Help. How should i progress in lifts?

[vuleje]

I have been training in home gym for 4 mouths and i have made fine descent progress in lifts and muscle mass, since i had very limited equipment i decided to join the gym. Its only gym in my small town.

Question:

So my probelem is that the smallest plates in gym weight 5lbs so i have go 10lbs +in my lifts when i increase weight which is almost imposible for my upper body lifts when doing 3x3-5. What rep/set scheme should i use for my problem like 3x3-8 then when hit all sets with 8 up the weight, or when i hit 5 reps in 1 sets i add another and when i get to 6-7 sets i up weight? Pls any suggestion welcome.

[Goat]

Why not buy some 2.5 lbs plates? Take them with you.

[BigJosh]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I would suggest that you purchase some 2.5lb plates and take them with you to the gym. They should be pretty cheap and will give you much more flexibility as far as loading the bar.
I have been in your situation before and this is exactly what I did.
If 5lb incriments are too big for you, you can also find 1.25lb weights online, however they can be a bit more cost wise.

[MikeM]

You could buy some 2.5s and stick 'em in your gym bag is one solution. Edit: Oop! Josh beat me to it!

I would not do sets of 8 across (all sets the same weight) and raise 10 pounds at a time as that will get hard real quick. Same with just adding another set and trying to hit more reps.

If it was me and I had to jump 10 pounds at a time and wanted to use 8s, I'd ramp the sets. So, start low and build up to your set of 8. If you can do 150 for 8, start with 8x 100, 110, 120. The next week go to 110, 120, 130, and so on. You should progress for a good whil on that. If you miss 8 reps in the last set try again the next week, if you still can't do it, go back and start again, but this time heavier to start with.

You could do the same thing with sets of 3 or 5 or whatever. Just change the weights for the sets upwards as there are less reps.

But, in my opinion ramping is easier to deal with than sets across or simply adding sets on the end when making biggish jumps in weight.

Good luck!

[vuleje]

Thats for quick answer guys, i will try to buy 2.5 lbs plates, since then i will try some things and see with what i can make progress if anyone else has suggestion post it.

[jslep]

Consistency is gonna be the biggest key here in this equation. You could do any set/reps sceme you feel most comfortable with and as long as you are hittin it hard every week you'll continue to see progress. With that said.....

I rarely ever utilize 2.5lb plates. I prefer to play more with reps in a ramp fashion with increasing weight. Possibly 125x10, 135x8, 145x6 on a bench and the next week possibly 125x12, 135x10, 145x8.....Now if i'm unable to complete i will repeat it the next week and so on. If you set rep goals and just try to reach them at 75-80% 1RM you should be able to make steady progress right now with the assumption your pretty new to the iron game.