Progressive overload is the process of gradually increasing the stress placed on your body during exercise to stimulate adaptation. Simply put, your muscles will only grow and become stronger if you give them a reason to—by pushing them beyond what they’re used to handling. This principle applies to any fitness goal, whether you want to gain muscle, build strength or improve endurance.
When you first start a workout routine, your muscles are not accustomed to the stress of lifting weights or performing certain movements. Over time, as you continue with the same weight or reps, your body adapts, and those initial gains slow down or stop completely. Progressive overload forces your body to keep adapting by increasing the demands placed on it.
One of the benefits to working with a personal trainer is that they’ll know how to appropriately apply progressive overload, to keep you feeling challenged each week. One thing my clients often say to me when doing personal training in the Stoke Newington studio is ‘every time it starts to feel easier, you just make it harder!’ – yes, that is my job! 😊
The first thing most people thing about when progressing their training is to lift more weight, but that is just one method of progressive overload. There are actually many other ways to achieve it, which I’ve outlined below in a mini ‘how to’ guide below that you can utilise in your own workouts to apply progressive overload effectively. This is particularly useful if you are training at home and don’t have access to heavier weights, but want to make sure you are still progressing.
Methods to Apply Progressive Overload
1. Increase the Weight
The most common method of progressive overload is to lift heavier weights over time. This approach directly targets muscle growth and strength increases.
Example: If you’re lifting 50 kg for 8 reps on a squat and can comfortably complete those reps with good form, increase the weight by 2-5% (i.e. the smallest plates available!) during your next workout. You may need to spend a few weeks perfecting this new weight before moving up again.
2. Increase Reps or Sets
Another way to progressively overload is by doing more reps or sets with the same weight. This increases the total volume of work, which forces your muscles to adapt.
Example: If you’ve been squatting for 3 sets of 8 reps at 50kg, try pushing for 3 sets of 10 reps at that same weight the next week. Alternatively, add a fourth set – so you perform 4 sets of 8 reps at 50kg.
3. Increase Training Frequency
You can apply progressive overload by working a muscle group more often throughout the week. This allows for more frequent stimulation, provided you have adequate recovery between sessions.
Example: If you typically train legs once per week, consider training them twice to increase overall volume and encourage growth. I recommend this approach if you want to improve a specific movement (e.g. trying to get your first pull up), or are stuck in a plateau on a particular exercise.
4. Increase Range of Motion
Training with more range of motion (ROM) not only improves strength but can also benefit flexibility, mobility, and joint health by engaging muscles through their full length. The greater emphasis on both the stretch and contraction phases of a movement can stimulate greater muscle fiber recruitment and assist increasing muscle size (hypertrophy).
Example: I use this technique often with client, for things like single leg step downs, where the main focus each week is trying to get a little bit lower into the single leg squat. It could also be increasing back squat depth whilst maintaining good form, or bringing the dumbbells lower with each rep when doing a chest press.
5. Slow Down the Tempo
Slowing down the tempo of your lifts increases the time under tension, which can positively contribute to muscle hypertrophy (growth). This makes the same weight feel more difficult and forces your muscles to work harder.
Example: Instead of lowering the barbell during a Romanian deadlift in 1 second, take 3-4 seconds to lower it, then pause at the bottom (the hardest part of the movement) ensuring control and maximizing muscle activation. This is also a great way to really nail your form.
6. Reduce Rest Periods
Shortening the time between sets increases the intensity of your workouts and improves your muscles’ endurance. This is best used for higher rep, strength endurance style activities. If working in low rep ranges of 6 or less you'll want to keep plenty or recovery time to perform well in your next set.
Example: If you typically rest for 90 seconds between sets, reduce the rest period to 60 seconds while maintaining the same weight and reps.
7. Focus on Technique and Form
An under-rated method of progressive overload is improving your form on an exercise, particularly if it’s a relatively complex compound lift. Performing exercises with better control and proper alignment can increase the challenge even with the same weight.
Example: Reducing tension in your traps and shoulders when doing a chin up, and focus on better engaging your lat muscles.
Example of Progressive Overload for Squats (Over 4 Weeks)
Week 1: 3 sets of 8 reps at 40 kg
Week 2: 3 sets of 10 reps at 40 kg (increased reps)
Week 3: 3 sets of 8 reps at 45 kg (increased weight, and reduced reps to make the new weight more manageable)
Week 4: 4 sets of 8 reps at 45 kg (increased sets)
How to Track and Measure Progress
To ensure you’re progressively overloading your muscles, it’s crucial to track your workouts. This will help you see when you’re ready to make adjustments and ensure you’re consistently moving forward.
Keep a Workout Log: Write down the exercises, sets, reps, weights, and rest periods for each session. When you can complete all your sets and reps with good form, you know it’s time to increase the challenge. If you work with a personal trainer, they’ll do this for you.
Set Small, Achievable Goals: Rather than aiming for massive increases in weight or reps each week, make small, incremental changes. A 2.5-5% increase in weight or adding 1-2 reps per set is enough to trigger adaptation.
Monitor Your Recovery and Nutrition: Progressive overload requires recovery. If you’re always sore or fatigued, you may be pushing too hard. Rest days, proper nutrition, and sleep are essential to seeing progress. In particular you need plenty of protein and carbohydrate for muscle recovery (see my blog post on protein requirements).
Conclusion
Progressive overload is the blueprint for getting stronger, building muscle and endurance and achieving long-term fitness goals. It’s about small, consistent improvements over time. By gradually increasing the demands placed on your muscles, you’ll continue to see progress, avoid plateaus, and build a stronger, more resilient body.
So, the next time you hit the gym, remember: lift a little heavier, push for an extra rep, or challenge your body in a new way. It’s these small steps that will lead to big changes.
If you’d like some help with ensuring you’re correctly applying progressive overload to your workouts, reach out via my contact page to find out more about working together.
Really great article Hannah! Better start reducing my rest time hehe