Progressing low weight high rep sets

Training Q&A [Moderated]
1

Hello team,

I am having trouble with when and how to increase weight for my high rep sets and i was curious on the best way to progress. Here is an exemple of what I mean.

Last week my top set of OHP was 95lbs for 12 reps @ 9
this week when i hit the exercise again 95lbs felt lighter but not quite an 8… More like 8.5 showing that i had in deed gotten stronger but also that going up another 5 lbs would probably be closer to a rpe 10 than 9.

My question is what to do at this point. I ended up adding 5 lbs and going up to what felt like a 9 (which was 11 reps) but it took alot out of me and i had trouble hitting my back off sets. I was thinking maybe just hitting the 8.5 twice instead next time but i am uncertain if that would be any better. Suggestions?

FYI i do not own any plates under 2.5lbs.

2

Faera,

To be clear, I don’t think there’s a wrong choice here, specifically with respect to hypertrophy outcomes. You can add weight or do more reps up until the targeted RPE range- though it sounds like you did both if I’m reading this correctly?

If it were me, I’d plan on adding weight, going to 100lbs, and aiming for 12 reps. If it’s a 10, that’s fine…just take more weight off the back off sets. Alternatively, you could just repeat 95 for multiple sets.

Neither way is better from an outcome standpoint, however the concern with hitting @ 10 sets regularly is driving fatigue up out of proportion to the potential fitness adaptations and the lifter’s existing training tolerance. That is no bueno.

-Jordan