Progressive Overload Explained

When it comes to working out, we all have a general common goal: to get stronger, look better, get healthier, or a combination. To achieve this, we need to practice progressive overload; which is really a fancy way of saying doing more over time. After all, growing muscle is simply an adaptation to your body feeling a more difficult stimulus. When it comes to progressive overload, there are many forms it can take and many different ways you can take advantage of it in your training.

Progressive overload in strength training

There are multiple different ways you can measure progress in the weight room. Here, we’re going to talk about 5 different examples. We’ll also talk about a strategy you might want to use in order to get the most out of each measurement.

Increasing the weight

The first and likely most obvious way to progressively overload is to do the same exercise with more weight. This is of course assuming more weight for the same amount of reps. To really be able to visualize how your progressing with your weight, it can be helpful to track your sets, reps, and weight on the movements. If after a while you notice the numbers aren’t going up, then you will know to try to force yourself to do more weight next time. Any time you hit a new personal record (PR) on an exercise, it should be a difficult and taxing set, as it’s something your body hasn’t done before.

Doing more reps

The second way is to perform the same weight for more reps in a set. Again, tracking your performance over time can help to really see if you’re making more progress. Whenever you are capable of doing more reps on an exercise with the same weight, that could also be a sign that it’s time to up the weight and try to get the same number of reps you were doing before with a greater weight; and then you try to get more reps with that weight and the cycle continues.

You are able to lift a weight at a faster speed

A more unique way that you might make progress is if the reps get faster. Say with a given weight you normally perform 10 repetitions. In your last workout, the 10th rep was a real grinder and came up slowly; however today, you were able to lift that weight with a faster speed. That too is progress! This likely can be a sign that soon you will be able to do more reps or more weight.

The lift feels easier

This type of progression can many times be one in the same as the previously mentioned one. Say you did a set with the same weight and same number of reps, however today it was an 8/10 effort wise and your last workout it was a 10/10 effort. Then my friend, this means that you have made progress.

You perform more sets

This type of progression you have a little more absolute control over, and can be a great help in achieving all the types of progress previously mentioned. If you normally do 3 sets of 10 repetitions on an exercise and are looking to go up in weight or reps but weren’t able to get it in this workout, then adding another set may be what helps you get it in your next workout. After all, what makes us progress is an increase in volume, and doing a 4th set would definitely count as more volume done in your workout.

How and when to measure each 

The best way to view these measurements is as tools in the tool-box. It’s good to keep all in mind, but it might be most productive to focus on one at a time in your training. To illustrate what I mean by this, let’s draw an example:

Say that you were looking to progressively overload your bench press. To make numbers easy, let’s say that we’re starting with 100 pounds on this exercise and that you are performing 3 sets in a workout. The first set you are able to get 5 reps, the second set you are able to get 4 reps, and the third set you are able to get 3 reps. Here, you might want to continue training with this weight until you can complete 5 reps for all 3 sets. Once you get to this point, it would be smart to up the weight to 110 pounds. After increasing the weight, you might be back to doing your first set for 5 reps, your second for 4 reps, and your third set for 3. You would train this new weight up to 3 sets of 5 reps again and the process repeats.

Throughout this process, you will likely experience the other aspects of progressive overload previously talked about. As you approach the 3 sets of 5 mark, the sets will likely begin to feel easier and move faster; particularly in the first set. If you find yourself experiencing a plateau and are having trouble increasing your reps or weight, then it could be a good idea to introduce a fourth set to force more volume (although, there can be a bunch of other reasons why a plateau occurs).

Of course, this isn’t the only way to utilize these variable and you can customize this process to whatever you enjoy or works best for you. The main point I’d like to drive home is that these measurements serve you best when they are used together.

Progressive overload in endurance training

In a lot of ways, progressive overload in your endurance training is similar to how you progress with your strength. To illustrate all the points, we’ll talk about three different ways you might measure it. I’ll be using running as the example, although you can really substitute any other endurance sport in here (swimming, cycling, etc.).

Increasing the distance

This one might be somewhat self-explanatory. However, there’s an important characteristic to point out with this. When I say “increasing the distance” I am specifically referring to increasing the distance while running at the same speed. For instance, imagine you were running at a pace of 8 minutes per mile. Increasing the distance of your run from 2 miles to 2.5 miles while maintaining this pace of 8 minutes per mile would be an example of this type of progressive overload.

Increasing the pace

Again, you might have already imagined that this would be a way to progressively overload your endurance training. However, there is again an important caveat to mention here. This method of progressive overload assumes that you are increasing the pace for the same distance. Said differently, you run the same distance in a shorter time. Let’s describe an example to make this more clear. If you were able to run 2 miles in 16 minutes, then running that same 2 miles for 15 minutes would be a means of increasing the pace.

The run starts to feel easier

Similar to how a set of weight training can start to feel easier, this is a helpful form of progressive overload to keep in mind. If you have been running 3 miles in 24 minutes and you find yourself feeling less beat up after each run, then you have a good sign that you’ve made progress. If you start to notice this, it’s probably a good time to up the difficulty using one of the two strategies previously mentioned.