Have you ever felt like you’re spinning your wheels with your strength training workouts and not getting stronger or more tone? Maybe you feel intimidated by lifting more weight or don’t feel like you have the skills to do more complex movements. On the one hand, you like to play it safe to stay in your comfort zone. On the other hand, you understand stepping out of your comfort zone is the only way to make progress. There is a way to experience the best of both worlds when you focus on small progressive steps.
Before we dive into tactics, let’s talk about why it’s important to create a progressive strength routine. In order for your muscles to grow, they need to be challenged in a way that forces them to work harder. Muscles grow when they repair the micro tears in them either from increasing reps or weight or both. They don’t get micro tears in them unless they’re stretching the limits to lift more weight or do more reps.
Fun fitness facts: If you want to build endurance muscles for a race or long hike, more repetitions and lower weight will get you there. If you want to build strength to look more tone and be stronger, less repetitions and more weight will get you there.
The first step in increasing your confidence lifting weights is to get your form dialed in. Your number one goal with strength workouts (or any workout for that matter) is to stay safe to prevent injury. Once you feel confident that you’re doing the movements correctly, you’ll feel better about taking steps to make progress.
Now, let’s dive into tactical steps you can take to get stronger and more confident with your fitness abilities.
Increasing the number of repetitions (a.k.a. reps), even if it’s 1-3 at a time, will help your muscles adjust to more volume with the movements. When I begin working with a new personal training client and they have little to no experience lifting weights I’ll start them with light weight and 5 reps for each set. Once they get the form down, we add more reps with each set. We could add this in weeks 2, 3, or 4 depending on their progress.
Increasing the number of repetitions is ideal if you’re training for a 5K or marathon. As mentioned earlier, more reps with lighter weight will give your endurance muscles the ability to work consistently over an extended period of time.
Increasing the number of sets may or may not increase the total number of repetitions in a workout but it could help you develop more visual muscle tone. For example, if you’re doing 3 sets of 8 reps each (24 reps total) and want to shift to 4 sets and 5 reps each (20 reps total) to increase strength, it’s best to combine this progressive step with the next one by increasing the amount of weight you push around. You may be doing 20 reps instead of 24 during your workout, but you’re helping your power muscles become stronger and more powerful.
Increasing the weight you push around during a workout is another way that will help you make progress with your fitness goals. This can be done with any strength goal including running your first 5K (or marathon!) or improving your ability to carry groceries, walk up stairs, or simply move about your daily life with more energy. You can increase your weight every 2-4 weeks in 2.5-5 pounds increments depending on how you feel.
If you’re using the strongest resistance band and it’s getting too easy for you, adding another band such as the lightest one is another way to make progress with your strength training.
Increasing the frequency of your workouts will help you take your strength training to the next level. When I begin working with a new client, we start with two strength training sessions per week. This is the minimum amount that will get you real results with consistent efforts. For a woman in midlife with a goal of longevity and mitigating muscle loss, I recommend three strength training sessions per week. You can start with two and add another workout in when you can carve out time.
Increasing the complexity of movements can add variety to your workout routine to keep you engaged. More complex movements give smaller muscle groups opportunities to grow. Strength training workouts don’t just give you bigger, stronger muscles, and tone your body, they improve your brain fog, cognition, balance, coordination, blood sugar, and energy levels.
For example, doing walking lunges rather than static lunges helps you improve your balance which is super-important as you age. You develop new skills which helps boost your confidence not just in the gym but in other areas of your life, as well.
Which progression should you implement?
It’s totally appropriate to flip-flop with the type of progression you do. Sometimes I will increase weight while other times I increase the number of reps. It really depends on the reason for the plateau and what your most comfortable with as a progression. Some of my clients want to lift heavier while others want to increase the number of sets. This is where working with a certified personal trainer is very beneficial. They can guide you in deciding which progression step to take based on your goals and current fitness level.
Your workouts may start at a duration of 15-20 minutes and gradually increase to 30-45 minutes depending on the type of progression. If time is a barrier, there are ways to get creative with programming workouts that are short and effective. That’s a topic for another day.
If sustainable weight loss, bone and muscle loss prevention, and longevity are important to you, I encourage you to find the time to strength train 2-3 times per week. You may need to rearrange your schedule a bit and say no to things so you can say yes to your health and wellness.
As I’m writing this article, I have Garfield (my favorite comic strip cat!) reminding me that actions speak louder than words. Stop saying you’re going to create a sustainable strength training routine and get to work to make it happen. If you need help, go here to book a free discovery call with me.