Ever notice that women and endurance athletes can perform more reps at a given intensity than the average guy? That’s because they typically have a higher percentage of slow-twitch muscle fibers, making them more resistant to fatigue at submaximal loads. Research backs this up:

Endurance Capacity of Untrained Males and Females (Maughan et al., 1986)

At the same percentage of 1-rep max (1RM), females can perform more reps than males:

Leg Press Performance: Endurance vs. Weightlifting Athletes (Richens & Cleather, 2013)

Endurance-trained individuals outperform weightlifters in high-rep scenarios:

The Challenge of Progressing with Heavy Loads

While endurance athletes and females excel in high-rep training, their performance drops significantly as weight increases due to lower absolute strength levels.

Here’s a real-world example:

• Jane curls 15 lb dumbbells for 12 reps.
• Joe curls 30 lb dumbbells for 12 reps.
• If they both increase their dumbbell weight by 5 lb, their rep drop-off is very different:
  • Jane (20 lb): Likely only a few reps.
  • Joe (35 lb): Still manages 8-10 reps.

Why? Because a 5 lb jump is a 33% increase for Jane, but only 17% for Joe—making the jump significantly harder for Jane.

The Solution: Microloading with PlateMate

Microloading helps smooth out strength progression. PlateMate (check it out here) offers small magnetic weights that attach to metal dumbbells or weight plates, allowing for smaller increases:

• 5/8 lb, 1.25 lb, 2.5 lb, or 5 lb increments.
• Add two 1.25 lb PlateMates to a 15 lb dumbbell to get 17.5 lb instead of jumping straight to 20 lb.
• Need even smaller jumps? Use a single PlateMate and offset your grip to balance it out.

Advanced Loading Trick

Offsetting the weight intentionally can target specific muscle fibers—a technique I often use with clients. Tomorrow, I’ll share a method to apply this to arm curls and triceps extensions for even greater results!