Lifting weights that are too light won’t challenge your muscles enough to grow or reshape your body.
1. Stay within the muscle-building (hypertrophy) rep range.
For most exercises, you want to train in the 6–12 rep range.
If a weight is so heavy you can only do 3–5 reps, it’s more strength-focused than muscle-building.
If you can do 15+ reps, it’s more endurance-focused and not ideal for body composition goals.
2. You should feel challenged by the last few reps.
The last 2–3 reps of your set should feel tough like an 8 or 9 out of 10 in effort.
If you could easily keep going for 5+ more reps, the weight is too light.
3. Track your progress weekly
If you’re lifting the same weight for the same reps every week without increasing… your body has no reason to change.
You want to gradually increase weights, sets, reps etc. over time (progressive overload).
4. Form first, always.
Your form should stay solid even when the set gets tough.
If your form breaks early in the set, the weight might be too heavy for now and that’s okay. Build up safely.
Lifting should feel challenging but you should never feel sharp pain or joint discomfort.
Muscle burn? Yes. Form falling apart or hurting something? Nope.