Weightlifting, change weight between sets or keep constant

dioltas

I was just wondering what people think about this.
I often just stick to the same weight for all my sets, for example if i was benching i'd usually do 3 or 4 sets of 8 reps, of all the same weight. Other times I might start off fairly heavy and drop it down a bit if I started to struggle.

Other times I might start off fairly light and keep increasing it for each set.

Is there any benefit to doing it one way or the other? I find when I start heavy, by the end i'd be proper b*lloxed!

AARRRGH

I like to shock my muscles with random weight. For example, my first set might give me 10 reps, then I will go to a heavier weight and only accomplish 4 reps, then a lighter weight and accomplish 12 reps, then a really heavy weight for 1 rep, and then back to my original weight for whatever reps I can perform.

I find this works for me, and is great fun, which is a biggie for me!

dioltas

Ya, I know what you mean. It can get a bit boring aswell lifting the same weight for each set.

WolfForager

Gah, i keep with 2 sets of 10. Just heavy enough that i fail on the last rep of the last set. I always keep the weight constant. The idea of using random weights just seems... somewhat wrong to me :P Keep em constant is what i say!

RoosterIllusion

For me reps are proportional to the weight used

So, 8 reps @ 80kg translates to 10 reps at 70kg and 12 reps at 60kg. these are just figures for reference.

At the moment I'm getting back into lifting after a period of inactivity (read: hibernation).

I'm just doing 8-10-12 with the same weight and I tend to work the same muscles with three different exercises per group.

Example: 8-10-12 bench
8-10-12 decline bench
8-10-12 incline bench

Etc etc.