How To Assign Weight Loads To Your Workout
When weight training and working out, it is absolutely necessary to track your progress by keeping a close tab on controllable variables – such as which exercises, how many sets, number of repetitions, and how much weight. You should record these variables regularly so that you can compare them to past performances. Additionally, if you have these variables to review, you’ll know when they need to be pushed for improvement, as well as when they need to be changed.
Workout-X includes these variables into many of the exercise program designs. Depending on the program you use, we assign exercises, reps, sets, and rest. The only one variable we don’t assign is weight.
Why Doesn’t Workout-X Assign Weight to Exercises?
Everyone is different, with varying levels of training experiences and strength. We have literally thousands of members who, naturally, possess different strength levels. Further, even strength can be different within the same person from one day to the next. How is this possible?
Many factors affect your strength from day to day – things such as sleep, food intake, mood, stress, daily activities, motivation level, and other factors even less apparent. For these reasons it is necessary that weight is not assigned to exercises, but rather it is left to you to select and record. As you might have experienced, some days you’re dragging and just don’t have the extra oomph, while other days you’re full of energy and feel invincible. Because of this, you will naturally select your weight with slight variations from day to day. Only you can do this, not anyone else.
Weight Selection Also Depends on the Sets and Reps Assigned
Obviously as you become stronger, the weight that you can use will change. But aside from that, the weight selection of an exercise changes necessarily when different reps and sets are used. Because it is important to maintain variety, reps, sets and rest are often changed. (Remember, these variables need to be changed frequently to bring further positive adaptation; therefore, the weights you’ll select are often different.)
The reason the weight you select must change with the reps, sets and rest are pretty obvious: The weight you can use for 15 repetitions is different from the weight you can use for only 5 repetitions. If you’re using a weight that’s truly heavy enough for only 5 repetitions (and no more), then you had better select a lighter weight if you’ll attempt 15 reps!
Track Your Weight
Workout-X therefore does not prescribe weight and leaves that up to you. It’s important that you track your weight for many of the exercises you perform. You can use a little inexpensive journal or notebook. This way you always have an idea of what weight you have used for a particular exercise with specific reps, sets and rest. Additionally, for that particular exercise, sometimes you’ll use slightly more weight, other times you may use slightly less weight; it all depends on your physiological and psychological state coming into the exercise. But one thing is for sure, you’ll always want to give your best effort when doing any exercise!
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I used to track my weight loads on Workout-X, but I found there was little value to it, so I have since stopped. The problem is it’s easy to record the weight, but difficult to look up past weights for a given exercise. You have to know exactly which day you performed a given exercise, and even if you manage that memory feat, if the sets/reps were different, then that past result is meaningless. I love HyperStrike’s depth and variety, but you can’t build up a meaningful history when the variables are constantly changing.
I may start recording weights again, but not for every exercise in your library. I may just pick a few key exercises with constant sets and reps (i.e. fixed circuit training workout) that I do periodically as a fitness test benchmark, and record those weights. That way the history will be more meaningful.
Thanks for the support. This year we are finally ready to address the lack of workout feedback we provide members. I would like to better understand what you would find meaningful. Will you outline what you’d like to see in the next release? Best, MG
Here are some things that could be helpful. They might be pie-in-the-sky, but some are doable.
Workout-X exercises could assign percentages of one repetition maximum (1RM) in the intensity field. I don’t think any of the library strength exercises I’ve seen give a value in that field. That would be a useful guideline. It’s quick and easy to figure out my 1RM for a new exercise. Over time I’ve gotten better at picking suitable weight loads for myself based on sets and reps but when I started out I made a lot of mistakes.
In fact the #1 reason I was shopping for online personal trainers in the first place was to get some guidance on weight loads. I was disappointed in that quest, but I’ve coped. Workout-X’s current instructions to use as much weight as you can with proper technique is simple and sensible, and it’s been good enough for me.
For history, it would be great to be able to click on an exercise and see a history of every time I performed it with all the usual info: date, sets, reps, tempo, weight load (!), rest, etc. Even nicer would be the option to widen the history to include similar exercises, e.g. arm curls, alternating arm curls, supinating, hammer, etc.
All this being said, I’m still unlikely to record all my weights. First, it’s inconvenient. I’d need to carry paper and pencil around the gym; I’ve done it, but I’m not crazy about it. (I could type weights into my phone, but it hasn’t been worth the extra effort.) Second, sadly some gym equipment doesn’t tell you weights; the plates are just labeled “1, 2, 3″ and you don’t know if they’re 10, 15, 20lbs, or what. And what would I record for elastic band resistance exercises? “Red”?
I’ll finish with a question. How do live Personal Trainers pick weight loads for their clients during a session? Trial and error? Recorded history? Instinct?