The PR Every Week Myth
The recent boom in social media use and popularity has made access to training videos, photos and information readily available to a wider audience. This is both a good and bad thing depending on how one interprets and deals with all this on a weekly basis. What we tend to see in lifting videos is all the good and very little of the bad. Aside from the occasional gym mishap or fail (which is always funny, provided it’s someone else not you or your clients…) it seems that every video that comes up on peoples news feeds or youtube channel is a pr.
While the idea of hitting a massive PR every week sounds great it can be a very unrealistic view on the majority of your training. A realistic goal of steady progress is the key to long term success. Let’s examine this a little further
What is a PR (personal record)?
Simply put a PR is a lift you have never done before. It could be a 5 repetition max or a 1 rep max. Technically both are PRs however as a competitive lifter your main focus should be putting up a heavier lift than your previous comp best by increasing your 1 Rep Max or comp lifts. If you are competing then what you do on the platform is what counts. There is nothing wrong with hitting bigger lifts in the gym regularly. That really should go without saying. However, you don’t want to the guy/gal who looks great in training posting heaps of sick vids on youtube then always bombing on the platform.
As a recreational or non competitive lifter your focus should be on improving on your previous gym bests on a target rep range. 1rm, 3rm ,5rm whatever. Your focus isn’t about competing so doing better in general is what matters. You should always have clear, decisive targets. Just getting “stronger” isn’t really a clear goal. Getting strong enough to do 20 chin ups is a clear goal.
How often can you or should you PR?
Lets be clear with this; If you are hitting a PR every week it’s not a true max. This is a good thing though. It means through your training you have gotten stronger. That is ultimately the main goal behind strength training; to get stronger! Now that being said you SHOULD NOT be trying to max out every week. As a beginner this might work for a while but as you advance in your training and the weights get heavier missing lifts and maxing out regularly will do you no favours. It hurts a lot mentally and physically. Now if we are talking about rep PRs then sure you can push the boundaries each session but doing a weight for 8 reps is significantly less taxing on the muscles, joints and nervous system than a true 1 rep max.
At Iron Revolution we encourage people to take a PR if we genuinely believe it’s there on the day provided they are not within a few weeks of competing and likely to stuff up there training for the next few weeks. It’s very easy to watch the latest video on our youtube channel and think otherwise but what needs to be understood is this; ALL of our programs that we write for our clients (and ourselves for that matter) focus on building a huge strength base at the beginning of each training cycle building upon the previous one. From there you can handle the heavier intensity in sessions later in the program while still being able to recover and make progress week to week. On top of this we have been coaching clients for a long time. Experience helps in knowing when to allow lifters to make faster jumps and bigger attempts but I wouldn’t be so arrogant to say that we don’t make mistakes. Sometimes things just don’t go as planned. What matters is that you make the right decision more often than not and if you make a mistake learn from it!
Conclusion
Is making a pr every week impossible? No. Absolutely not. You should be aiming to make small prs every week in your lifts or event training. Whether it’s adding more sets, extra reps, or more weight to a lift or shaving seconds of your medley time. Small consistent progress over the long term equals big results.
If I don’t make a PR every week am I a failure and doomed to be skinny and weak forever? Of course not. Shit happens and we all have bad days. If you are having more bad days than good it’s definitely time to review your training and look at making some better choices. Family life, work, relationships, stress and everything in between. All things that we have to deal with and manage whether we like to admit it or not. They need to be taken into account when planning your training progressions.
For advanced lifters PRs usually start to come less regularly, will be smaller increases and become a lot more subjective. By the time we all reach that level the lessons learnt along the way are invaluable. Train smart, train hard, focus on recovery from your sessions and you will make good solid progress each and every workout.
