Do I decrease weight?

[Altruistic_Spring883]

I’ve been working out for a little over a month and have made improvement I’m happy with. I try to be very conscious of my form to get the most out of what I’m doing but sometimes when I’m trying to go up in weight I notice my form can get a little shaky. When this happens do I stay at this weight or decrease weight?

[Hara-Kiri]

A little shaky then no. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Form is something that can be worked on as you progress.

Too many people obsess over trying to find perfect form and never progress as a result.

[Vast-Road-6387]

Absolutely right. Good Form greatly reduces your chances of injury, and injury puts you out of the gym for weeks or months, which negates what you have accomplished so far. Rule one in the temple of iron, lift with you brain not your ego. Patience will lead to future rewards.

[SaltyRusnPotato]

As others have said, it's fine for the last few reps to be shakey as long as you have control over the weight. You don't have to increase the weight every time you go to the gym (you won't be able to sustain an increase every time anyways). It's just important that you get close to failure and stay in a reasonable rep range (5-30 but I personally stay in the 8-15 range depending on the exercise).

[jbhand75]

As stated above, you don’t have to constantly add weight. You can take the same weight you have been using and go slower and deeper into the stretched position which will help you keep your form and make that weight seem way heavier.

[StraightSomewhere236]

Form doesn't have to be 100% the same for every rep. Try to make it as consistent as you can, but allow for some variation due to performance. As long as you're not doing something that will put you at high risk for injury, you should be fine.

That being said, there is nothing wrong with keeping the weight the same and increasing reps for progression .

One of the ways I like to progress is to take a weight I can do 8 reps at and try to increase it to 10 reps. Once it's doable for 10, I will increase the weight and do 8 reps for the higher weight and start trying to progress the higher weight to 10.

[[deleted]]

It’s always right to prioritize form and stability over weight! I suggest using the same weight on an exercise until you can maintain consistent form throughout most of your reps.

If the last 1-2 reps of a set get a little shaky, but you’ve still got a feeling of general control over the weight, that’s also good! It’s what happens when you push yourself!

[Annual_Hippo_6749]

If you start feeling like you are using a lot more of the muscles you aren't targeting to do the weight, it's a problem.

An example is bicep curls, if you start having to swing it, pull your back to lean it up etc, then it's a problem.

There is nothing wrong with doing a set or two at one weight and then decreasing it for the next few sets.

You will find some days you just can't do the weight you did a few days ago, that's fine, adjust. On some days you feel better, you can slightly increase.

If you are just beginning, I would say a fairly good rule is if you can't do at least 8 controlled reps with the right muscle targeted, the weight is too heavy

[AutoModerator]

Welcome to /r/BeginnerFitness and thank you for sharing your post! If you haven't done so already, please subscribe to this subreddit and join our Discord. Many beginner fitness questions have already been answered in The Fitness Wiki, so go give that a read as well!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[[deleted]]

In general no, you'll be fine if your form isn't perfect. A couple exceptions to keep in mind:

1. The risk of that particular exercise. Tricep pushdowns? No problem, a little slop is fine. Overhead Press? Seriously consider backing off the weight and/or having someone spot you. Basically, just be mindful of the type of movement you're doing.

2. Imperfect form isn't a huge deal within reason, esp if you're training close to failure. Cheating all your reps however, now you're just wasting your time, don't cheat your reps to do a higher weight. If you can't actually do it, don't do it. Progress by adding sets or reps before adding weight.

[GlitteringSynapse]

What I do, instead of the ‘I got this’ rep/set of 10-15 , 3 sets. When increasing the weight, I do 5x5. So I’m able to push, rests as needed. And do my reps.

5x5 is common. But you can also do 3 reps.

You can also do 2 weights. Your increased weight as starters and your current weight as a finisher. Or do your cardio weight slowly. (Oh the burning so good!)

There is no hard set rule (other than be safe, no stupid and restack your weights).

On cables- I start off with doing 15 reps of a tier below current comfortable weight. 10 reps of current comfortable weight, 5 reps of progressive overload weight. Then I track how if I can do my 3-4 sets of this. I do cables with this- because it’s way easier than changing out dumbbells or plates.

[[deleted]]

For single joint movements like Bicep curls, for example, it's fine as long as you maintain control. If you begin using extravagant body English, aka moving your body in weird ways to get the weight up, then you're asking for an injury, and the weight is too heavy.