What Is Progressive Overload

Progressive overload in resistance training is where the stimulus applied to a movement pattern or exercise is increased slowly over time. Progressive overload, when applied correctly, allows us to make consistent progress in our training. I have written an extensive article that you can read through for further explanation on the concept of progressive overload. In this article I just want to clarify the four key ways that progressive overload can be applied to resistance training.

Volume

Volume is the amount of sets and repetitions performed in a session. For example if someone performs five sets of ten repetitions on the bench press then the volume was fifty total repetitions. Volume is one of the key factors which can be manipulated and lead to growth. The increasing of volume in a specific movement pattern or exercise is one of the best ways to apply progressive overload. Volume can be increased through increasing either sets or repetitions performed or both at the same time. Remember it is important to make small progressions over time and not perform large jumps in volume.

Frequency

Frequency is another way in which we can apply progressive overload. Technically increasing frequency is just another way of increasing volume (weekly volume) but I find separating the two makes it easier to implement as they are different in practice. Most people who are strength training once or twice a week are just not getting enough training frequency to have an impact on their strength and muscle mass and will eventually reach a plateau with this amount of training volume. Through increasing frequency, therefore increasing weekly volume, we can see drastic improvements in performance. If you go from performing four weekly sets on a muscle group to twelve, this will have a dramatic difference.

Load

Increasing the load (weight) of an exercise is another way to increase the amount of adaptation created. If you find yourself constantly using the same weights, never making anything heavier then it is perfectly natural to plateau. You need to be getting to a point where you are confident with a certain weight, where you can control the repetitions and perform more repetitions than you could previously, then you need to consider adding weight. Adding weight doesn’t need to be (and physically can not be) a weekly occurrence. It needs to be done slowly over time.

Exercise Selection

An often forgotten way to apply progressive overload is through exercise selection. Imagine someone is trying to get better at press ups, they have arrived at the point where they can perform twenty press ups and want to continue to get stronger in the press up position. In this case using exercise selection to provide progressive overload would be a great option. Using a ring press up or a weighted press up could be a perfect way to allow this individual to continue to build their press up strength. This sort of progressive overload allows us to progress the difficulty of an exercise, increase the amount of adaptation and also keep training novel and interesting.