The Final Component: Progressive Overload

Yeah, I know. I said there were only 5 components of an effective weight training
program. And yes, I know we just went through those 5.

But, hear me out.

At this point you’ve already learned what the ideal weight training frequency is for you,
what your optimal volume and intensity ranges are, which exercises you should select,
and how to put it all together using the split that is best for you.

So really, you now know everything you need to know in order to create a weight
training program that will give you the best possible results in the shortest amount of
time.

Well, except for one last tiny little detail.

On second thought, it’s not really that “tiny.” In fact, it’s HUGE.

How huge? Get this. You can use all of the information you just learned throughout this
guide to put together the single greatest weight training program ever created and it will
still FAIL TO WORK if you don’t get this one last thing right.

And while this last detail is more of a weight training fact and requirement than it is an
actual component of weight training program design, is it THE thing that literally makes
or breaks your program.

Seriously. Whether or not your program will actually work comes down to this.

And for that reason, I’m including it as the final component of an effective weight training
program. And honestly, above all else, it’s probably the most important component of
all.

So, what is it?

It’s a little something called progressive overload.
The Progressive Overload Principle

The best way I can explain it is by telling you a very important secret.

You see, the human body doesn’t care that you have weight training goals in mind. It
doesn’t care that you want to build muscle, or lose fat, or get toned, or become stronger,
or improve performance, or just look great naked.

Your body only knows and cares about 1 thing… keeping you alive and functioning as
efficiently as possible. That’s your body’s only real goal. And, to ensure it meets this
goal, your body is both smart enough and capable enough to do whatever is needed of
it in order to adapt to its environment.

And it’s this fact that is the basis for all weight training goals to be reached.

What I mean is, the only way your body will ever change or improve the way you want it
to is by creating an environment that proves to your body that these changes and
improvements MUST be made.

Or, to put it another way, your body will not change or improve unless you force it to.

No matter how perfect your workout is, muscle will not be built, strength will not be
gained, fat will not be lost, and performance will not improve unless you show your body
that these are things that absolutely NEED to happen in order for it to survive.

And that right there brings us to something called the progressive overload principle.

The progressive overload principle basically states that in order for a muscle to grow,
strength to be gained, performance to increase, or for any similar improvement to occur,
the human body must be forced to adapt to a tension that is above and beyond what it
has previously experienced.

Go back and read that again. It’s pretty important.

And what it means is, if you lift the same weights, for the same number of reps, the
same way for the next 20 years… nothing will ever happen. Your body will never
change or improve in any way.

You will only maintain your current state.

However, if you increase the demands you are placing on your body by either
increasing the weight being lifted, lifting the same weight for more reps, or just doing
something that increases the demands that your body needs to meet, then your body
will have no other choice but to make the necessary changes and improvements that
will allow it to adapt to this environment and remain capable of performing these tasks.

And these “changes” and “improvements” and “adaptations” come in the form of more
muscle, more strength, less fat, more tone, better performance and just the overall
results you are looking to get.

That’s what all of these goals are, really… just our body’s adaptive response to the
demands being placed on it through weight training.

You’re basically showing your body that in order for it to survive, in order for it to do
what you are forcing it to do, it’s going to NEED to make these changes and
improvements.

Still a little confused? Ok then, let me break it all down in the context of weight training.

An Example of Progressive Overload

 

Let’s pretend that right now you can lift 50lbs on some exercise for 3 sets of 8 reps.

Now, if you continue to lift that same 50lbs for those same 3 sets of 8 reps for the next
20 years… you will not gain ANY new muscle or strength at all. Why? Because there
was no progressive overload.

Your body has already adapted to this tension (50lbs for 3 sets of and has already
provided you with exactly as much muscle and strength as you needed to be able to
perform this task on a regular basis.

Because you aren’t increasing the demands being placed on your body, you aren’t
giving your body ANY reason to improve any further. And, because of that… it won’t.

You can do everything else perfectly, but if you fail to provide some form of progressive
overload over time, your body will never see any reason to change.

However, if you were to lift 50lbs for 3 sets of 9 reps (instead of 3 sets of on that
same exercise, then a reason would finally exist.

Why? Simple. You increased the tension. You increased the demands. You increased
the work your body had to do. Instead of doing the same 3 sets of 8 reps with 50lbs, you
worked to do 1 additional rep on each of those sets.

And, while it may only seem like a tiny improvement, it’s EXACTLY what you need to do
in order to prove to your body that it needs to improve.

Similarly, if you were to now try to lift 55lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps… the exact same type of
reason would exist basically telling your body “Hey, look at this. The work you have to
do has increased, so you better build some more muscle and add some more strength
to compensate.” This is progressive overload.
Whether you get just 1 more rep on just 1 set, or add 5lbs to all of your sets… it doesn’t
matter. Your goal is to somehow beat what you did the previous time.

And as long as you do this as often as you can and cause some form of gradual
progression to take place over time, then you are giving your body a reason to continue
to change and improve. And if that reason is present, results are guaranteed to follow.

At the same time, as soon as that reason stops (or if it never exists in the first place),
then your body stops having a reason to continue to change. No matter how perfectly
you are doing everything else, no new improvements will be made without progressive
overload happening.

This is why most people fail.

It’s this lack of progressive overload that is probably the #1 reason most of the people
who workout look the same way today as they did when they first started working out.
It’s a sad sight to see, and you can see it in every gym in the world.

Men, women, young, old, fat, skinny… they are doing nothing to increase the demands
being placed on their body. So, their body has no choice but to remain exactly the
same.

This is fine if that’s your goal. If you’ve already reached the point where your body is
perfect and it looks and performs exactly how you want it to. No more progressive
overload is needed then since you just want to maintain your current condition.

But, every single second you spend before reaching that point needs to be focused on
progressive overload. Every second you don’t is a second wasted.

Does that mean I need to progress in some way every single
workout?

Nope. In fact, doing so would be pretty much impossible, at least for a significant period
of time. If we could, everyone would be lifting a million pounds for a million reps on
every exercise. That’s just not realistic.

However, we should certainly have that mindset and strive to increase the demands
being placed on our bodies as often as we can (within the realm of safety and proper
form, of course).

Whether that happens every workout, or every other workout, or just once per month or
less. As long as progressive overload is taking place in some form over time, then your
body will continue to build muscle, increase strength, appear more toned, or really just
improve in whatever way you want it to.

Of course, this answer is pretty broad. You probably want to know exactly how and
when to progress, don’t you? Alright then, here we go…

 

How And When To Progress At Weight Training

In any intelligently designed weight training program, you will have specific exercises that
you are supposed to perform during each workout. For each exercise, you will have a
certain number of sets that you are supposed to do. For each set, you will have a
certain number of reps that you are supposed to do.

And obviously, you will also have a certain amount of weight that you will be lifting
during each exercise. This will vary from person to person based on individual strength
levels and goals. Either way though, a certain amount of weight will be used. (I’ll explain
how to figure out how much weight to lift later).

Now, the most basic, generic, and common form of progression works like this:

1. Meet the prescribed set and rep goal for the exercise.
2. Increase the weight being lifted for that exercise by the smallest increment
possible.
3. Meet the set/rep goal again with this new, slightly heavier weight.
4. Increase the weight being lifted again by the smallest increment possible.

This process would then repeat over and over again as often as you are capable of
making it happen.

Here’s an example. Let’s say that for one of the exercises in your program (let’s call it
Exercise XYZ), you are currently lifting 50lbs. Let’s also say that your program calls for
you to do 3 sets of 8 reps for Exercise XYZ. Now let’s say today you did Exercise XYZ
and it went like this:

 

Since your program calls for you to do 3 sets of 8 reps, this workout was a success. You
lifted 50lbs for 3 sets of 8 reps. Since you’ve reached the prescribed set/rep goal, it’s
now time to increase the weight. So, the next time you perform Exercise XYZ, you
should do this:

See what happened? Progressive overload took place. You increased the weight you
were lifting by 5lbs (which is usually the smallest possible increment) and preformed
that same prescribed 3 sets of 8 reps with this new slightly heavier weight.

That means this workout was once again a complete success. The next time you
perform Exercise XYZ, you’d go up to 60lbs and again attempt 3 sets of 8 reps. You
would then continue increasing like this as often as possible over and over again.

The only thing is, most people will not be able to increase this much and/or this
consistently from workout to workout (beginners might, but few others will).

In fact, instead of that second successful workout shown above (the 55lbs for 3 sets of
8), many people would have ended up only able to do something like this:

 

 

This is completely normal and should still be considered a successful workout (it is still
definitely progressive overload). Now, in this case, your goal the next time you perform
Exercise XYZ is something like this:

 

 

 

And the time after that…

 

 

And the time after that…

 

And you would repeat this similar pattern of increasing reps/weight over and over again
so that your body keeps having a reason to adapt and improve over and over again.

Yes, there will be times when you end up repeating the same exact number of
sets/reps/weight that you did the previous workout. Sometimes this might even continue
for quite a while with certain exercises.

There will also be times where, in the above example for instance, you might only get
reps of 7, 7, 7, or 7, 6, 6, or 7, 6, 5 in the three sets after going up in weight. Don’t worry,
it’s all normal.

Just work your ass off to progress in some way as often as you can and beat what you
were able to do the previous time. Add 1 rep to every set, add 1 rep to just one set, add
2 reps to one set, add 2 reps to one set and 2 reps to another, whatever.

Just work hard to gradually reach your program’s prescribed set/rep goal. And then,
once you do reach it, increase the weight you are lifting for that exercise by the smallest
possible increment and do this all over again.

This is all part of the process of progressive overload, and this is the only way your body
will ever make any changes or improvements of any kind.

And, in case it isn’t obvious enough, if your weight training program called for 3 sets of
10, 4 sets of 6, 5 sets of 5, 2 sets of 12, or any other combination of sets and reps,
you’d still progress virtually the same way as the above example, just with a different
number of reps and sets.

 

Progressive Overload Summary

The Progressive Overload Principle: The body will only change if you prove to it that
it absolutely has to.

Meaning, no matter how perfect your weight training program is, the only way it will
actually work and actually be effective is by gradually increasing the demands being
placed on your body.

The human body has no interest in building muscle, or gaining strength, or getting
toned, or losing fat, or increasing performance or really improving in any capacity.

It’s only objective is to adapt to its environment in whatever way necessary to allow you
to remain alive and functioning properly.

That means your job is to create an environment that proves to your body that these
changes and improvements NEED to be made.

If you lift the same weights for the same reps the same way, no new results will ever
come. Your body will have no reason to improve… so it won’t.

But, if you increase the demands your body must meet and make continual progress in
some way over time (lift more weight, do more reps, etc.), your body will view that new
progress as a reason to continue to change and improve for the better.

So, if you want your weight training program to actually work, progressive overload is an
absolute requirement.

 

Progressive Overload FAQ

Before leaving the subject of progressive overload, I realized there are a few more
related questions that some people might have. Let’s answer them.

Will I be able to progress on every exercise at the same time and at
the same rate?

Nope, definitely not. For example, remember earlier when I mentioned that the reason
compound exercises have the advantage over isolation exercises (most of the time) is
because compound exercises use more muscle groups, which means you can lift more
weight, which means you’ll be able to progress faster?

Well, right there you know that you’ll be able to progress faster/more consistently on
exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, etc. then you will on exercises like
biceps curls, lateral raises and triceps press downs.

But in general, nothing really progresses at exactly the same rate, even compound
exercises.

Some exercises will just progress faster and more consistently for you at different times
for different reasons. Sometimes you’ll be able to progress very well at 1 exercise for a
muscle, but not at all on another exercise for that same muscle.

This is all perfectly normal. Just keep trying to progress in some way as often as you
can on every exercise and the rest will take care of itself.

But I’m a GIRL! And if I keep making progressive overload happen,
that means I’ll keep gradually increasing the weights I lift on each
exercise. This might be fine if you’re a guy looking to build lots of
muscle, but I’m not!!

I don’t want to get big and bulky like a guy. I just want to be toned
and fit. Does this progressive overload stuff still apply to me?

How shall I put this… hmmmm. Ok. I got it.

If you are anyone who wants your weight training program to work to any degree and do
anything besides burn some calories, then YES, this progressive overload stuff
definitely applies to you.

Really, the only type of person progressive overload doesn’t apply to is someone who is
only working out to keep their body EXACTLY the same as it currently is. So if you don’t
want your body to change or improve in any way whatsoever, then you are free to
ignore progressive overload.

But if you do want your body to change or improve in any capacity, then progressive
overload doesn’t just apply to you… IT SHOULD BE YOUR #1 FOCUS.

Yes, even if you are a girl (or even a guy) who doesn’t want to get “too big and bulky.”

I’m going to cover this subject (girls who are afraid of getting too big/bulky) in detail a
little later, but for now here’s all you need to know…

This fear most women have of lifting anything heavier than a 2lb pink dumbbell because
it will supposedly turn them into some big manly looking bodybuilder overnight is not
only hilarious and silly… it’s impossible (more on why later).

All it does is prevent most women from actually challenging themselves in the gym and
actually forcing progressive overload to happen. And this in turn means many women
who weight train are doing absolutely nothing productive in any way other than burning
some calories (just like cleaning the house burns some calories).

They are doing just enough (or less) to maintain their current state, which means they
are getting no new results of any kind from their weight training workouts.

So yes ladies, progressive overload applies to you just the same as it does to guys.

I understand progressive overload and how important it is. But how
am I supposed to remember what I did the previous time so I can
beat it the next time?

Simple. By keeping a workout log.

Tracking your workouts is probably the most important part of progressive overload. If
you don’t, how the hell are you supposed to know what you need to do this workout in
order to progress past what you did the previous workout?

You need to keep some sort of log of the exercises you did, how much weight you lifted
each set, and how many reps you did each set. Then when it’s time to repeat that
workout, all you’ll need to do is go into your log and see exactly what your goals are for
this workout.

Feel free to keep your workout log in a text document, in a fancy program like Excel, or
go old school and just use a notebook and pen. It really doesn’t matter how you do it as
long as you do it.

Progressive overload means you must train with specific goals and a specific purpose
each workout. The only way to keep track of exactly what those goals are is by keeping
a workout log.

So, do it. It’s not just a recommendation. It’s a requirement.