As you progress on your fitness journey you’ll reach a point where “strong is strong enough.”

What we mean by this is that at a certain point the risk of lifting heavier weight outweighs the rewards by increasing the risk of injury.

For example, if you are able to deadlift 300 pounds, working to deadlift 350 pounds comes at a higher risk to injury and may not be the appropriate way to progress. Unless of course you are looking to compete in the sport of powerlifting. Now, this is just an example and we just made these numbers up for an example, so don’t email us telling us why this is wrong and you feel people should be to lift a different amount.

To be honest each exercise will have a different top number and will vary for each person based on body type, age, fitness level, life stress, sex, injury history, and many more.

The goal for most is to stay healthy as they age and avoid injury, so once a client has reached the point of “strong is strong enough,” how do you progress?

One of our favorite ways is using ladder sets. With a Ladder Set we take a weight that is roughly 70% of what the client could do for 5 or 6 reps and shorten the rest period.

It would look something like this:

Set 1 = 7 Reps
Set 2 = 1 Rep
Set 3 = 6 Reps
Set 4 = 2 Reps
Set 5 = 5 Reps
Set 6 = 3 Reps
Set 7 = 4 Reps
​​​​​​​All with a 30 second break in-between each set.

What this does is increases fatigue, but allows to keep good form and the client safe as we challenge the body to get stronger.

A word of caution for all the more is better people out there – we would not do this for more than one exercise per workout. ​​​​​​​For the remainder of the workout do sets of 8-12 reps for 2 or 3 sets.

Increasing weight is only one of the many ways to increase intensity and progress a workout plan and at some point may not be the right call for you. So if you’ve been working out for awhile and have built up your strength, give ladder sets a try.

If you are looking to get started with a fitness plan check out our 30-Day Personal Training Experience…

https://pittsburghnorthfitness.lpages.co/30-day-personal-training-experience/