I have been doing resistance training on my Weider Max home gym for about three weeks and have had a hard time determining how much 'weight' to set for some of the exercises.

Lets use standing bicep curls as an example - the directions tell me to grab the handles with my arms by my sides and curl my hands up to my shoulders, bending the arm and keeping the elbows by my sides (summarized, better description on the poster with a picture). If I'm using too much resistance to curl all the way up to my shoulders I'm using too much, right? I would imagine it is important to complete the full range of motion of the exercise as described rather than just going halfway or three quarter of the way up with more resistance?

You're absolutely right. You want to pick a weight that lets you complete a set with good form, and "good form" means doing the exercise correctly with a full range of motion. It's really easy to cheat on exercise form and lift more weight, but in the end, you only cheat yourself. But you see it all the time with guys in the gym!

Exactly. Form is king.

OTOH, you should be lifting enough that by the time you get to the end of your sets - whether you're doing 2, 3, or 4 sets, that it's a struggle to keep form.

For example, if you're doing 3 sets of 12 curls, then by 3x10 you should be really feeling it, and by 3x12, it should be a real push to finish that final curl.

If you can get through all 3 sets w/out struggling, then you can probably add a little more weight.

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Thanks! I thought so, but was getting some unsolicited advice from a family member telling me to add on weight and throw form to the wind. I thought about him and how long he had been working to still not have great results so figured that he might not be the best resource...

I was struggling at the end of the sets today, I did 3 x 12 and can really feel it right now... of course, I can also feel where I lost form a little on something because my left elbow isn't very happy with me right now...

I was just going to say...be careful and don't injure yourself by adding too much weight too fast.

Take it easy

gotta love family members who think they know it all!

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Yeah, I have to fight my natural tendency to overdo on everything when I'm adding the weight... I also find some exercises that I can do a lot more on than others, so of course I say to myself "well, if I can do xxx here, then I should be able to do xxx there..." And, I'm pretty sure I figured out where I lost it - I have a memory of pinching my elbow in to my side and using it as a brace for leverage... That was likely the culprit...

And yeah, I love the family advice! Mine ranges from 'you are wasting away, stop dieting and exercise right now' to 'you lost a lot of weight but still look a little pudgy around the tummy, maybe you should do more cardio' to the above mentioned 'add as much weight as you can, a half curl is just as good as a full one'.

There's a great bit in the NROLW that talks about form vs. weight and the difference between men and women and how they apply that. I'll quote it when I get home and have access to the book. It's amusing as well as informative.

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