With progressive overload, do you guys increase the reps on your last set or your first set?

[staceyt55]

@confusedgirl98 In my opinion, adding to that first set is by far the best way.

 

[alexander5106954665]

@staceyt55 Yeah this is what i’m doing now. I’ll try adding a rep to each set but if i get 1-2 more reps on the first set & do the same as i did last session on the other 2 sets i’ll still see it as progress

 

[maxmillianmichieli]

@alexander5106954665 Do the dynamic double progression. Here's a video on it:

Once you're advanced enough you might find useful to reduce it to 2 sets per exercise (increasing number of exercises), with the Top Set-Back Off schedule.

 

[christianscientist]

@maxmillianmichieli I was going to link this video here! I've found it works well for me.

 

[alexander5106954665]

@maxmillianmichieli This is what i’ve been looking into and that video has helped answer a lot of questions, thank you.

 

[maxmillianmichieli]

@alexander5106954665 No problem. I would like to thank the subreddit user that taught me that like a year ago or so if I could remember his name.

 

[nickyhmurray]

@alexander5106954665 I use the same weight for all my working sets and have a rep goal for the 3 sets combined. When I hit that goal in 2 consecutive sessions I add weight the next session. Very simple and self regulating. No need to make it more complicated than this.

 

[weepingwillow422]

@alexander5106954665 Many paths to Rome.

• You can do straight sets without changing weight across sets, or you can change them. If you don't change the weight, the reps will drop but the difference for muscle gain will be negligible (theoretically dropping weight set-to-set will be marginally superior as long as the load remains ~30% 1RM or higher).
• You can progress after hitting a certain amount of reps on the first set. This is the most common strategy.
• You can progress after hitting a certain number of reps on the 3rd set (or other number of sets >1). This may be more effective with lower rep counts (e.g. 6-8 reps vs. 15-20), as it's theorized (suspected, but not demonstrated) that the higher your reps, the closer to failure you have to take your sets for the same growth. This strategy may reduce the number of deloads required, as the farther you progress before triggering the weight change, the farther from failure your first 2 sets will be.

 

[rclouviere]

@alexander5106954665 since i train to failure on p much everything, i prefer progressive overload w/ the weight (1 set to failure, 2nd + 3rd set to failure, ideally more weight, but aim for 6-8 minimum) the increase of weight between sets also shouldnt be crazy (anywhere from like 5-15 lbs depending on exercise)

 

[christianscientist]

@rclouviere I've seen a couple of people talk about increasing the weight on sets 2 and 3 and it doesn't make sense to me. If you're going to failure on your first day your second set will typically take a hit in performance and you'll 1-2 reps. If you're upping the weights you'll also take a hit in performance so that's losing another 1-2 reps. Ultimately rep numbers aren't everything and adequate intensity can still drive gains but it seems odd to switch up your rep range so much from one set to the next. I've heard up working up a heavy top set like a heavy single and going for higher reps with less weight for successive sets but it seems odd to increase weight and effectively decrease reps.

 

[rclouviere]

@christianscientist For me its a mental thing, its likely not optimal but I set a number with the first set and push myself to that number with increased weight unless im at a weight that i know is my actual max with good form

 

[gator6343]

@alexander5106954665 I have a rep range for each set. I will increase the weight on a set by set basis. When I reach the top of the goal rep range for any given set, I will add weight to that set for the next session.

For example
Set 1: 5-8 reps
Set 2: 5-8 reps
Set 3: 8-10 reps

When set 1 reaches 8 reps, I will increase the weight for the next session. If set 1 hits 7 reps, and set 2 hits 8 reps, I will only increase the weight for set 2 next session.

Ideally you want to push for the first set to progress because your first set is likely the most stimulating for the workout since you start to accumulate fatigue after it and fatigue reduces stimulus with each subsequent set. If you happen to progress on the other sets, that’s awesome.

 

[dawn16]

@alexander5106954665 I’m always pushing myself to pump out more reps.

 

[baileyf14]

@alexander5106954665 All sets. Typically I see it on the first, but fairly often on all. However, if there are a lot of sets, more variables are introduced that can get in the way of progressive overload or make it hard to track. Too much fatigue, not enough rest between sets, mentally psyching yourself up for failure on a bunch of sets.. it’s just a lot. I found 2 hard sets for each exercise is perfect for me.. only tracking 2 sets is simple, and if both are to failure then most additional sets would be kind of junk volume anyway.

 

[andysuh]

@alexander5106954665 I do 2 working sets (straight sets) to positive failure per exercise . Reps 10 to 15. If i hit 15 reps in those 2 sets, i ad weight next time until i hit rep 15 again... and so on and on.

 

[asperd]

@alexander5106954665 Progressive overload is something that has to happen naturally, it's not something you can force to happen. For the first set do 16kg to 0-2 RIRs (on the very first set, I would lean more towards 0 than 2 for dumbbell flys). If you feel like you can't nail 8+ of 16kg on the second set then do 14kg to 0-2 RIRs. If you feel confident you can nail 8+ of 16kg then stick with 16kg to 0-2 RIRs. On the third set, same idea. Stick to 16kg if you feel you can do 8+. Drop to 14kg if not. You can grow from sets of 5-7. But for an isolation movement like dumbbell flys, I feel like 8+ is better. I typically like to do sets up to 20 with this movement. Once you feel confident that you can nail 8+ of 18kg (or whatever the next metric dumbbell up is) on your first set, I would promote. If you can't, I would dropset immediately to 16kg.

If you are having trouble progressing over time, it could be related to your programming. Delts and triceps assist on this movement. Just not as much as chest pressing. Maybe your delts, triceps or pecs are getting pre-exhausted from prior exercises or workouts from prior days. Or not eating enough calories/carbs. Doing too much volume. Maybe too little volume. If your sleep is really bad (like 4 hours).

 

[sorrowedhart]

@alexander5106954665 You aim to progress on all sets, but train hard on all of them, so don't worry if you don't progress on all.

Example, you got 10kgx12,10,9 this week. Next time at the same RIR, or lower/hardrr, however you train, you're able to get 15,11,8. You progressed your main set and trained hard. That's important. Don't do something like 13,11,10, just methodically adding 1 rep per set when you could do more on set 1.

But in most cases, even when training hard, you should be able to progress on all sets. If you don't, don't worry. It'll happen eventually.

 

[sbrodhagen]

@alexander5106954665 I focus on my best set

so for chest that would either be the first or second set

leg extensions I get more reps on my 2nd or 3rd set for whatever reason

 

[shanmarkel]

@alexander5106954665 I increase the weight on my final set while maintaining the same amount of repetitions and then the next session adding that weight, to the set before the final also; until eventually all sets have said weight and has been overloaded and i will resume training that for a period until i feel comfortable to repeat again.

 

[angelnumberthree]

@alexander5106954665 All of them