extra volume. It would look something like:

Bench - 185 lbs

First day:

set 1 - 7 reps
set 2 - 6 reps
set 3 - 5 reps
set 4 - 4 reps
set 5 - 3 reps

second day:

set 1 - 7 reps
set 2 - 7 reps
set 3 - 6 reps
set 4 - 5 reps
set 6 - 4 reps

third day:

Set 1 - 8 reps
set 2 - 7 reps
set 3 - 7 reps
set 4 - 6 reps
set 5 - 5 reps

And you'd just keep going like that until you get 8 reps in your first three sets. Then you could move up to a higher weight.
 

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
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91
I'm doing Stronglifts 5x5 right now with a few modifications. I'm doing 5x5 on bench press, military press, and squats. I'm doing 3x8 for barbell rows (My grip is not comfortable for heavier weights). Right now I'm having a tough time building up my bench. I changed to Stronglifts about 2 weeks ago so I could try to break my bench press plateau specifically. Yesterday I could only do 4 reps with 185 lbs on bench press. 3 weeks ago I could do 7 reps with the same weight with the same intensity. I'm also noticed that I'm starting to get a double chin and it's very visible when I tilt my head down. I also have love handles and a bit of pudginess in m belly area, however I still had that issue even when I was 10 lbs lighter, but I just looked skinnier. However, I still have skinny arms and skinny legs and narrow shoulders and narrow chest. My goals are to get stronger in my squats and bench presses and I'm having a hard time doing that but at the same time I want to get more lean. Also it's very hard for me to gain weight but easy for me to lose weight and strength to go along with it. I'm 5' 8", 162 lbs, and have a 31 inch waist. I still want to get stronger in the gym as I lean out.
 
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SNC

Platinum Member
Jan 14, 2001
2,166
201
106
I'm doing Stronglifts 5x5 right now with a few modifications. I'm doing 5x5 on bench press, military press, and squats. I'm doing 3x8 for barbell rows (My grip is not comfortable for heavier weights). Right now I'm having a tough time building up my bench. I changed to Stronglifts about 2 weeks ago so I could try to break my bench press plateau specifically. Yesterday I could only do 4 reps with 185 lbs on bench press. 3 weeks ago I could do 7 reps with the same weight with the same intensity. I'm also noticed that I'm starting to get a double chin and it's very visible when I tilt my head down. I also have love handles and a bit of pudginess in m belly area, however I still had that issue even when I was 10 lbs lighter, but I just looked skinnier. However, I still have skinny arms and skinny legs and narrow shoulders and narrow chest. My goals are to get stronger in my squats and bench presses and I'm having a hard time doing that but at the same time I want to get more lean. Also it's very hard for me to gain weight but easy for me to lose weight and strength to go along with it. I'm 5' 8", 162 lbs, and have a 31 inch waist. I still want to get stronger in the gym as I lean out.
Getting stronger while cutting is the holy gaile of lifting. The body needs fuel to grow, if you take away that fuel it has a much harder time growing, not to say it can't, it's just harder. I was eating around 8k calories a day for 3 months last bulk cycle. Bench went up just about every week. Lay out your workout and your nutrients, some nice folks will be around to give you some ideas of what to change and where. It really sounds to me like your at a calorie deficit and the body is munching away at the muscle you do have to feed itself. I guessed at your age and used 32, your BMR is 1721.26 if you are of average build. What that means is if you do nothing but lay in bed you will need 1721 calories to maintain your weight. Throw in 4 days of workouts and that number is easily over 2k. Now dont confuse 1000k of chips, cookies, surag and crap as the same thing as 1000k of lean meat, veggies and fruit. Do you have a coach to instruct you on form?
 

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
1,343
91
91
If you put in a good bit of effort you should be able to get to that by Aug easy. What is your routine? One of the ways I gained back in the pre 2 plate era was to establish my 3x7 max after warming up with the bar for one set of 20 then 135 for one set of 12 and one set of 10. I would then load the bar with my 3x7 max plus 10. I would then do 2 sets of 5 and then as many as I could for the 3rd set. When I could hit 7 I would then move to 6 for the first 2 sets. When I hit 3x7 I would add another 10 and repeat. Every workout would end with 3 sets of deloading by taking 30 pounds off and doing a set of 8, 10 pounds off and another set of 8, take another 10 off and do 8 more. That would put you in the 50-60 + rep range and finish the first exercise. Any pushing movement need to be counted by a pull so a crap ton of low cable rows, lat pulls, bent over dumbbell rows, landmine pulls all in the 3x6-8 range depending on weight. Then another group of pressing, with dumbell flat, incline, decline and finishers with cable crossovers or dumbbell flyes. Then depending on what you have in your gym some finishing back pulls with cables. Then eat a shit ton of food and sleep well. Do that every 3 days for 2 months and you will get to 8x225 in short order. One thing that helped me a ton was when I believed that a big back was necessary for a big bench. So work the back hard! On arm day a ton of focus on triceps will speed up the bench too.

I don't expect to get there by August of this year. I've been on a cutting diet for 3 weeks so far as I'm trying to lose the love handles and belly fat but I'm lean and skinny everywhere else. My strength has dropped between 5-10% in the gym after 2 weeks on the cut. I'm doing 5x5 right now but next workout I might lower the volume to 3x5 and lower the weight my 10 lbs on my overhead press. I'm also not going to the extremes with my cutting diet but did reduce carbs significantly. Also that the end of my bulk, I was not much stronger than before, so maybe that 5-10% strength I lost during the cut was the strength I gained from when I was on the bulk. I'm currently eating around 2000 calories a day. Also I'm wondering if I should take a pre-workout supplement since I'm on a cut and not eating as much carbs as before? Does a pre-workout supplement help with progress in the gym or does it just add a rep or two to your current strength but does nothing for continual progress?
 

SNC

Platinum Member
Jan 14, 2001
2,166
201
106
I don't expect to get there by August of this year. I've been on a cutting diet for 3 weeks so far as I'm trying to lose the love handles and belly fat but I'm lean and skinny everywhere else. My strength has dropped between 5-10% in the gym after 2 weeks on the cut. I'm doing 5x5 right now but next workout I might lower the volume to 3x5 and lower the weight my 10 lbs on my overhead press. I'm also not going to the extremes with my cutting diet but did reduce carbs significantly. Also that the end of my bulk, I was not much stronger than before, so maybe that 5-10% strength I lost during the cut was the strength I gained from when I was on the bulk. I'm currently eating around 2000 calories a day. Also I'm wondering if I should take a pre-workout supplement since I'm on a cut and not eating as much carbs as before? Does a pre-workout supplement help with progress in the gym or does it just add a rep or two to your current strength but does nothing for continual progress?
A pre-workout is usually a stimulant and some BCAA, creatine, NOx and "other" things. Most people never get to a point were a pre actually helps them. You best bet is to try a few really good ones and see what it does for your workout. A lot of time a reduction is strength is a result of worrying and stress about losing strength especially after only a week or so. Remember stress = cortisol production, cortisol is a compound released by the body to help calm it, its a large contributor to that belly fat you're trying to lose. The diet portion is one I struggle with most, try a few things and keep track of what you do and how you react. After awhile you will find what works for you. You might want to try more small meals throughout the day and not focus so much on the big three.
 

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
1,343
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91
A pre-workout is usually a stimulant and some BCAA, creatine, NOx and "other" things. Most people never get to a point were a pre actually helps them. You best bet is to try a few really good ones and see what it does for your workout. A lot of time a reduction is strength is a result of worrying and stress about losing strength especially after only a week or so. Remember stress = cortisol production, cortisol is a compound released by the body to help calm it, its a large contributor to that belly fat you're trying to lose. The diet portion is one I struggle with most, try a few things and keep track of what you do and how you react. After awhile you will find what works for you. You might want to try more small meals throughout the day and not focus so much on the big three.

I eat 4 meals a day right now. I average about 500 calories for each meal. Today for breakfast I had a whey protein shake mixed with 8 oz of 2% milk and 2 Hawaiian buns. For lunch I had a bowl of rice mixed with 2 scrambled eggs. For supper I'm going to have 3 chicken fingers with french fries, and tonight a few hours before bed I don't know what I'm going to eat. I also bought a sample of ON Amino Essential Energy for my pre-workout drink tomorrow.
 
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SNC

Platinum Member
Jan 14, 2001
2,166
201
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I eat 4 meals a day right now. I average about 500 calories for each meal. Today for breakfast I had a whey protein shake mixed with 8 oz of 2% milk and 2 Hawaiian buns. For lunch I had a bowl of rice mixed with 2 scrambled eggs. For supper I'm going to have 3 chicken fingers with french fries, and tonight a few hours before bed I don't know what I'm going to eat. I also bought a sample of ON Amino Essential Energy for my pre-workout drink tomorrow.

Your killing yourself with the carbs if your not needing them for energy like after extended killer workout, long run or a bout of some sort of aerobic exercising. You might want to chat with someone more versed in what you're doing and the diet required, like I said, diet is my weak point, I'm one a never ending bulk cycle.
 

Dave3000

Golden Member
Jan 10, 2011
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91
Is it normal to be about 10%-20% weaker on a daily 500 calorie deficit depending on the exercise? I lost 2 reps (used to be between 5-7 reps but now it's 3-5 reps with 185 lbs) on my bench press and I'm much weaker on my barbell rows (135 lbs feels like 165 lbs for the same reps).
 
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