how often do you increase weight and by how much?

[32bulkcycle]

adding 260 lbs to your bench and 520 lbs to your other lifts every year is pretty good. Nice job.

Ya this is good. In just 5 years you'll be squatting about 2500 pounds and benching 1200 pounds.

[Kevbazz]

When i hit a standstill on a compound, i usually decrease the amount of reps i do per set and use a heavier weight. Just to get me used to hitting heavier. Usually do this for a couple of months then revert to my original rep scheme. Come back to find myself stronger

I agree with this, also taking a week or two off every fair few months you find coming back you feel much better, was surprised how clean my form was after taking 2 weeks off

[greenkyle9]

What about for dumbbells? Like each time I'm forced to increase at least 5 pounds on each side. Even for increasing only 5 pounds overall for barbell, sometimes I'm able to increase complete sets & reps in a set, but then after I increase the weight, I can't even finish the minimum reps in a given range.

[Jam177]

Sometimes its very hard to add weight and keep form good. In my opinion adding 5 Lbs a week to your lifts such as bench is a bit much, thats 250 + lbs a year, aint gonna happen. I think 5 and sometimes 10 lbs a month is a much more realistic goal.

To better answer your question its nice to do a warm up set and pyramid your weight up each set until your at an idle weight/rep, next week try to increase any one of those sets and take it from there.

Adding 5 to 10 pounds a week would prob only work for a month or 2 for powerlifters. It would eventually slow down a lot the closer they are to intermediate / advanced.

[k260jl]

Beginners are easier to increase LB per week. I am a beginner and I have been increasing weights. Benching 155 3x5 now...from 95lb 6 weeks ago

[DarGwynn]

When I was bulking, I alternate on increasing weight and reps every week.

Exp: Squat - 3x5x315 > 3x6x315 > 3x5x325 > 3x6x325 > 3x5x335

Increase one extra rep on a set of 5 reps was much more taxing in my case.

[Chase98]

When I started at 13 I was benching 65lbs. Took me 3 years to get to 165. I always went by adding 5 pounds every 2 weeks. However I had some set backs since then so I'm not where I should be now at 18. But 5lbs every two weeks never gave me a problem.

[csirk]

Depends on the exercise and muscle group for me, I personally find compounds easier to increase the weights on each week, but it depends which one. For instance deadlifts and squats are usually pretty easy to throw a few more pounds on but bench press takes me a few weeks to add weight usually. Depends on your muscle groups' progress and your personal strengths and weaknesses imo

[Budaan]

Hit Rep Scheme with Heavy Weight -> Increase weight -> Repeat.

[steelcool1]

yes usually every 15 days

[GuitarJerry]

When it hit max reps on each set, I add 5 lbs.

[foodie64]

I aim for 8 reps per set to maximize strength and growth. Whenever I feel thatt I'm not struggling on the last few reps, I know I've become stronger and it's time to increase the weight.