How to Stay Consistent in Weightlifting Even When You’re Not Feeling 100%
Training doesn’t always go the way you want it to.
If you expect to add weight every single week, you’re setting yourself up for frustration.
The idea that progress should be perfectly linear, week after week, is a nice story. But is it true?
Not really
Sure, your program might be written to support steady load increases. Maybe you're following a linear progression model with planned weekly jumps. That structure does have a place, especially for beginners or during specific phases. But if you've been lifting for a while, you already know the truth: it doesn't always play out that cleanly.
Some days you're on fire, everything feels sharp, bar speed is up, and 90 percent moves like 70. You walk away from the session buzzing.
Other days… the warm-up bar feels like a max attempt. You’re missing lifts you should crush, and it feels like all your progress has vanished. It sucks.
And it messes with your head.
One of the most valuable things you can learn as a lifter is how to auto-regulate. If you’ve got a coach watching you, they can help adjust on the fly. But if you train solo, you need to learn to read the signs and make the call yourself.
How do you know when to push and when to pull back?
Start by tracking your daily readiness. This doesn’t need to be complicated. A quick check-in before training can help. Look at:
Sleep quality
Nutrition (Have you eaten enough, at the right times?)
Hydration
Stress levels
General energy and motivation
Logging this in your training journal, even with simple 1-5 ratings, can help you connect the dots over time. Why did one session feel great, and the next one, on the same day a week later, feel like hell? These are often the clues.
Now, this isn’t a green light to skip heavy days every time you feel a bit flat. But it does give you context. If you’re showing up under-fueled, dehydrated, sleep-deprived, and mentally fried, forcing yourself to grind out your top set might not be the move. You’re not soft for adjusting, you’re smart.
How to adjust when things feel off
If your body is telling you today isn’t the day, here are a few simple ways to modify without derailing your session:
Stick with your last warm-up set for all working sets
Drop the weight by 5 to 10 percent and focus on speed or technique.
Reduce the number of work sets while maintaining intensity.
Shift your focus to movement quality instead of load.
Making small adjustments like these helps you stay consistent, respect how you feel that day, and still get something valuable out of the session.
One bad session doesn't mean you're going backwards
Let’s be clear: one rough training day doesn’t define your progress. Zoom out. Progress is built across weeks, months, and years, not from a single session. The goal is to leave more sessions feeling confident and capable, not constantly beaten down.
Not sure when to push or pull back in training?
At MWBC, we don’t just hand you a program and wish you luck.
We write individualised plans tailored to your goals, and we coach you through every step, especially the tough sessions.
We help you learn when to hold back, when to push harder, and when to throw the plan out the window and just send it.
If you want a program that adapts with you, and a coach that actually has your back, for July, we are offering FREE one-on-one sessions! reach out. We’re here to help.
-Coach Sebb
