How much weight to put on the bar when you start lifting

You are standing next to a barbell and the question is always the same: how many plates go on so it is not pointless, but also not the load that pins you on rep three? Nobody can hand you that number in advance, because it depends on your build, your limb lengths and how much you have moved until now. There is, however, a procedure that measures it for you, and it takes one or two sessions.

An empty bar is already a load

A standard Olympic barbell weighs 20 kg. The shorter version most gyms keep beside it weighs 15 kg, and some gyms also stock technique bars of 7 to 10 kg. So the "empty bar" is not zero. For plenty of people it is a perfectly sensible first load on the bench press or the overhead press.

Before you add anything, do 8 to 10 reps with the bar alone and watch what happens. If the path wanders left and right, if your lower back rounds at the bottom of a squat, or if your shoulder pinches near lockout, weight is not the problem. Technique is.

Climb in steps until the bar slows down

You do not guess a working weight, you find it from below. Start with the empty bar and add in steps, one easy set of 5 reps at each rung. Rest 2 to 3 minutes between sets, because if you rush, fatigue will spoil the measurement.

• On squats and deadlifts add 10 to 20 kg per step while it is easy, then 5 to 10 kg once it starts to register.
• On presses and rows add 5 to 10 kg, and 2.5 kg near the top.
• Stop at the first weight where the last rep visibly slows, or where you have to shift your body to finish it.

That weight is your ceiling for the day. Your working weight for the first few weeks sits roughly 10 to 15 per cent below it. Nothing is being chased here: the job of the first month is to learn the movement under a load that does not force you to cheat.

What a good working weight looks like

In the 5 to 8 rep range, a good working weight means this: you finish every planned set, the last two reps are slower than the first two, but the bar path and your back position look the same at the end as at the start. In practice that is 2 to 3 reps you could still do and choose not to.

Signs it is too heavy: the bar travels forwards instead of up, the knees collapse inwards, the pelvis tucks under at the bottom of a squat, the hips shoot up before the bar on a deadlift, one arm clearly lags behind. The same goes for needing to brace so hard you go light-headed just to get the thing moving — breathing under load has its own rules, and straining on a weight you cannot control is not one of them.

Signs it is too light: every set looks identical, you cannot tell the first from the last, and you are thinking about your phone mid-set. Add weight and move on.

Rough starting points by exercise

These are not targets or standards, just sensible places to begin measuring. For people with no lifting background, the first working weight usually lands somewhere in these ranges.

• Bench press: the empty 20 kg bar, or a 15 kg bar if 20 kg makes you arch and squirm.
• Squat: the empty bar; if rep five looks like rep one, 25 to 40 kg.
• Deadlift: at least 40 kg, because only 20 kg plates (45 cm across) put the bar at the standard height. If that is too much, raise smaller plates on blocks so the bar stays at the same height. Since this lift is the one most tied to your back, walk through the deadlift technique unhurried first.
• Standing overhead press: 15 to 25 kg.
• Barbell row: 20 to 30 kg.
• Dumbbells, pressing and rowing: 6 to 12 kg per hand; lateral raises are usually 2 to 5 kg, and that is normal.

On machines and cables you can be bolder, because the path is guided and you can drop the pin instantly. Work in the 10 to 12 rep range there and pick the plate where the last three reps genuinely get hard.

When to add weight and when to take it off

The smallest sensible jump is 2.5 kg in total, meaning two 1.25 kg plates. On upper-body presses even that can be too much, so many gyms stock 0.5 kg plates. If yours does not, stay at the same weight and add one rep per set until you reach the top of your rep range. There is more on picking the moment in the piece on when to increase the load.

Take weight off without hesitating when your technique falls apart two sessions running, when you are ill, when you slept five hours, or when you are coming back from a two-week break. Drop to 80 to 90 per cent of your last weight and climb again. That costs two sessions; stubbornness costs a month.

All of this only works if you know what you did last time, so write down your sets and weights. Without a record, every session starts from guesswork.

When to see a doctor

Rack the bar and get checked if you feel a sharp pain that forces you to put the weight down, pain or pressure in the chest, strong dizziness, or numbness and tingling spreading down a leg or an arm. The same applies to pain that lasts more than a few days, wakes you at night, or gets worse even when you rest.

If you have high blood pressure, a hernia, a heart condition, recent surgery, or you are pregnant, check with a doctor before you take up heavy lifting and hard bracing. The rest is mostly patience, and there is more on that in the piece on avoiding injury in your first year of training.

The short version

• An empty Olympic bar is 20 kg (15 kg for the shorter one), and for many people that is load enough to begin with.
• Find your working weight by climbing in steps to the first set that visibly slows, then take 10 to 15 per cent off it.
• A good working weight leaves 2 to 3 reps in reserve and looks the same on the first rep as on the last.
• Start deadlifts at 40 kg, or raise smaller plates on blocks so the bar sits at the right height.
• The smallest useful jump is 2.5 kg; after illness, bad sleep or a break, drop to 80 to 90 per cent and build back.