60% ma too heavy??

[CINDY KRAUSE]

Cathe
I have a question on dumbell kickback , one arm, both arms. If the weight I should be using in my first week is 60%. If by the 12-15 rep it is so heavy that beyond struggling to complete the reps i am losing my form should I lower the weight a bit or keep at the same weight & the stronger I get the form will improve

 

[tricia]

I'm not Cathe, but thought I'd jump in until she can answer to say that if you're form is faltering, you should definitely lower the weight. Go down to the next weight and see how you do with that, and once you get to 12-15 on that with good form, then go back up and try again. I believe she even suggests this during STS, if your form suffers you've gone too heavy.

HTH,

 

[gettingfitmom]

ITA you don't want your form to suffer, go lower in weight..Hope this helps

 

[hriacobacci]

I was under the impression (and maybe falsely so), that the point is to go to failure. If you are only faltering on say the last 2 reps, I'd keep that heavier weight. That's what I did anyway. Just be sure to write it down that you missed that last 1 or 2 reps at that heavier weight. You'll be surprised that by the end, you'll be going heavier AND making all the reps. Again, just how I approached it.

Heather.

 

[maddiesmum]

I'm with Heather on this. Stay with the heavier eight and complete as many reps as possible with good form, then you can always drop down to the lighter weight to finish out the set. My thinking is, that if you can already do the entire set at the lighter weight, you are wasting your time continuing to do so because it's not a challenge. If you never struggle through the set with that heavier weight, how and when will you ever master it?

Clare

 

[tricia]

Clare & Heather,

I totally agree with you that you need to push yourself through at the heavy weight. However; Cindy said that by the end she was losing her form completely. In that case, I feel like she went too heavy to start with. Yes, challenge yourself - but just as going too light wouldn't accomplish anything as Clare said, neither will you be doing anything good by using bad form to perform the reps. So I say, go lighter if your form is suffering, and once you go up in weight do as many as you can with good form. Does that make sense to you?

 

[dragonf1y]

Here is what I often wind up doing.
Example: For tricep kickbacks I can easily complete 15 reps with 15 lbs, but when I jump up to 20 lbs, I start losing form around rep 11.
So I will start the set by doing 10 reps at 20 lbs then complete the last 5 reps using 15lbs. I slowly increase the number of reps at 20 lbs always dropping lighter when my form starts to suffer until I can complete the entire set at the heavier weight.
If you are still struggling with the last 2-3 reps at your current weight, that is a good weight. If the set is easy, up your weight. HTH,