Bigger Leaner Stronger: The Simple Science of Building the Ultimate Male Body

by Michael Matthews

When you get 6 reps for one hard set of most exercises, you immediately move up in weight by adding 10 pounds to the bar or moving up to dumbbells that are 5 pounds heavier (per dumbbell). Remember the example of how this works? Let’s say you’re squatting in the 4-to-6-rep range, and on your first (or second) hard set in the workout, you get 6 reps of 225 pounds. You then immediately add 10 pounds to the bar (not in your next workout), rest a few minutes, and get 4 or 5 reps on your next hard set. Great! The progression has succeeded, and you now work with 235 pounds in your current and future workouts until you can squat it for one hard set of 6 reps. Then, you’d move up in weight again, and so on. What if you only get 2 or 3 reps with the new, heavier weight before your form starts breaking down? What if the progression doesn’t succeed? In this case, you should drop the weight back to the original, lighter load (225 pounds in our example) and work there until you can get 6 reps for two hard sets (in the same workout). Then, you should immediately move up to the heavier weight again on your next hard set (even if that’s in your next workout) and try again. If you do that and still can’t get at least 4 reps, go back to the lighter weight and work with it until you can do three hard sets of 6 reps (in the same workout). At this point, your progression should succeed. Also, if you get 6 reps in your first set after moving up in weight, then you get to move up again!