Too often, weight training is associated with being able to carry heavier loads. This is only partly true because there comes a time when your body will reach its natural limit and it will not be able to lift a kilo more (unless you take a strange and illicit substance).
Discover our latest podcast
Does that mean that one has really stopped making progress?
No. For the simple reason being that progress can be done in many ways when it comes to bodybuilding. There is strength training, by lifting more and more weight of course. But you can also progress by keeping the same weight and performing more sets or more repetitions.
We talk about progress from the moment our body is able to do something that it could not, or almost could not, do before. ‘Faster, further, stronger’ bodybuilding fits perfectly with the spirit of the Olympic Games.
So how does one make progress?
It must be assumed that it is the workout weight that must be increased and not just the weight that you are lifting. The harder your session will be, the more your body will get used to the effort and become stronger. Endurance, strength, mass, all this is the result of your workout.
Getting better may simply be reducing your rest time between sets. For example, you do 4 sets of 12 repetitions of 80 kilograms on the bench press and you take 2 minutes of breaks between each set. Try to reduce to 1min30 over the next few weeks. Your body will adapt and become stronger, without you having changed exercises, series' or weight. We do not progress because we are lifting more, we lift more because we have progressed.
Check out the video above for more tips...
