Increasing the weight you push/curl/lift

[Gonzalez_Forehand]

Hi guys, I have a quick question about increasing the amount of weights you curl / press / lift.

I am trying to add muscle mass, and the way to do it appears to be to increase the amount of weight you push (while maintaining the correct form, obviously). However, are you best served by increasing the weight you lift over time, or in each session? Here's what I mean, using curling as an example:

Plan A:
- Go to the gym and do warm up curls, three sets of 12 reps.
- Once warm, curl your maximum weight, say, 6 sets of 8 reps.
- Every three weeks or so, try to increase your max weight slightly (and perhaps warm-up weight so that it remains approx 70% of max weight).

Plan B:
- Go to the gym and start curling 50% of your max weight, 3 sets of 12 reps.
- Then curl 70% of your max weight, 3 sets of 10 reps.
- Then curl 85% of your max weight, 3 sets of 8 reps.
- Then curl your absolute max, 3 sets of 6 reps.
- Try to increase your max weight every month or so if possible (never going below 6 reps).

For the past 6 months or so, I have been following Plan A. There has been considerbale growth, but I seem to have hit a max weight that I simply can't increase without losing my form and technique - hence, I'm not getting any bigger. This has nothing to do with diet, as I am eating very healthliy, with bucketloads of protein.

Pearls of wisdom much appreciated as always...

[AllCourt]

you might have hit a plateau, alot of people who lift weights hit it once in a while. something you can do to help get out of it is try different excercises that ecercise the same muscle group from different angles and such. an example:

someone who plateaus on their bench press could do some dips, alternating dumbell bench presses, or even weighted pushups for a while, to help get out of the plateau.

but there are a ton of more knowledgable posters on these boards, this is just something that i ran across. so u might wna tot listen to their opinion as wel.

[m_b]

How about an alternative to weights... and to increasing loads and more and more strain on your joints. Google "transformetrics" and check their web site, it should be worth your time.