When Should You Increase the Weight?

Reaching the top of your rep range is usually the point to consider more weight. Until then, build repetitions at the current load. GainsLog makes that decision from each working set's recent matching history, including whether a performance needs confirming or you're still getting established at a heavier weight.

You don't have to wait for every set to reach the same rep count. Your first set and your last set have different histories, and each contributes to the next workout's targets.

For ordinary working sets outside a deload, GainsLog's usual effort guidance is zero or one rep in reserve. One RIR means you estimate you could complete one more rep with the same technique. Zero means you couldn't complete another.

You don't need to reach failure on every set. RIR is an estimate, and a single easier set doesn't tell you whether the whole workout was productive. Our guide to RIR and failure explains how to judge effort.

Keep the exercise, equipment setup, and technique consistent enough to compare sessions. Record the weight and reps for each set, along with your RIR estimate. Compare your first working set with your previous first working set, and your second with your previous second.

Within your usual rep range, the next target will commonly be one more rep at the same weight. At the upper end, GainsLog considers a weight increase and adjusts the rep target to account for the heavier load.

That's the broad idea behind double progression: repetitions and weight both give you ways to advance. The rep-range guide covers how to choose a range.

For example, a comparable set of 100 kg for seven reps at one RIR can produce a next target of 100 kg for eight. That assumes eight is within the configured range and you aren't in a deload or working through a difficult load transition.

A target gives you something to attempt. It doesn't guarantee that your performance will improve every session, and you shouldn't shorten the movement or change your technique just to reach it.

The first set can be ready for a load increase while later sets are still building reps. GainsLog uses each set's matching history, then coordinates the targets across the exercise. It doesn't apply a blanket rule that every set must reach the ceiling first.

If the ceiling is eight and you perform eight reps on the first set and six on the second, the six doesn't automatically block the first set's progression. Effort, previous performances, and the available weight increment still affect the next targets.

Follow the weight and rep target shown for each set. A later set may have fewer target reps or a different load. It doesn't need to match the opener to be useful.

When you explicitly log zero RIR, GainsLog normally asks you to repeat that set's actual weight and reps once before progressing. You don't need to force the repeat to failure: the repeat target has no RIR requirement.

Here's an illustrative sequence for the same working-set position across separate workouts. Assume a rep range that includes seven and eight, with no deload or unresolved load transition.

The second performance confirms the first. Logging zero again doesn't restart the same repeat indefinitely. If the weight or rep count changes, it becomes a new performance to evaluate.

Leaving RIR blank doesn't count as logging zero. Deloads and an existing load-transition recovery also have their own rules and take precedence over this repeat.

The size of the increment matters. Moving from a 10 kg dumbbell to 12 kg is a 20% increase. Moving from 40 kg to 42.5 kg is about 6%.

Before increasing the load, GainsLog estimates a corresponding rep target. If the next available weight would put that target below your configured minimum, it can keep the current weight and temporarily build reps above the usual ceiling. That gives you more room to progress before the jump.

After you've tried a heavier weight, the decision is different. If your reps drop enough that the performance falls below the previous level, GainsLog can keep the new load and set a rep goal to get you established there. That goal can sit below your normal rep range. Once you meet it, ordinary progression resumes.

So fewer reps after a weight increase don't automatically mean you should reduce the load. Check the next target and whether you're working toward a recovery goal. This applies to recorded lifting performance; it isn't a reason to push through pain or continue with uncontrolled technique.

Yes. At the same load, GainsLog grades more recorded reps as better performance. Equal reps are the same; fewer are worse. Changing your RIR estimate doesn't reverse that result. When both weight and reps change, the app compares them together.

In an eight-week trial, Plotkin and colleagues assigned 43 trained adults to lower-body programs that progressed either load or repetitions. Most measured muscle-growth outcomes were similar between groups. Both approaches can support progress; the study didn't test GainsLog's specific targeting rules. Plotkin et al., 2022

Keep your technique consistent so the numbers remain useful. Your progressive-overload history and Momentum trend help you judge how training is going across comparable sets. One missed target doesn't explain the whole trend, and a missing target can simply mean there isn't enough matching history.

Before your next workout, check the target for each set in GainsLog. It may ask for another rep, a heavier load, or a repeat of what you just achieved. Record what you complete, including your effort estimate, so the following session starts from that performance.