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So you want to gain some muscle.

And you want to be sure that you’re making progress and not just wasting your time in the gym.

If so, then there’s one thing that you need to know: PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD. 

Forget muscle confusion. Forget fads and gimmicks. If you want to make gains and avoid wasting time and effort on things that don’t matter, then this is the article for you.

In it, I’ll show you how:

1. Progressive overload is key for making continued gains.
2. Progressive overload shows you if you’re making progress and growing.
3. The best way to implement progressive overload is through weight, reps, or both.
4. If you’re getting stronger in your lifts in a moderate repetition zone, you’re getting bigger.
5. Record every single workout you do or die.
6. Keep your training variables constant so you have an accurate view of progress and aren’t just cheating yourself.
7. Each workout, aim to improve by increasing reps. When you hit the top of a rep zone, increase the weight. This is known as a double progression.

Let’s get started.

What is Progressive Overload?

Your muscles grow because of something known as The Principle of Overload. 

When you lift weights, you overload the muscles by placing high levels of tension on them with resistance that disrupts homeostasis. In return, your muscles grow to be better suited to handle that overload in the future.

Easy enough, right?

Now, Progressive Overload means that over time, you have to progressively increase the amount of this overload that you are putting on your muscles compared to what you were doing in the past in order to keep making more gains in size and strength.

In the gym, this usually means to:

1. Lifting heavier weight
2. Lifting the same weight for more reps
3. Doing more volume

There are many ways to apply progressive overload, but for the rest of the article, we will be focusing on Reason #1 and #2: Lifting heavier weight and lifting the same weight for more reps because those are the most practical ways of creating overload on your typical workout plan.

Why is Progressive Overload Important?

Our bodies are survival machines.

Lots of muscle is not a requirement for survival, so the body is not in any rush to get you jacked.

It wants to make sure you really need that size, so you’re going to have to constantly overload it as it grows if you want to keep getting more and more gains. If you don’t, then your physique will stay the same.

This means that over time, you should be aiming to increase:

1. The weights you’re lifting with a given exercise
2. The number of reps you’re doing with those weights
3. Repeat until you’re at the size you want

This doesn’t have to be at every workout, but if you are not making true objective progress in the gym, then something is wrong and you need to change your training, nutrition, recovery, or any combination of the three.

Progressive overload is the name of the game when it comes to putting on muscle, and if you aren’t getting stronger over time, then you are wasting your time.

Why? Because:

#1: Getting Stronger Means Getting Bigger

Strength is the sum of neurological and morphological adaptations.

This means that you get stronger by making your nervous system better at the exercise and by putting on more muscle. Plain and simple.

But neurological gains only go on for so long. After a certain point, you get stronger by just getting bigger. And that makes sense, since a bigger muscle has more ability to generate force.

In fact, when looking at some of the strongest people in the planet, it was found that the more lean muscle mass someone had, the stronger they were. The correlation was so strong that there was almost a 1:1 relationship between strength and size. This is unheard of in research.

Because of this, if you’re past your newbie gains, it’s pretty much a fact that if you are lifting more weight for the same number of reps with the same form, you’re bigger. There’s just no way around it.

So even though your goal is to GROW, you should still think like a powerlifter and be concerned with pushing heavier weights over time in your training.

#2: Progressive Overload is the Best Way to Measure Progress

• Do you own a DEXA scan? 
• Are your eyes good enough to detect muscle growth on a week to week basis?
• Can you tell by the scale alone whether the weight you’re gaining is fat or muscle?

No, right? Then how are you supposed to know if your training and nutrition programs are working? Progressive overload will tell you that. Let’s use an example:

Let’s say Zeus benched 135lbs for 8 reps three weeks ago. Two weeks ago he did it for 8 again. Last week he did it for 8 reps. And this week he only got 8 again, but he mentioned that he felt a better pump, looked more full in the mirror, and that the workout was more intense. All sets were done at the same relative intensity with 1 rep left in the tank.

Do you think his pecs and triceps grew?

What about if three weeks ago Zeus benched 135lbs for 8 reps. Two weeks ago he lifted it for 9. Last week he did it for 10 reps. And this week he increased the weight to 140lbs. All sets were done at the same relative intensity with 1 rep left in the tank.

Do you think his pecs and triceps grew? 

Obviously, scenario #2 is the winner. He pushed more weight for the same number of reps at the same relative intensity. Based on the strength vs. size lesson I just gave you, it should be clear to you that he had to gain muscle to do this.

Focusing on progressive overload is the best way to measure progress for bodybuilding because a bigger muscle is a stronger muscle and will improve objective performance in your workouts.

Essentials for Progressive Overload to Work

Before I show you my favorite way to induce progressive overload and focus on progress over time, there are 2 things that you must do in order for this to work:

1. Keep track of your workouts
2. Keep your training variables constant

#1 Keep Track of Your Workouts

Writing down your workouts is a commandment of the gym.

125lbs x 10 reps doesn’t feel that much different from 135lbs x 10 reps.

But making real progress from 125 x 10 to 135 x 10 might take you a whole month to pull off.

If you don’t know what weights you’re capable of doing in your workouts, you have no way of knowing whether you’re actually making progress or not. Don’t just waltz into the gym and pick a weight by random based on how you feel that day.

Keep a record of every single workout that you do so that you have it as a tool to look back on and see how your progress is going.

Training and progress is methodical and you need a way to capture all the little victories and make sure you’re marching towards where you want to go.

#2 Keep Your Training Variables Constant

Second, keep your training variables constant. I can’t stress this enough. That means keep the same:

1. Workout program
2. Exercise selection
3. Form + Range of Motion (ROM)
4. Relative intensity
5. Tempo
6. Rest times

If you don’t, how can you really be sure you’re making progress?

1. Did you really get stronger or is it because you’re on a different program?
2. Did you really get stronger or is it because you’re using a new exercise (and making newb gains via neurological factors)?
3. Did you really get stronger or is it because you’re cutting your range of motion and not going all the way down like you used to?
4. Did you really get stronger or is it because you’re just pushing yourself closer to failure when you used to leave a couple reps in the tank?
5. Did you really get stronger or is it because you’re not controlling the weight on your reps anymore?
6. Did you really get stronger or is it because you’re resting an extra 60 seconds after your set?

You can see where I’m going with this.

You have to have consistency in your workouts so that you can be sure that what you’re seeing is actual progress and not just the illusion of it.

Double Progression: My Favorite Way to Focus on Progressive Overload

Based on all the above, now I’m going to show you my favorite way to promote progress and results based on the Principle of Progressive Overload in myself and in my clients: Double Progression.

Double Progression is simple. You aim to increase the number of reps you do with a given exercise + weight and then once you hit the top of a predefined range of reps, you add weight to the exercise and then repeat the process.

Let’s look at an example of a bench press with a rep range of 6-8 with 2 reps in the tank (you could hit 2 more reps before hitting muscle failure).

Week 1: 135lbs x 6,6,6

Week 2: 135lbs x 7,7,7

Week 3: 135lbs x 8,8,8

Week 4: 140lbs x 6,6,6

Repeat

Easy, right?

It’s a step-by-step, methodical process. Over time, you will continue to apply progressive overload to your muscles and have a crystal clear way to measure progress over time.

Remember to keep everything else constant – especially your form and relative intensity (how many reps you could do before hitting failure) so that you know that you are making actual progress and not just shorting yourself.

Note: You don’t HAVE to make perfect progress every workout. As long as you are challenging yourself, you are still providing overload to your muscles. In fact, most of the times in my clients’ journals progress looks more like this:

Week 1: 135lbs x 6,6,6

Week 2: 135lbs x 7,7,6

Week 3: 135lbs x 8,7,7

Week 4: 135lbs x 8,8,8

Week 5: 140lbs x 6,6,6

The point is that over time, you are steadily marching upwards.

And that makes all the difference.

Conclusion

And that, my friends, is progressive overload.

Always keep progressive overload in mind in your training and progress is always just around the corner.

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• Lastly, if you’re tired of poor progress and want personalized 1 on 1 online coaching to revamp your training and nutrition approach, contact me today.

‘Til next time,

Joseph Murci

Summary:

1. Progressive overload is key for making continued gains.
2. Progressive overload shows you if you’re making progress and growing.
3. The best way to implement progressive overload is through weight, reps, or both.
4. If you’re getting stronger in your lifts in a moderate repetition zone, you’re getting bigger.
5. Record every single workout you do or die.
6. Keep your training variables constant so you have an accurate view of progress and aren’t just cheating yourself.
7. Each workout, aim to improve by increasing reps. When you hit the top of a rep zone, increase the weight. This is known as a double progression.