In the beginning of one’s training career, a newbie can gain strength as long as they are doing something that they have never done before. If you start from zero, you have nowhere to go but up.
It’s so simple that you could do just 1×10 on the bench press and make strength improvements. However, the farther you advance, the stronger you get, the law of diminishing returns sets in. You still get stronger, but you have to increase the amount of work you do. That 1×10 on the bench press will no longer be sufficient. You may start having to do 3×8. 10 reps have now turned into 24 reps at a higher intensity to spur further progress.
If you want to improve your strength, a beginner can do just 60% of his one-rep max. That means that if you can lift 100 lbs one time, as long as you are working out with at least 60 lbs, it will result in strength gains. However, the more advanced you are, the threshold goes up. More advanced trainees will have to use at least 80% of their one rep max to make further progress in strength.
That’s not to say that working out with 70 lbs won’t cause some sort of adaptation to take place. It just won’t be a strength adaptation. Your muscles may fill up with water or glycogen, they may add some mitochondria, but you won’t be getting any stronger.
The point to remember is that if you have been training for a while and want to improve your bench press max from 200 to 225, you’ll need to do your work sets with at least 160 pounds and above. Working below 160 won’t contribute to strength gain in your one rep max.
However, if you are doing work sets at say, 3×5 @ 180, and do two warm-up sets of 3 reps each at 170 pounds, these warm-up sets at 170 will contribute to strength increases because they took place at a above the 80% strength threshold.
If you want to get strong, you need to lift heavy weights.
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