How To Choose the Right Weights for Strength Training

How Do You Choose the Right Weights for Strength Training?

Ever walked into the gym, grabbed a pair of dumbbells, and thought, “Is this too light? Too heavy? What weight should I use?

You’re not alone. Choosing the right weight for an exercise can feel like a guessing game, but it really comes down to one simple truth that should guide your decision: lifting weights is supposed to be hard.

Not so hard you look like a maniac or risk getting hurt, but hard enough that your muscles are challenged during every exercise.

That’s the guiding principle behind picking the right weights—whether you’re squatting, deadlifting, curling, or doing lateral raises.

In fact, choosing the wrong weights is one of the main reasons that people can work out for years, but never look like it.

After over a decade of experience coaching folks like you, we’ve identified the 10 Reasons You’re Working Out But Don’t Look like It. Want to know what they are and how to fix them? Click the button below!

Ok, let’s break down how to choose the right weights.

How To Choose Your Weights For Squats, Deadlifts, Bench Press, and Overhead Press

If your goal is to get stronger and see some muscle definition, you need to lift heavy (for you)—at least 80% of your one-rep max (1RM).

This is the sweet spot for building overall strength because it forces your muscles and nervous system to adapt without wasting effort on sets and reps that simply build your muscular endurance, rather than your strength.

💡 Example: If your 1RM squat is 150 lbs, training with 120 lbs (80%) is a solid place to work within the 3-8 rep range.

Now, you might be thinking, “Won’t heavy lifting make me crazy sore or risk injury?”

Not if you do it right. That’s why compound movements like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses are done in lower rep ranges (3-8 reps). This keeps the effort high while managing muscle soreness and reducing the risk of injury.

Maybe you’re thinking “I have no idea what my 1 rep max is!” - That’s ok, you don’t need to max out to find out. Find a weight that’s the most you can do for 3-5 reps, and use an online 1 rep max calculator like THIS to find your estimated max.

Click the photo below to see what a “heavy” set of deadlifts should look like for example.

How To Choose Your Strength Training Weights With Dumbbells

Many of our clients work out with dumbbells instead of barbells. So how do we guide them on what weight to use on exercises like squats, deadlifts, and bench presses?

We still use the guiding principle of “It needs to be hard”, but we take into consideration their safety and the weights they have available.

A pair of dumbbells that you can only do 5 squats with would have to be VERY heavy. So heavy that they’d be impossible to get into position, and so heavy that the risk for injury would be too high.

So, when strength training with dumbbells, instead of working in the 3-8 rep range we work with weights that are hard in the 8-15 rep range.

It’s the perfect balance of doable, and safe.

Here’s an example of dumbbell squats: (click to watch)

Accessory Exercises: Why You Shouldn’t Max Out on Biceps Curls

Strength training isn’t just about big lifts—accessory exercises help build muscle, strengthen tendons and ligaments, and prevent imbalances. These are usually single-joint movements, like:

✅ Bicep curls
✅ Lateral raises
✅ Triceps extensions
✅ Calf raises

For these kinds of exercises, we use a slightly different approach. The goal is still to make each set hard, but we want to be smart and safe.

Let’s say in an all out, 1 rep max effort you could lift 40 pounds one time on a side lateral raise. 80% of that would be about 32 lbs.

At that weight, a lateral raise would be tough to do safely with good form. You’d also cut your reps so low that you wouldn’t get enough training volume to stimulate muscle growth.

That’s why we prescribe our clients accessory exercises in the 8-15 rep range with lighter weights—heavy enough to challenge you, but not so heavy that you start using momentum instead of muscle.

Click the photo below to watch a video of Jonathan demonstrating curls done right, vs. curls done wrong.

Curls: ✅ vs. ❌

Click the photo to watch

📄 Research reference: Higher rep ranges (8-15 reps) with moderate loads are effective for hypertrophy while reducing injury risk (Schoenfeld, 2010).

The “One or Two Reps Before Failure” Rule

No matter what exercise you’re doing, there’s one universal rule: most of your sets should stop 1-2 reps before failure.

This means that by the end of your set, you should feel like you could squeeze out one or two more reps, but no more than that.

💡 Example: If you're pressing dumbbells overhead for 8-15 reps but feel like you could easily hit 20, the weight is too light. If you barely survive rep 6, it's too heavy.

What Your “Hard Sets” Should Look LIke

Click the photo to watch

Stopping far short of failure is one of the main reasons people spin their wheels for years in the gym without getting stronger and building more muscle definition.

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Progressive Overload: The Real Goal of Strength Training

Regardless of rep ranges, the ultimate goal is progressive overload—gradually increasing reps and weight over time. Strength training isn’t about lifting random weights for random reps; it’s about getting stronger week after week, and month after month.

Not to beat a dead horse, but this is the reason that group classes and cardio-based exercise like Peloton fall short. There’s more emphasis on variety and calorie burn than progressive overload.

Here are the rules to results:

✅ If you can do more reps than your target, add weight next time.
✅ If you’re struggling to hit the low end of the range, reduce weight slightly.
✅ The sweet spot: consistent progress without sacrificing form.

📄 Research reference: Strength gains are maximized by systematically increasing resistance over time (Rhea et al., 2003).

Final Thoughts: Pick a Weight That Feels Hard, Not Impossible

If lifting feels too easy, you’re not actually strength training—you’re just moving weights around.

If it feels impossible, you’re setting yourself up for burnout or injury. The key is finding that challenging but doable weight that makes you stronger over time.

So next time you do a set, ask yourself:
➡️ “Does this feel challenging by the last rep?”
➡️ “Could I do way more than the target reps? (Too light)”
➡️ “Am I grinding reps with terrible form? (Too heavy)”

Dial it in, keep it consistent, and get stronger every week.

Need a Plan?

If you’re tired of guessing your weights and want a structured plan that gets real results, we can help.

Let us turn your effort into the best results you’ve ever gotten.

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