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So i started working out 4 Months ago.

Male 183 cm 101,5kg, 31.5% body fat, 39,6 % Muscle mass.

I go to the gym 5-6 times per week PPL. I train intensly until failure every set.

Yesterday i did another body scan. 91.9 Kg, 22.1% body fat, 40,6% Muscle mass.

However 3 months ago i did a scan where it showed that i have 41,1% muscle mass which means i lost muscle since then.

I keep track of my protein (2g per Kg bodyweight) and did not skip training.

Should i stop cutting? Should i maintain and try to build muscle? Not sure what my next move is.

Thanks

Hi, a bit of an odd question here.

I have been incorporating calisthenics and weighted callisthenics to my training in done form since I can remember.

This year I’ve decided to focus on some skills a little more. I want to handstand, and start working towards a front lever and eventually handstand push-up and planche.

My question is, are there things I can do in small doses throughout the day to help. I work from home so it’s quite easy to step outside or find some space for a set of pull ups, push-ups, a wall supported handstand, planche lean or whatever each hour but will this help?

Any thoughts?

My current split is pull/push/legs. I can do 21 pull ups in a row with clean form (i have been training consistently for the the last 2.5 years). My pull workouts usually look like this (3 min rest between sets and i go for chest to bar whenever i can):

Pull ups: 12, 12, 9, 7 Chin ups: 10, 10, 10, 9 Neutral grip: 8, 6, 2, 0

I have been wondering how effective is this workout, i get sore after each time and the total amount of reps that i can do has been steadily increasing for the last few months.

My aim is to increase my strength, max reps and muscle size. I have been able to achieve all three so far(with this routine and similar ones) but I am not sure if it's as effective as it was when I started out.

Looking for some advice on how to improve my workout.

I am an 18 year old 60kg male wanting to start doing calisthenics. I have been doing a lot of research and hearing things of doing basic foundation like push ups, sit ups, etc. But then I came across a bunch of other things like different approaches for calisthenics whether its hybrid, weighted, etc. which made me lost again on how I should begin, I have seen many goals that I want to achieve such as

• able to hand stand
• able to one arm hand stand
• hand stand on a balance ball (this is like when i actually get all the basics down and stuff)
• elbow lever
• perfect muscle ups
• able to hold L sits
• also wanting to look aesthetic

However i am able to hold a floor L sit for a few seconds before i feel tired and frog stands can be performed very easily, so I am not really sure where I am in terms of progression.

how can I begin with this level of progression and how should I make my schedule and what to do? ;-;

As above. For barbell movements I see people suggesting that 1.5x bw squat, 2x bw deadlift and 1x bw bench should be all attainable within your first year of training.

What really compares with bwf? Considering that bodyweight movements are more heavily impacted by body shape/mass distribution than barbell movements. I've seen some people suggest that the same goals should all be attainable with bwf, regardless of height, as long as you're not overweight. Doesn't seem in my mind to exactly be the case.

What l mean by this is for example when lm doing a push day and the first thing l do is incline barbell to complete failure. The set normally looks something like this: (First,second,third) set

(16,11,8) (16,12,9) (18,11,8)

These were my last three incline barbell sessions

(Yes l am aware l should probably up the weight but at lower reps l don’t feel anything except fatigue.)

However when doing a second chest exercise like a flat dumbbell press it looks something like this:

(10,11,10) (11,11,11) (12,11,8)

My question is why do some workouts have a sudden drop in reps as the workout continues while on the other side flat pressing for example stays the same?

Welcome to the r/bodyweightfitness Daily Discussion! This is the place to post simple questions, anecdotes, achievements, or just about anything that's on your mind related to fitness!

Commonly asked questions about training and nutrition:

• Recommended Routine is the original full-body workout program of the subreddit.
• Fitness FAQ covers all questions related to nutrition - gaining muscle, losing weight, etc.
• BWF FAQ covers many of the commonly asked questions.
• Even though the rules are relaxed in this thread, asking for medical advice is still not allowed.

DISCORD SERVER:

Our Discord server is very active and is truly the heart of the community. It is not only a social space, but it is also a great place for live discussion on training and nutrition compared to the slow pace of reddit! Come say Hi!

---

If you'd like to look at previous Discussion threads, click here.

Been slowly building up my strength via bodyweight fitness and recently got a pullup bar. I practically started from ground zero. Genuinely had practically no muscle and couldn't do a single pushup. I went rock climbing for a few weeks which very quickly gave me a lot of starting strength and so far I have built up to 4-5 slow pushups and just a few assisted pistol squats. I also do a lot of jumping on the spot because Im trying to build vertical jump height.

I cant do any pullups yet so Ive been doing negatives. I can go down for about 5-8 seconds but for each and every single negative that I do, I land I get light headed. I'm fairly confident that I'm doing the correct breathing. I start on a chair, exhale, then gradually let myself down while breathing in and exhaling just near the end where my arms start to become fully extended. My breathing is pretty shaky, It sounds as if I was shivering but slower. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to stop getting light headed/whats happening?

I started working out at the beginning of this year after taking a while off, a year or so, and I was pretty fat and out of shape, like 215, and I’m like 5’10 and was 180 when I had previously been in pretty good shape. When I started again my only goal was to become as strong as possible, so I centered my routine on sets of 5x3, resting about 3:00 between sets, really focusing on the technique. I progressively overloaded by adding 1 rep to each exercise per week. For example, if for the first week I did 5x3, the next week I would do one set of 4, and then the rest I would do 3. And then the week after that I would add 1 to the next set, continuing this each week until I got to 5x4. I have kept this same routine up to the present. I’m currently at 5x8. I do a Pull-Push-Legs Split, 6 days/1 day off. I’m not going into all the specifics of each day, but Monday would be my Push day and it would look like this:

Push: 5 x 8 - Bodyweight Rows 5 x 8 - Chin-Ups 5 x 8 - Bodyweight Ring Curls 5 x - (Til Failure) Hollow-Body Holds 2:00 Deadhang

In total I do 5 exercises for each day except Leg day, all at 5 x 5, totaling 110 sets per week. Worried that this might be too much volume? I usually feel very rested and recovered by the next time it’s that day in the split. I have gained a lot of strength and muscle, so I think it’s pretty effective, but I’m just curious if there is a more effective way to develop strength. I’m very obsessive in the way I do reps, I hit each part of the exercise to a count of Mississippi, so for example for chin-ups, I hold for 1 Mississippi at the bottom, then explode up, hold for a count of 1 Mississippi at the top, and I control the descent to the count of 1 Mississippi. If I miss a rep, I wait for a second and then keep going until I reach the number of reps I need to hit for that set. Is this effective for strength, or should I be more explosive with the movement, maybe not hold as long? Once I hit 5 x 9 on each exercise, I’m going to progress to harder exercises and begin the cycle again. For example, once I hit 5 x 9 on chin-ups, I’m going to start on 5 x 3 pull-ups. I’ll trade pike push-ups for wall handstand push-ups in this instance. Yeah so just curious what anyone thinks.

First, to put it all into context: I just started a new calisthenics training program I got from a personal trainer (which consists of 5 workouts scattered throughout the week: 4 divided by groups and a fullbody one on friday), but one of my goals is to understand the logic behind the workout program so I can tweak it on the long run according to my personal needs and make it as flexible as possible instead of just blindly following the program.

For that purpose, I'm trying to build a full list of exercises, what muscle groups they work, and different kinds of exercises. Unlike regular gym workouts that can work on isolated muscle groups, calisthenics are mostly if not all compound exercises, so that makes it a little trickier. I've done a brief research, and it's been hard to find a common ground in the sites I've been reading: some just divide between upper body, lower body and core (which is too oversimplified even for me), some go for a level of specificity that I'd certainly avoid (for example dividing back in trapezius, latissimus, rhomboid, etc), and some divide not by muscle groups but by exercise type (push, pull, etc..).

With all that said, I built a whole notion page with my training program. It's kinda raw and I'm thinking of ways to improve it while still keeping it as simple as possible, but basically I divided all exercises in 6 categories: arms, shoulder, back, chest, legs and core.

As much as it helps me have a general overview of clustered muscle groups, I'm still unsure if some things can be further simplified or divided in a better way, for example: the "arms" groups looks a little redundant since basically every upper body exercise will inherintely use them but in different ways (for example, a push-up which is a primarily chest exercise, but as much as it will always use the arms, it could target the biceps and triceps diferently depending on the grip).

I know that's quite a complex question, and maybe there can be many different ways of grouping/categorizing exercises for the purpose of planning workout programs, so if you instead could recommend solid study material (such as books specialized on bodyweight hypertrophy), that could work wonders too.

Thank you in advance :)

Hi , I’ve been doing body weight exercises for a while now. Started doing just push ups and jack knife pull ups Now doing pull-ups, dips, diamond push-ups ups and chin-ups.

I always do 3sets of each exercise with the last one to failure and the 2 before being close to failure.

I have progressed massively in terms of being able to do a lot more reps than I used to, however two things I have noticed is that I never feel my muscles burning whilst exercising, and I have noticed my body hasn’t changed physique wise.

Am I overthinking it or is there a possibility I’m doing something wrong ?

• plus I eat around 100g protein every day.

I’m fairly strong in most respects but have always been terrible at pull ups. My main back exercise has been lat pull downs.

I’ve started doing scapular pulls and trying to follow the advice here on progressing pull ups with good form. When starting from a dead gang I can do scapular pulls fine but about half the time if I start to try and do a pull up after pulling my scapula down and back I get severe weakness in the front of my shoulder. Usually the left but sometimes both.

Any ideas what I may be doing wrong or what I should train in order to progress to good form pull ups?

I’m sure someone of you incorporate some lifting here and there in your body weight workouts but I’m talking about someone like me who mainly lifts for their ppl workout but then practice calisthenics moves in between their workouts, like on one of your rest days. The only body weight exercise I do in my ppl is weighted L sit pull ups and decline pushups, everything is else involves weights.

On one of my rest days I do 5 sets of however many muscle ups I can do, front and back lever progression exercises. They are very taxing btw, which prevents me from doing them on the day I lift. Just wondering if lifting+practicing calisthenics routine is a recipe for injury and whether I should find a different program.

For the first few seconds, I try to keep my arms straight but not locked out. This position feels comfortable, and I can hold it for over a minute, even in the RTO position. However, when I fully lock out my arms, I experience discomfort in both elbows and the forearm near the joint (the side facing the camera in this video, or facing away from the body and the camera in this photo). Also, dip is accompanied by mild pain in the left shoulder/infraspinatus area on some days.

For the past 2 months, I’ve been focusing on practicing the basics, but I feel like I may have wasted that time using incorrect form.

I can perform controlled dips without any issues (excluding lockout), but I’d also appreciate feedback on potential mistakes in my dip form.

background if this matters: 24M 178cm 73kg, I can do 12 dead hang hollowbody pullups, 8 ring dips ( no lockout )

Apologies, this probably gets posted all the time...

I am new to Calisthenics, started 3x a week in November 2024.

I have previous experience of training with weights (although haven't trained at all for nearly a decade) but one of my favourite workouts was the Stronglifts 5x5 due to the simplicity & speed of it, so I used that as a base for a calisthenics routine. I also gained a lot of strength doing it.

To begin with I couldn't even do one press up, so I started out doing incline knee press ups, then removed the incline, then full press ups. (Note: I don't have space for a pull up bar)

Day 1

5 x 5 squats

5 x 5 incline knee press ups

5 x 5 towel rows

2 x 20 second plank

Day 2

5 x 5 squats

5 x 5 incline knee press ups

5 x 5 towel pull downs

2 x 15 second side plank (1 each side)

The workout has evolved over time and I've added reps/time to planks progressively, and bench dips as a 5th exercise.

For the press ups, I've been doing as many full as I can, then reverting to knee press ups after failure to finish the set. This seems to have worked well as I'm able to get 1-2 more full press ups on each workout.

Currently I'm doing this, it takes roughly 40 mins:

5 x 9 squats

5 x 7 press ups (only 1 rep on knees last time, so will move to 5 x 8 once complete all 5 sets)

5 x 8 towel rows/pull downs

5 x 7 bench dips

2 x 1m plank/side plank

What is a good number of reps to consider trying a more difficult variation? For example squats are getting way too easy, is it worth moving to lunges?

Would decline press ups be a good move once I can hit 5 x 10 regular press ups?

The towel exercises are just in there because I have no other way to work my back currently, but I'm not sure if they are actually doing much. Would it be better to get some dumbbells just for working back?

Planks are getting way harder to progress past the 1 minute mark. Not sure if it is psychological but any tips to extend these would be appreciated!

Finally, I've been trying to find the differences between bodybuilding diet & calisthenics diet. I started out eating like I would on a bodybuilding recomp/slight cut which was working, but it was a very slight deficit of about 250 kcal/day. I lost a few lbs (but gained them all back over christmas....). With the 250 kcal deficit, it was too easy to undo the work. I was eating 2,250 a day and protein intake was 130g on average. It varies day to day but is always between 110g and 150g. Not optimal protein intake but I struggle to get more than that within calories & have enough carbs to not feel like crap. I'm assuming calisthenics requires the same 0.8-1g/lb as bodybuilding, but I have seen strength gains, and some noticeable muscle gains in triceps/shoulders/chest so maybe calisthenics does need a little less?

I'm a 6ft male, 230lb so 0.8-1g/lb protein is a huge amount to try fit in. Especially when I don't feel like my workouts are burning many calories.

Is it worth increasing the deficit by say another 200 kcals, if i try to take those cals from carbs/fat?

Hey all. Have lifted for over 10 years, decided to move to only bodyweight training now, recently cut from 105kg to 85kg and during this time have been mainly doing bodyweight exercises.

I can do 3x deadhang to chest pull ups with 30kg and 3x8 sets of ring dips to give an indication of my strength. I want to start learning skills now, and have written a program, but I'm sure there are deficiencies / improvements that can be made. If you have any mobility work suggestions, would also really appreciate that.

Note that I haven't incorporated any leg training - I naturally have large / strong legs and cycle every day.

Pull 1 (Monday)

Muscle up progression    5 sets

Front Lever Progression  5 sets

L-Sit       3-4 sets

Rows     3-4 sets

Push 1 (Tuesday)          

OAP progression              3 x 5-8

Handstand Practice         10 minutes

Planche Progression        5 sets

Ring Dips             3 x 5-8

Pull 2 (Thursday)          

Muscle up progression    5 sets

Front Lever Progression  5 sets

L-Sit       3-4 sets

Rows     3-4 sets

Push 2 (Friday) 

OAP progression              3 x 5-8

Handstand Practice         10 minutes

Planche Progression        5 sets

Ring Dips             3 x 5-8

Thanks a lot!

I don't mean in the sense of strength. I'm 2 years in, and on some exercises I'm still handicapped by my ability to actually just get the form down, and coordinate myself correctly. To a large extent this has handicapped my progress, and the movements I struggle with significantly lag behind other movements.

I think maybe at this point transitioning to barbell movements might be more appropriate, or even machines. I feel like it's understated how important a movement feeling "natural" at its easiest level is to progress.

Anyone care to critique my workout plan I just put together with the long term goals being Muscle Up , HSPU , FL and PL

Ill be doing skill work at the start of my workouts, main questions are if I should be spending more time on skill work or more time on hypertrophy work?

Pull Day

1. FL Progression (Tuck FL raises for reps / tuck FL negatives)

2. Pull ups 4 x 6 (Working on upping these numbers)

3. Plate Assisted Lat Pulldown (Choosing these to solve a slight imbalance in my back as I can do these one side at a time)

4. Rows 3 x 12

5. Preacher Curls or Hammer Curls 3 x 12

6. (OPTIONAL) Bent Over Rows because these are fun

Push Day

1. Planche Lean 5 sets max hold

2. HSPU Training 4 sets (Includes static holds, attempting to balance, and a max ROM attempt before coming back down.

3. Dips 4 x 12 (This is just my estimated reps as I'm usually on rings doing 4x8) (Would I benefit from going weighted?)

4. Overhead Barbell Press 4 x 12

5. Overhead Tricep Extension 3 x 12

Leg Day

1. HSPU / PL / FL supplementary training

2. Barbell Squats 3 x 12

3. L-Sit reps to knee raises 3 x 12

4. Leg Extension / Hamstring Curl superset 3 x 12 each

Welcome to the r/bodyweightfitness Daily Discussion! This is the place to post simple questions, anecdotes, achievements, or just about anything that's on your mind related to fitness!

Commonly asked questions about training and nutrition:

• Recommended Routine is the original full-body workout program of the subreddit.
• Fitness FAQ covers all questions related to nutrition - gaining muscle, losing weight, etc.
• BWF FAQ covers many of the commonly asked questions.
• Even though the rules are relaxed in this thread, asking for medical advice is still not allowed.

DISCORD SERVER:

Our Discord server is very active and is truly the heart of the community. It is not only a social space, but it is also a great place for live discussion on training and nutrition compared to the slow pace of reddit! Come say Hi!

---

If you'd like to look at previous Discussion threads, click here.

Hieveryone,

I'm currently designing my weighted calisthenics routine and a couple of weeks ago I came across a video by Ian Barseagle that presents a two-set-per-exercise method.

The method consists of doing 3 sets of 5 reps for the warm-up, increasing the weight in each set. Afterwards, two sets are performed to maximum intensity (reaching failure) of each compound exercise (dips, pull-ups, etc.), aiming for 8-12 reps. Rest for 5-7 minutes. The video recomens to increase the weight when you can already do more than 12 reps with certain weight (+2.5-5 kg)

In the video, he recommends doing the routine only once a week per muscle group (push/pull/legs/rest/rest/rest/rest) to maximize recovery.

Example:

• Weighted dips:

Set 1: 8-12(to failure) Set 2: 8-12 (to failure)

*Bench press Set 1: 8-12(to failure) Set 2: 8-12 (to failure)

According to the video, the method is incredibly effective for both hypertrophy and strength.

I've searched the community but haven't found any discussions about this method yet. It seems really interesting since it requires much less time per workout.

Could it actually work? Has anyone tried it? Any feedback is appreciated :)

Btw here is the video: https://youtu.be/AjhjgNWiTPQ?si=M6rTqg-gHNeumEI1

Hey, just making this post because there is an overwhelming amount of info out there and i just need a straight answer.

For some background I am a athlete (swim (22s 50 free)/waterpolo) and therefore already swim about 1h30m 4-5 days a week. I am also coming back from being sick for 2 weeks..

I wanted to know what a good beginning routine/split would be for at-home bodyweight workouts with the intention of building strength and muscle. Also, would swim negate recovery if the workout is too intense? Thanks in advance!

I'm hanging gymnastic rings in my bedroom, and the ceiling joists are spaced 16" apart. Hanging the rings at 16" seems too narrow, but hanging the rings at 32" seems to wide. My shoulder width is 20", and I'm 6'5" tall, so my arms are also pretty long.

I could always bridge the gap with another piece of wood to have easy customizeability, but I was wondering if having wider rings makes it easier to do target the back muscles with pull ups and inverted rows and such. If so, is 32" still too wide?

Considering my height, I'm sure it will be fine. I just wanted to consult "The Reddit" before drilling 15 holes in my ceiling 😅. Any advice is greatly appreciated

Hi BWF! I've been reading Overcoming Gravity, and I am learning so much. I come from a running background, but I have been loving incorporating more strength training in my routine. For the past few months, my split is roughly 50% running and 50% strength training, where I am running ~4 hours per week and doing the recommended routine 3x per week. I have been seeing some really nice strength gains, and my cardio is maintained/slightly improved.

Steven Low references the Pareto Principle (80/20 rule) a few times, and it has made me think about a hypothetical scenario. Say an individual has an equal desire to build bodyweight strength and cardiovascular endurance in the long term. Would it make sense to alternate between mesocycles that prioritize cardio/strength training? For example, the first mesocycle is 80% cardio and 20% strength training (prioritizing cardio and maintaining strength), and a subsequent mesocycle is 80% strength training and 20% cardio (prioritizing strength and maintaining cardio). Or would a consistent 50/50 split be better for that individual?

I don't know if an alternating Pareto Principle per mesocycle makes sense, but I thought it was an interesting idea! Anyway, thank you for all the lovely advice on here. This is the healthiest and strongest I have ever felt!

Hey. I've been doing 2 push back and 2 days push (mostly calisthenics and accesory work) without legs nor cardio of any kind. I'm 25 already, and i want to start prioritizing health for the sake of my future with the girl i love.

I want to start running twice a week and i thought of doing just one day for each of the others. My time is very limited due to work and i can only workout at night. I fear that just one day for each won't be enough stimulus. Been training for 5 years, give or take. Any advice?

Edit: thank you very much for your help guys. I see that my idea was not.. ideal. I'll stick with either full body or push/pull twice and one legs (got good leg genetics anyways). Appreciate it.

To be clear, here I'm not talking about single arm handstand, victorian, maltese or iron cross. Those skills are achieved by too many people. I'd say a reasonable threshold would be at most 5 people having achieved it (even 0 is fine), while the ones I mentioned are unlocked by at least 5 people every month.

I'm referring to exercises like the single arm bw btb curl (you start in a single arm supinated dead hang on the rings or bar and from there you only use your elbow joint to pull the rings behind your neck and curl your body upwards), single arm CTI (pretty self-explanatory), hanging forearm curl (maybe with a freely rotating bar or an oily hand), full 90º rom bw tibia curl (with a nordic curl support, you lock your heel to the ground and from laying down you pull yourself up by curling with your tibia while keeping the whole body straight), the same exercise but for calves, ...

What's your actual or invented hardest exercise?

I had trouble following any routines because I had huge rep dropoffs to the point i wouldn't even call it working out anymore, just f-ing around.

I made my own technique, where I do my max every set but take long (10-15 minute) breaks in between sets. This way I get a 1~2 rep dropoff per set. After a certain, usually the 3rd set, I feel I won't be able to do anywhere near my max (the dropoff would be suddenly too large and form too shit) so i switch to another exercise.

I split my routine to arms and abs days

for arms I do 3 sets of pushups, 3 sets of band-assisted pullups and a closing set of whatever i feel like, usually pushups again.

for abs I do 4 sets of leg raises on bars and 3 times plank

I've been slowly improving, went from 8 to 25 pushups and 10 band-assisted pullups in 4 months but I see no change in appearance.

The progressive overload for me is increasing reps per set and focusing on improving form. I actually decreased the amount of sets from 12 to 7 as I felt after a certain point I was too weak to maintain form and do a proper amount of reps anyway.

Want to ask if anyone else had this problem and if this would work long term provided I continue adding reps, and when the reps are too much I add weight or remove a band + switch up exercises once a while ?

I've recently tried to make the switch from gym to resistance bands as i travel a lot. I've been doing all kinds of workouts and they're fantastic for the most part, especially on pull day, however i find they really lack on chest. I cant seem to find any chest workouts to give me the same pump dumbells/barbell does.

At first i thought it was working reasonably well, however i then made a one off trip to the gym yesterday and woke up today with DOMs in my chest muscles for the first time in weeks, which indicates that the resistance bands haven't really been doing anything for me in my chest.

Any tips or tricks on actually good chest workouts with bands? Or infact any chest workout i can do on the move that matches up to gym machines? I've been on the bands for just over a month now.

I'm sitting on a computer for 8-12 hours a day which really put a toll on my wrist. Especially the right wrist is pretty inflexible which can and will be a problem in the future when i wanna do advanced movements like Planche or HSPU.

I already started to do some basic wrist flexing like kneeling and putting increasing weight on my wrists in a push ups position but i'm a structured person so i could use a full routine which i can do either daily or every other day before my workout.

Anyone knows a proven routine that fits my need?

Thanks in advance.

I've set my goal this year to learn the handstand - I've been going to the gym for a few years but have never done callisthenics or anything acrobatic and feel like an absolute donkey when trying to bail. Due to a wrist injury, I can only practise using parallettes and I just don't get the hang of how to bail. Should I just practise back-to-wall handstands until I can do them perfectly and then move to practise bailing from back-to-wall / freestanding handstands?

I've watched a lot of videos and they all make it look so easy. "Just take off one hand and do half a rotation".. but the fear of me just breaking my back, even when I put a mattress behind me, doesn't let me fully commit to it and I end up doing some weird tucked rotation and sigh in relieve of not having hurt myself every time I get down again. And since I never fully commit and still don't land neatly on my feet I don't even know if this half-arsed approach is helping me get better of if it's just effort for nothing.

Do you guys have any tips on how to progress?

i've recently been getting pretty good at dips, but they seem to be almost a very heavy compound exercise with potential shoulder injury risk, with pec tears also being a problem. i try to go as deep as possible, and completely slow down the lowering stage, with a slightly more explosive push upwards.

i made the mistake in the past of barbell benching heavy weights for 15 reps and destroying my shoulders, instead of upping the weight and sticking to 8-10 reps. at least, that's what i've found personally works best for me.

i'm now pondering if i should just stick to something like 8-10 reps for dips also, and up the weight, and maybe throw in some 15-18 reps dips on other days but at a much lower % (50%) of 1RM. i typically like to train first set at target reps, 2nd maybe hit target reps, then 3rd/4th set i will keep the same weight, but probably only get 3-5 reps. every week then aiming for the same, and for 2nd set, i usually up the weight if the 1st set was easier than the last time for the same amount of reps and continue with that till failure on each set.

anyway, keen to hear some more experienced people who've done them for years, and hear what works best for you.