Originally Posted by
Le Français
What is your goal? Growing muscle, moving more weight, both, or neither? Of course, strength and muscle size usually grow together to an extent, but you can emphasize one.
For growing muscle, intensity, time under tension, and consistency are paramount, IMO. By increasing the number of reps, slowing the reps down, and/or doing different variations of exercises, you can have very intense workouts and grow muscle without adding a lot of weight.
For getting stronger, progressive overload is the name of the game. Let’s say you’re squatting 225 5x5, and that last set is a struggle. Get to the point where you do it with excellent form and feeling like you still have a little gas in the tank (the bar moves smoothly), and then add 5 lbs for the next squat workout. If that goes up easily, add more. If you feel you’re close to the limit, stick with that until it’s easier, then repeat the process. It’s slow, but it works. Think about the effect of adding 5 lbs every 2 weeks for a year.