Thread: Try this question out :)

I started lifting about 6 years ago, the last 2 have been only in spurts so I cant really give much credit for those 2 years. In febuary, I got back into the lifestyle and takeing it more serious then ever. I got my diet, my routines, and all the hard stuff pretty well and it is working great. I am in a cutting phase atm. I saved up my cash a few years ago and bought a crap load of free weights and have probly 2500 dollers of gym equipment in my basement (free weights with smith set up all nice and top of line that 2500 can get). My main point here is I rarely workout with anyone, and if I do they rely on me for information. Most my friends are not into lifting and so on. I know I am cutting and I understand that you always dont get your best lifting, gains, or strength in a cut. Even while I was bulking years back and even today, I am still not sure or found a effect way when to know to increase wieght on lifting week to week. In example in my first 4 years of lifting mostly it was a cut, since I was so ridulously fat and overweight, I was working with set of 12 like 95 pounds. After about a year and a half I was doing sets of 12 of around 135. A few months later I started a bulk and the best I got to was working sets of 12 of 155/160 with a max of around 185/190 ish. The question here is that even today in my cut at 155 I can easily do a set of 12. How do I know if I shoudl increase my weight. Normally I for 135 x 12, 155 x 10-12 depending, 160 x 8 to 10. I can do this week to week consitatly. If I try to increase the weight at all, I fall out of the 10 to 12 and sometimes out of the 8 to 12 range as well. I am haveing a hard time understanding with I was tought and know on the general rule on adding gains slowly to anyweight for any excersize. I have had little sucess with maxamizing this. I feel like the guy at a gym all the guys would laugh at for doing the same weights week after week. I do change my routines and I have tried super/drop sets with the best I can provide bymyself at home. I do have a good, healthy diet and understand the effects of certian foods, etc. I am just wondering if I missed something way back when that most people would know, becuase I been lifting by myself for years with little to no help. I was just wondering meybe I dont know when to add weights the following week or if I even should. Could it be possibly a form error I have developed. I have looked at the common websited with anamations for lifts in tryign to fix the problem. I dont see any, but I dont also record and watch myself. I dont consider myself a newbie at lifting, but I just feel left in the dark on this. I have read many post on this site and many others on a variety of realted items. None seem to help me. I dont think it is a platue. I just feel I am doing somehting wrong and most people I talked do have weight gains on lifts way better then me or quicker. Meybe any idea or a good website, post, or book I can read or do research with. Thx

Cutting or bulking, it doesn't matter. Also, periodize your workouts and change things around.