focus on reps, and hitting the upper end of the rep range first, then increase weight. And when you increase weight, lower it back to the lower end of the rep range.

I get it. In that case, getting stronger in terms of overall reps/sets is kind of overlooked, then. The weights in my gym start jumping roughly ten pounds (or 5 kilos, in our case) after 22kgs (roughly 50lbs), so I have trouble jumping straight to that to avoid injuries.

Thanks.

If you’re a beginner, strength gains are pretty linear.

Once you gain your first 20 pounds or so of muscle, strength/muscle gains are much more erratic.

Hard to tell just by what you wrote, but I would focus a bit more on lower rep ranges. So instead of 10-12 reps, do 4-6 or 6-8. Do that for a few weeks. And remember, it’s not about always adding weight. Adding more reps is also a form of progressive overload.

Of course:

I pretty much only focus on getting stronger in key compound movements, such as dumbell pressing (barbell fell on my forehead once, so I pretty much stay away from it), and my main movement for back are currently lat pulldowns (I could do 10-11 bodyweight pull-ups, but they get lower through every set, like 9, 7, 7-6, etc.).

I start with DB incline, first two warm-up sets are with a weight I can reach 10 reps with some ease, but not enough that I can do like 30 of them. Then I bump up to a more “serious” set (the one before my “real” set”), where I can throw in 10-12 with a lot of effort. The next (and last) 2-3 sets focus on getting in anything between 5, 6, maybe even 7 reps.

Then I hit a lower 30 degreee angle with the same weight and try to pull an extra rep-max or so (which would be around 8-9). I finally end with 2 sets of flat bench, where I can pull around 8-9 reps, and 10 at my max (which should be on my very last set).

That’s for chest.

For back, I try to pull in the max amount of pull-ups for each set that I can muster (something like 10, 8, 7, etc.). Roughly 4 sets, warm-ups included. I just suck at this movement, even though I always for good form. I end my back workout with 3 sets of straight-arm pulldown, roughly 8-9 hard-effort reps.

could be a bunch of reasons:

– Are you eating enough?
– Are you lifting enough weight?
– Are you using proper form?

Can you give some more details?

Getting stronger, lifting more weight over time. It’s supposed to happen naturally, but it doesn’t (for me).

Can you be more specific?