when increasing your reps....is it always good to predetermine?

[Bajwa_99]

when you guys are trying to increase your reps for an exercise at a certain weight your stuck at, do you always pre-determine the reps your going to do for each work set? or do you try to do as many as you can hoping to get more then you would pre determine. 2 weeks ago I was bench pressing 150, I did pretty badly, 1x4,1x2,1x2. My concentration was probably off. Last week I did great I initially planned to do 5,3, and 3 but managed to do 3x5 with the last set a spotter helping me on. After the exercise, I felt kinda disappointed cuz I felt I has enough strength to do max for the first 2 sets but I held out because I wanted to do everything "by the book" (increasing reps by 1 every week). Today I managed to do 2x6 and 1x3, I should have asked for a spotter to help me with the last set but I thought I could do it myself so I didn't bother hehe ; but yeah are you supposed to pre determine right before you begin your set, or just do it naturally and focus on getting to max rather then the pre-determined rep.

[.V.]

I preplan how many I'm going to do.

For example today I did 245x3x4 on shrugs. Next time I plan to do 245x3x6. If I only get 245x2x6 and then 1x5 that'll be OK too...but I'm going to go for the 6. If I'm able to do more than 6 on any set, I won't do it...I'll just raise the weight when I can get 3x6 cleanly with total control of every rep - positive and negative portion.

[candyass]

Its good to plan ahead. It'll also give you extra incentive. If you say that "I'm going to get 3-5 reps" most times you'll stop at 3. So pick a number and try to stick with it. If you do more, however, then thats great.

[KaiserSose]

Bajawa: I have been doing just what you have - increasing the weight spontaneously when I feel like I can do more. I think a_welch's method is much more efficient and in the long run will lead to better gains. You put yourself in a better frame of mind when you come prepared to do a certain amount of weight. Also systematically planning increases in either reps or weights will help organize your weight lifting program and help you continue to improve. I know I'm certainly going to make a conscious effort to be more disciplined when setting daily goals.

[threenorns]

definitely - even though my preference is to always go to failure, you'll get great gains from stopping short of failure, too.

that's the theory - hope it's sound, cause that's the basic premise of the routine i'm on now.