*note to self* don't cancel any appointments with trainer.....or say ouch.....

Westside is known for producing some of the strongest guys out there. They're a powerlifting group but they also work with a wide array of athletes. Though most of their writing is functional with regards to getting real strong, a lot of what they have to say carries over to most other areas of weight lifting as well. Here is a great article (two parts) written by Dave Tate (very bright guy when it comes to training).

The Periodization Bible* Part 1

The Periodization Bible — Part I

ok I haven't finished the article but the first few paragraphs had a question pop into my head which feel free to tell me will be answered by the end of the article....at what point should the weight being used be increased? I'm not expecting an exact formula but is there a timeline or are there too many variables?

That's a tough question to answer due to the differences from those the author is writing this article about and someone in your shoes.

He's writing for advanced trainees who need to really focus on periodization in order to control and manipulate fatigue and recovery.

Someone less advanced theoretically can get away with adding weight whenever he or she feels ready. The room for improvement is much larger in addition to the fact that a novice isn't capable of causing near the fatigue a stronger, more advanced lifter is capable. These two factors leave planning (periodization) a lot less critical.

Important nonetheless.

But not critical.

I have a feeling I'm not answering your question.

Put it this way, any many novices they're able to continually add weight to their core movements (big, compound lifts) for 8-18 months before having to worry about more advanced periodization. This isn't set in stone but it's what I've found to be the case more often than not. The broadness in the range comes from genetic factors as well as starting points.

So would it be wise to say set a goal saying that in x amount of time I want to be able to increase the weight by x number for this exercise? If so is there a certain basic formula that should be followed?

It doesn't work out so cleanly, especially when you're dieting. In general, when you diet you shouldn't expect to increase the amount you can lift. That's not to say it doesn't happen. For instance, if you have someone who has never really lifted weights before start while he or she is also starting a diet... they will get stronger while dieting.

That's all sort of off topic.

For the most part your workout should consist of multiple set and rep ranges. How you spread this variation out doesn't matter all that much. Some dedicate days to different ranges. So you might have 3 days of strength training per week and one day is heavy, another light, and the last medium.

Heavy = 3x4-6 reps
Light = 3x12-15 reps
Medium = 3x6-12 reps

Or each day that you train can have a heavy and a light/medium component.

The possibilities are endless, really.

That said though, once you pick your set and rep ranges, you use them to gauge when and by how much you should increase weight. For instance, in the example above, if on the heavy day you were doing bench press and found this to be the case:

Set 1 - 50 lbs x 6
Set 2 - 50 lbs x 5
Set 3 - 50 lbs x 4

You would not increase weight next time you attempt the lift.

Only increase weight when you can complete all the scheduled sets and reps easily. You don't want to be pushing yourself to failure either.

When you are ready to increase weight, how much you increase by really depends on how you felt last time and the movement. If the last time you did the bench you got 6 reps for all 3 sets very easily, you know you can jump up aggressively which might be 10 lbs for a female. If you barely irked out 6 reps on your last set last time... you might only go up by 5 lbs.

I personally do micro-loading where I increase weight by .5 lbs in some of my lifts simply b/c I'm close to my limit... therefore I can only squeeze out so much more progress.

As I said above too, the type of exercise plays a role in how much you can and should increase by incrementally as well. For instance, the squat involves a lot of strong muscle groups and numerous joints. Knowing this, you can be a little more aggressive with the amount of weight you jump whereas in something like the bicep curl, you would want to be much more conservative.

Is this making sense?

In a nutshell, there aren't any models or equations that are applicable to the vast array of individual differences and programs.

*hits copy & paste and print* lol no it helps a lot actually I wasn't looking to get super specific but maybe just an outline of how things should be working so to speak....for exp the building strength with dieting tidbit....was not aware of and that's good to know

Don't let the fact that you're dieting limit you though. If you can increase the amount you are lifting (this is assuming your routine is proper to begin with) you should.

The further you are from your genetic potential (if there even is one), the more likely you will be able to get stronger in the face of a diet.

Even I can increase the weight on some of my lifts as I diet. It's simply a matter of reducing overall exercise volume to allow for such things when I diet.

Well I have or well I should say my trainer has lol increased the weight used on a lot of stuff mostly upperbody. I carry all of my strength in my lower half so not much has increased there but the increases for upperbody seem to be consistant

That's right, I completely forgot you're working with a trainer.

If he's good, he'll know when you should be increasing weight as well as when you should be backing off and when you should be changing things.

If it seems like he's randomly throwing stuff at you for no rhyme or reason though... I'd start asking some questions.

I'm trying to gain a better understanding of the whole process to gage my own progress and my trainers judgement

Well whenever you want to bounce something off me, you know where to find me.

ok let the bouncing begin....I see my trainer 3 times a week tues thurs and sat.....is it a bad idea to incorporate something like yoga or pilates on my days off from him? I ask because he tends to tell me (depending on how hard we worked) to take it easy the next day give my body a chance to recover a little bit etc etc

No, I don't see a problem with doing that.

Active recovery is a real and helpful thing.

My active recoveries usually entail walks, very light jogs, dynamic mobility drills, and stretching.

I tend not to go for yoga/pilates a) b/c it costs money and b) I get my flexibility and core training elsewhere

Plus I relax by going outside and reading a book

hm so active recovery is sitting outside and reading? sign me up

would the basics be yeah it's fine just don't kill yourself type of deal