Suppose you lift 210 x 3. That's an epley estimate of 232.
Now, there's a number of ways to match or beat this:
205x4: 232
210x4: 238
215x3: 236
220x2: 235
225x1: 232.
The real question is which goal to select for next time. Any of these is progress.
My preference is to do things the laziest possible way, lower and slower than you'd like even if you go low and slow. Aiming for 205amrap is the laziest way to progress.
Suppose you walk in with the goal of 205x4 and hit 205x5. Now your epley estimate is 239.
To match or beat:
205x6: 246
210x5: 245
215x4: 244
220x3: 242
225x2: 240
235x1: 243
The laziest, slowest way to progress now is to add 5lbs and match reps with last time. Last time it was adding a rep, this time it's adding weight.
After your last rep, you will have gone from 232 to 245. You're 13 stronger.
For a beginner, this can literally happen workout to workout.
For a beginner, going the laziest, slowest, lightest way can add 13 to their max estimate in a matter of days.
Later on, that 5 or extra rep may take months to accomplish. They'll need periodization, deloads, two steps back for 3 forward, etc. They will still be 13 stronger after that last rep, doing things the laziest, lightest, and slowest way possible. They will progress by doing things even slower and lighter than a beginner would ever consider.
Basically: go lazier, slower, and lighter as possible even if you're already going as lazily slow as possible. This ensures you will still be doing it 5 years from now, lazily lifting weights you can barely think about today.
For a beginner, lazy and slow is already impossibly fast compared to later on. For someone more advanced, it means getting stronger versus getting injured trying to break through a months-long plateau.
Laziness is a virtue.
@Pookleblinky I think one reason I can't get out of this plateau may be that I still think of adding 10 lbs when I can do 8 reps with the existing weight -- the approach I took when younger. Instead maybe I should try wrapping a couple of 1 lb wrist weights at the end of the bar and working up to 8 reps with that, then adding 1-2 lb more, and so on.
@KevinCarson1 suppose that's 225.
225x8: 285
235x8: 298
Adding 10lbs requires 13lbs more strength.
Your 5rm should be about 245. If you add 5lbs to that: 292. You only need to be 7lbs stronger.
The laziest, slowest way is to add a microplate or such and beat your 5rm by any amount of weight. If it goes up by 5lbs, your 8rm should now be 232. The laziest way is to increase 5rm, up to at most 5lbs.
The laziest way is to, paradoxically, work at higher intensity.
