What is it?
Progressive overload occurs when we slowly increase the stress placed on the musculoskeletal and nervous system over a period of time. Progressive overload is one of the most important concepts to apply to your training program because all good programs will utilize progressive overload in some form or another regardless of skill level. If there’s one thing to take away from this book and apply to your training immediately- it’s this principle. Progressive overload will make or break your progress and not understanding this concept is one of the reasons so many people plateau and/or give up.
As you progress through the training phases, your technique should improve which increases your movement efficiency with the programmed exercises. In addition to this, you should be getting stronger which means you can increase loads and reps at those given loads. Lastly, your work capacity will improve and you’ll continually need more stimulus to form an adaptation. This means you’ll likely need to add more sets to better stimulate your muscles.
Stimulation
In order for our body to adapt, we must provide enough stimulus to cause the adaptation we’re looking for. Cause and effect. If we properly stimulate our muscles, provide them an environment to recover and adapt to the stimulus, then we will progress toward our goals.
To properly stimulate our muscles, we need to make sure the loads are heavy enough, that we’re performing enough reps with those loads, and that we do this for the proper amount of sets.
3 questions to know if you're being productive
To measure stimulation during and after a training session, we’ll have you run through a checklist:
- Do I feel tension in my target muscles? This may feel like a burning sensation in the target musculature near the end of a difficult set. This will indicate that your technique is targeting the correct muscles.
- Do I notice a pump? Your muscles should feel “pumped” and slightly larger than normal while performing an exercise. This will indicate that you’re using stimulative loads.
- Am I fatigued and do I notice disruption in the targeted musculature? You may notice that walking up stairs takes more effort after performing squats. This is an indication that your training intensity was challenging enough to stimulate an adaptation- provided that you’re using the rest of the principles in this section.
How to progress load
Phase I
Loads should increase over the training phase. This is one of the most classic forms of progressive overload. Start with the least amount of load necessary to provide the stimulation outlined above, and gradually increase stimulation throughout the training phase. At the end of every phase you should be lifting more than when you started the phase.
Phase II+
Like your first phase, when you start the second, you’ll want to use the least amount of load necessary to stimulate the target musculature. This might mean that you’re lifting heavier than the first week of the last phase which is good as it means you’re making progress. Then you’ll build back up throughout the rest of phase two and, hopefully, by the end you’re using heavier loads than the end of phase one. Here’s a graphic illustrating the general idea:
When you first begin you’ll likely set records pretty frequently. This won’t last forever so enjoy it while you can 🙂
The relationship between load and reps
An important concept to understand, as it pertains to loading, is that there is an inverse relationship between load and reps. This means that adding more load will cause our reps to decrease and reducing load will allow us to perform more reps. So if we have to accomplish 10 reps in a set, but we felt like we could do 20, we should probably add more load. If, in the same circumstance, we complete a set of 3 reps when it was supposed to be around 10 reps, then it’s probably a good idea to reduce loads to meet the prescribed rep range.
A final note on loading: you don’t have to add load every week. Sometimes you’ll perform multiple weeks in a row with the same load and that’s totally okay as long as it’s stimulative. Just make sure that you aren’t compromising technique or range of motion just for the sake of adding load. This is called ego lifting and is a good way to either get hurt and/or not get the appropriate stimulus. Ego is not your amigo.
How to progress reps
Just like you can add load throughout the phase, you can also add reps. So in the instance where you might be lifting the same stimulative load for multiple weeks in a row, you’ll want to increase the number of reps you perform each week. This is a good way to “fine tune” your progressive overload when compared to adding load (which is more of a “medium tuning”). What I mean by this is it’s usually easier to add one rep than it is to add 5-10 lbs to an exercise.
Once again, we do not count reps performed with poor technique. Understand that if, when performing an exercise, you didn’t reach the proper depth or you were getting squirrely and shifting your body around to complete the final rep(s), the rep(s) should not be counted and you should end the set immediately.
How to progress sets
Increasing the number of sets you perform throughout a training phase is a great way to add more work which creates a bigger stimulus. When you first begin, it’s not uncommon to feel sore from just 2-3 sets of an exercise; especially if you haven’t lifted weights for a while. In this instance it’s important to start with the least amount of sets necessary to provide stimulus. We don’t want to have to cancel or reschedule training sessions because we’re not recovering from our previous training sessions in time.
As your body becomes more accustomed to the training program, you’ll want to increase your workload so that you can provide better stimulation to your muscles. For instance, after week 1, if you feel ready, you may add another set to your training sessions for week 2. Maybe even ending with 4 sets per exercise in a training session to end the phase in week 4. After doing this, it’ll be a good idea to reduce the number of sets to 2-3 when you begin the next phase and build back up again.
The proper amount of sets, reps, and load should leave you fatigued after the training session, but fully recovered by the time your next scheduled session comes around. If you aren’t fully recovered, I typically recommend adjusting your working sets as this has the largest effect on fatigue.
Setting PRs (Personal Records)
At the end of each phase you should attempt a rep max. A rep max is simply the most reps you can perform with a given weight. Sometimes you’ll perform the rep max with the same weight as your previous max effort and perform more reps. Other times you’ll attempt a new load that you’ve never tried before. Both are great indicators that you’re getting stronger and are very satisfying, motivating, and should be celebrated! … responsibly ;)
Summary
Are the loads stimulative?
- Do I feel tension in my target muscles?
- Do I notice a pump?
- Am I fatigued and do I notice disruption in the targeted musculature?
What variables will I adjust over the phase?
- Reps = “fine tuning”
- Load = “medium tuning”
- Sets = “broad/large tuning”
How do I progress these variables over the phase?
- If the reps exceed the recommended range, add load
- If the load feels stimulative, add reps
- If you are recovering well between sessions and need more stimulus then add a set.
It’s important to note that it’s not necessary for loads to increase every week- but something should. If not the sets, then the loads. If not the loads, then the reps. And it’s okay to progress more than one at a time. For instance you may progress sets and reps at the same time. Or even sets and loads. Just be careful to not perform too many sets as there is a point of diminishing return.