tungsten micro weights

[loebner]

There is a recommendation somewhere on exrx.net that one should increase weights just a little bit - say 5%.

I use dumbbells almost exclusively. At the gyms where I worked out they had dumbbells which increased in 5 lbs jumps, which is, of course, much to0 large an increase.

I bought some scrap tungsten (pricey). Tungsten is very dense - 1.5 denser than lead. I filled 18 little plastic bags with the scrap. A bag the size of my thumb weighs 1/2 lbs. Then I took a pair of work gloves and had a seamstress sew a pocket on the back of each glove, with a flap that could be closed with Velcro. Each pocket is big enough to hold 9 bags = 4.5 lbs

Now I can increase my weights by 1/2 lb increments up to 4.5 lbs.

You can find tungsten powder by searching the internet. It's used to load bullets.

[ironmaiden708]

Well I got to say that will do the job for you. But I never found it neccessary to jump by any less than 5 lb increments.

[loebner]

If your lifting, say, 20 lb dumbbells, then the next step, 25 lbs is a 25% (5/20) increase, which is too much.

I'm assuming the low volume regimen - 12 reps to exhaustion for one set, then a small increase in weight so that you can only do 8 reps to exhaustion.

[ironmaiden708]

Ahh, gotcha

[TimD]

There are some toys on the market called platemates that are little disks, magnetized, that go from a few oz. up,and fix right to the outer edge. Also, small magnets and washer from a harware store will do the job.
Tim