One of the trickiest obstacles you might encounter as a beginner is figuring out how to overload your training progressively. With so many methods, techniques, and options for making gains, it’s easy to get lost.
Fear not; I’ve got you covered. If you’re eager to learn how to safely and consistently make gains but don’t know where to start, here are three hassle-free progressive overload methods to pack on muscle and boost strength.
What is Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is the process of continually increasing the demand placed on your muscular system to stimulate growth. Put simply, the harder the strain, the bigger and stronger your muscles get. Your muscles adapt to better handle the pressure provided you eat, sleep, and rest enough between training sessions.
This is why progressive overload is one of the most critical elements in any lifting program. Without it, all your hard work, consistency, and training amount to nothing. If you’re not forcing your body to change, it won’t. So what does progressive overload look like in practice? Let’s take a look.
Progressive Overload Methods
- Increase Weight
One of the easiest ways to progressively overload is to increase the weight you lift on a given exercise. For example, if you bench-pressed 125 pounds last week, try increasing this week’s pressing weight to 130. Once you can achieve the same reps on your new weight as you did with the older, lighter weight, you can increase the weight again.
Remember, these aren’t enormous 35-pound weekly increases in your working weights. They’re small, incremental spikes to keep your workouts challenging enough to promote growth without risking injury.
The Pros
The weight increase method allows you to hit two birds with one stone by promoting strength and size gains. Progression can be simple to track as well. Pull up your memo pad or notebook, record your lifts, and pay attention to any weight increase over the duration of your program.
The Cons
Lifting heavy might put you at a higher risk for injury, depending on your experience level and how well you recover from session to session. Heavy compound exercises like bench presses or squats become harder to do alone, so spotters and gym buddies become a necessity.
If you’re not ready to lift heavy or prefer to focus more on muscle hypertrophy (size) than strength, the following method is for you.
- Up The Volume
Volume refers to the number of sets and reps performed for each muscle group or exercise. Increasing the total weekly volume is another excellent method you can use to keep making progress in the weight room. You can do this in a couple of ways.
Option 1 (More Reps): Increase the number of reps you perform on a particular exercise. If you can comfortably get 10 strict-form bicep curls, try performing two to five more reps for a total of 12-15. Provided you’re reaching technical failure; you’ll be making gains without adding more weight to the bar. Do this for all your exercises, and your weekly volume will blow up.
Option 2 (More Sets): Increasing the number of sets on each exercise is another effective method for upping your volume. If your exercises typically consist of three working sets, try upping that to four sets.
The Pros
Volume-based progression is an excellent method for folks who aren’t ready to go heavy. The progress is great, and the burn’s even greater, making it a popular option among ‘pump addicts.’
The Cons
Once you start hitting more than 20 reps and five sets per exercise, workouts tend to stretch too long for most people’s schedules. Your recovery can also become a limiting factor as you continue to push closer to failure.
Despite the drawbacks, a volume-based progression system is an effective option for building strength, size, and muscular endurance. But if long, 90-minute gym sessions aren’t your thing, try the following option.
- Boost Intensity
Increasing the intensity of your workouts is another age-old progression technique. It’s a smart option for folks who enjoy shorter, minimalist-style workout programs because it allows you to get plenty of work done in half the time. Here are a few methods you can try:
Option 1 (Cluster Sets)
Complete a cluster set as follows:
- Pick an exercise you can safely reach failure doing.
- Set a timer for 8 minutes.
- Pick a weight with which you can perform five repetitions, with one to two reps shy of complete failure.
- Start the timer and perform as many five-rep sets as possible before the bell rings. You should barely be able to complete five strict reps by the halfway mark.
- Adjust the weight as necessary.
Cluster sets shouldn’t be easy, so push as close to muscular failure as possible. If done correctly, you’ll feel a crazy pump and sufficiently fatigue your muscles in half the time it takes to do so with conventional sets.
Option 2 (Drop Sets):
Complete a drop set as follows:
- Perform a set of your exercise of choice, as you usually would.
- Rest for 45-60 seconds.
- Lighten the weight and perform another set.
- Repeat these three steps until you reach absolute muscular failure (i.e., you shouldn’t be able to lift the weight anymore).
Drop sets are a time-tested classic. It’s a popular choice among Bodybuilders, hobbyists, and casuals alike. Like cluster sets, drop sets are exhausting, so remember to warm up beforehand and stick to exercises you can fail without needing a spotter.
Option 3 (Super Sets):
Complete a super set as follows:
- Pick two antagonistic muscle groups (i.e., muscles that perform different movements).
- Choose one exercise for each muscle group.
- Perform one complete set for one of the exercises.
- Once complete, perform one set of the other exercise without resting.
- Once you’ve completed a set for each movement, rest for 45-60 seconds.
- Repeat these steps until you’ve reached the desired number of sets for each exercise.
Super sets are another bodybuilding classic. They’re efficient, intense, and a surefire way to have your muscles bulging by the end of your workout.
The Pros
Intensity-based progression is a no-brainer if you have a hectic schedule and struggle to find enough time for standard hour-long exercises. With shorter, high-intensity movement styles, you can reap the benefits of a full-length workout in half the time. Clock running out? Give this minimalist method a shot.
The Cons
Considering you have to reach failure to reap the full benefits of this training style, it might not be suitable for everyone. Folks recovering from an injury, practicing other sports, or those in a calorie deficit will struggle with recovery. The need to reach failure also makes it a poor choice for larger compound movements that require the aid of a spotter or gym buddy to ensure you can safely hit failure. Tracking intensity-focused progression can also prove challenging, considering training intensity is subjective.
Try using intensity-based progression for smaller muscle-group isolation exercises to mitigate the drawbacks and squeeze the most out of this method. Bicep curls, tricep push-downs, shoulder raises, leg extensions, and cable flies are just a few exercises that pair great with this progression style.
Final Thoughts
Building muscle isn’t complicated. Yes, it takes hard work and consistency, but the progressive overload process is straightforward. Whether you’re in it for strength or muscle gains, the abovementioned methods are guaranteed to keep you on the right track.