What is Progressive Overload?

Progressive overload means gradually increasing the stress placed on the body during training over time. 

If you do the same weight and reps week after week, your body will eventually stop growing and adapting. 

If you want to continue to build strength and muscle, your workouts needs to become more challenging over time. This can be done in a variety of ways.

Increasing the weight 

The most obvious way to make an exercise harder is to make it heavier. I recommend only increasing the weight once you hit your target reps for all working sets. Table 17 shows recommendations on how much weight to add based on muscle groups.

Increasing reps

Increasing the reps for your working sets is another way to progress. This method works especially well for bodyweight exercises where its more challenging to increase resistance. 

Increasing range of motion (ROM)

While less common, increasing the ROM can also make an exercise more challenging. The most stretched position of a lift is often the most difficult. 

Other ways of progressing reps include adding a tempo, adding a pause, or adding partial reps. 

The most common way of progressing an exercise is a combination of increasing weight and changing reps. ROM and speed are used more commonly in a rehabilitation after injury context. 

Keeping exercises relatively consistent from week-to-week allows for accurate tracking and progression. If you’re constantly changing your exercises and intensities, it’s hard to tell if you’re actually making progress. 

Bottom Line:

Workouts must get harder over time for you to keep getting stronger. 

Table: Haff G, Triplett NT, National Strength & Conditioning Association, eds. Essentials of Strength Training and Conditioning. Fourth edition. Human Kinetics; 2016.