Progressive overload: a little challenge goes a long way
Progressive overload is a long-standing fundamental of strength and fitness that’s based on gradually increasing the challenge of an exercise. Whether you're a seasoned gym enthusiast, an aspiring athlete, or even stepping into the gym for the first time, progressive overload is an evidence-backed approach that can make faraway goals suddenly pretty attainable.
Granted, the concept does sometimes come off a little bit like a buzzword. That’s why we’re getting into what exactly progressive overload is, how it benefits your workouts, and how you can easily implement it in your training.
What is progressive overload?
Progressive overload refers to the gradual increase in stress placed on the body during exercise. This principle involves challenging your muscles and systems to adapt by consistently elevating the intensity of your workouts. By consistently increasing effort and intensity over time, progressive overload drives your body’s adaptation and improvement.
Whether through heavier weights, more repetitions, or higher resistance, the goal is to continually challenge your body. Progressive overload isn’t limited to resistance training or lifting weights — it can be applied to various kinds of exercise, including cardiovascular workouts, mobility, and more.
Progressive overload variables
Progressive overload involves three major variables: intensity, volume, and frequency. Within these major variables, you can break down progressive load into many measurables depending on the form of exercise and your goals:
Exercise weight/load
Reps
Sets
Distance
Speed
Power
Workout frequency
Technique/form
Examples of progressive overload
Increasing weight is one of the most common types of progressive load. By gradually and systematically increasing intensity by way of weight or load, your muscles can adapt and strengthen.
Consider this example of progressive overload for developing back squat strength in the 3-rep range:
Week 1: Perform 4 sets of 3 reps at 75%
Week 2: Perform 4 sets of 3 reps at 80%
Week 3: Perform 4 sets of 3 reps at 85%
Week 4: Perform 4 sets of 3 reps at 90%
Benefits of progressive overload
Progressive overload offers a variety of benefits across different aspects of physical fitness and health.
Overcoming plateaus
Plateaus occur when the body adapts to a certain level of stress or effort, usually from doing consistently similar workouts, and progress halts. By gradually increasing the intensity of workouts without abandoning the overall structure, progressive overload challenges the body, breaking through plateaus and promoting continuous improvement, whether that’s in regard to strength gains, physique changes, or any other goals.
Getting stronger
By consistently pushing your muscles to lift heavier weights or perform more challenging exercises, you create microscopic damage (the good kind) in your muscle fibers, causing your body to initiate the recovery and repair process and promoting the development of muscle fibers. This results in increased strength, allowing you to tackle more demanding workouts and daily activities.
Strength gains are not only about muscle size but also involve improvements in neural adaptations. As you progressively overload, your nervous system becomes more efficient in recruiting and coordinating muscle fibers, resulting in an enhanced neural efficiency that contributes to increased strength and the ability to lift heavier weights.
Boosting motivation
As you gradually increase the weights or intensity, you're essentially setting small, achievable goals and accessing a constant source of motivation. Achieving these milestones, no matter how small, can boost your confidence and create a positive feedback loop. It's like saying, "Wow, I lifted more today than last week!" This continual progress fosters a positive mindset and encourages a healthy and sustainable commitment to regular exercise.
As you progressively overload, you encounter heavier weights and more demanding workouts. This can be mentally challenging, requiring focus, determination, and resilience. Overcoming these mental hurdles during training can translate into increased mental toughness whether in the gym or in everyday life.
Ensuring long-term health
Progressive overload contributes significantly to long-term health. Regular, challenging exercise is associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and osteoporosis as well as improved self-esteem, confidence, and other important facets of mental health. The combination of cardiovascular, strength, and flexibility training involved in progressive overload promotes overall well-being.
5 strategies for implementing progressive overload
Broken down into a few accessible strategies, implementing progressive overload is a relatively simple task
Setting goals
Define specific and achievable goals that align with your fitness objectives. Whether it's lifting heavier weights, increasing the number of repetitions, or improving endurance, having clear goals provides direction for your training.
Establish a baseline
Begin by determining your current fitness level and capabilities. Depending on your goals, this may include understanding your strength, endurance, and overall baseline fitness which will serve as a starting point for your progressive overload plan. If you want to increase your 1-rep max squat, do a mini test in the gym and work up to about a 90% effort. There’s no need to totally max out in this stage — just get a sense of where you’re at.
Track progress
Tracking your progress is important for ensuring that you’re challenging yourself and making measurable gains toward your goals. Ever seen someone at your gym carrying around a notepad and pen? Likely, they’re using it as a training journal and making detailed logs of their workouts, such as information relating to exercises, sets, repetitions, and load.
Using a training journal as a consistent reference, you can easily keep track of where you started and how you’re progressing. You can also make notes of other relevant details, such as your recovery that day or perceived exertion.
They’re not strictly necessary, but many fitness apps and gadgets are available to help you log and track your workouts. These tools, such as fitness watches, often provide features for setting goals, analyzing progress, and visualizing trends over time.
Minimize injury risk
Keeping a training journal or other record of your progress can also offer insights into your recovery, which is key for minimizing injury risk. We also like a number of other strategies, such as:
Warm ups: Working out without a proper warm up just isn’t worth it. The ideal warm up varies from person to person, but focus on dynamic movements that mobilize your joints, increase your heart rate, and get your blood flowing.
Form and technique: Strength doesn’t mean much if it’s not based on proper form or technique, and poor form can lead to sneaky and inconvenient injuries. Focus on performing quality movements, and consider keeping intensity lower until you can maintain your form.
Recovery: Pay attention to any pain, discomfort, or other signs from your body. Give yourself enough time between workouts to recover, and prioritize sleep, nutrition, and hydration.
Deload
An important facet of recovery, deloads are scheduled periods of reduced intensity to help you recover from the demands of progressive overload. These periods of reduced training intensity serve as strategic breaks, offering physiological and psychological benefits that contribute to long-term training success. As a guideline, take a deload week every 3 or 4 weeks.
Common progressive overload mistakes
Progressive overload is a great tool, but there are a few common mistakes to avoid.
Starting too heavy
Don’t start your plan with your max efforts — this is a long-term plan, and you can’t expect to make PRs every single workout. Start at around 75% perceived effort, which should feel moderate, to establish a solid foundation for the rest of your progressive overload plan.
Overly rapid progression
Pushing too hard too quickly can lead to injuries and excessive fatigue. A balanced and gradual approach, however, is more sustainable as it allows your body to adapt to increased demands. As a guideline, don’t increase intensity more than 10% per week, and stick to about 2-3% when you’re pushing into maximal zones. For example, if you’re starting at about 100lbs for your squat sets, keep next week’s loading at or below 110lbs (10% increase), but don’t be afraid to keep it to just 105lbs (5% increase) if it feels more achievable.
Lack of Consistency
Inconsistency in your training routine can hinder progress. With respect to recovery needs and other life demands, stick to your plan and be consistent with your workouts and progression.
FAQs about progressive overload
Can you get stronger without progressive overload?
Progressive overload is a highly effective method for consistently improving strength and muscle size over time. However, the concept of "getting stronger" can be nuanced, and there are situations where you may experience strength gains without the application of progressive overload.
Can progressive overload be harmful?
While progressive overload is a fundamental principle in strength training with numerous benefits, it can potentially be harmful if not implemented carefully. It's essential to strike a balance and consider individual factors to prevent overtraining, injuries, and other negative consequences.
Is progressive overload for beginners?
Progressive overload is a versatile concept that can be adapted to various fitness levels, including beginners.
