Without progressively challenging your muscles, they become accustomed to the same routine, leading to plateaus in both muscle growth and strength development. While it’s easy to do the same workouts or routines, the results you see may be hindered if you don’t allow your body to be placed under stress, forcing them to adapt and grow stronger over time.
If you’re new here, I hope this can give you an insight into what you need to do to grow in the gym effectively and at a fast rate. If you’re seasoned, keep hitting those workouts and get ready to change up your approach because we’re here to discuss progressive overload, the cornerstone of building both strength and muscle, regardless of your fitness goals!
For anyone looking to see continuous gains, understanding and applying progressive overload is crucial—it’s the difference between stagnation and sustained progress. In this blog, we’ll explore the science behind progressive overload, explaining how it works on a muscular level and why it’s essential for long-term growth. You’ll also find actionable tips on how to implement it safely into your workouts, whether you’re a beginner or an advanced lifter, ensuring that you avoid injury while maximising your results.
In this article, we will cover the following
What is progressive overload?
The science behind progressive overload lies in how your body adapts to physical stress, specifically through muscle fibre growth and hypertrophy. When you lift weights or perform resistance exercises, you create tiny tears in your muscle fibres.
In response, your body repairs and rebuilds these fibres during recovery, making them stronger and thicker to handle future stress—a process known as muscle hypertrophy.
This adaptation is your body’s natural response to the increased demands placed on it, but it only happens if you consistently challenge the muscles with heavier weights, more reps, or greater intensity over time.
Essentially, your body needs to be forced to adapt by facing new challenges, making progressive overload a fundamental principle in achieving consistent muscle growth and strength gains.
Different Ways to Apply Progressive Overload
Over time, increasing the weight has forced my muscles to adapt to heavier loads, which is crucial for building strength and size. By consistently increasing various factors in my strength training exercises, I have seen significant improvements in my muscular strength and endurance.
Some areas of my body have taken a while to build up, and this is a common issue with everyone as certain body parts will require more effort to grow than others. Aim to apply these steps below and you can be sure to gradually improve weekly.
- Simply add more reps or sets to your workout to increase volume, creating new stress that boosts muscle endurance and hypertrophy.
- Reducing rest time intensifies your workout, keeping your heart rate elevated and pushing your muscles to recover faster, thus improving both endurance and stamina.
- Adjusting tempo by slowing down your movements increases time under tension, enhancing muscle fibre engagement and encouraging growth.
- Finally, changing exercises targets muscles from different angles, preventing your body from adapting too quickly and ensuring consistent progress. Even changes such as the area you grip the bar or the cable attachment can ensure different areas are put under stress to fully develop.
Safe strategies for different levels
Beginners
For beginners, you dont want to complicate it at the start. The key is to build a strong foundation with bodyweight exercises or basic lifts, such as squats, push-ups, and deadlifts. Focus on mastering proper form before adding weight, and start with slow, steady increases to avoid injury. Consistency and form are more important than lifting heavy at this stage.
Intermediate
Once you’ve built a solid foundation, micro-loading (adding small amounts of weight to each lift) becomes an effective strategy for continued progress. This prevents you from hitting a plateau while still allowing gradual overload. You can also introduce more advanced techniques like tempo control, slowing down the eccentric phase of movements to increase time under tension, or different angle variations.
Advanced
When form becomes natural and you start to see changes based on your workouts, you’ll notice the body is more resistant to progress, so complex strategies are needed to continue applying progressive overload. Advanced methods like rest-pause sets and drop sets push the muscles beyond their usual limits, allowing for growth and strength gains even at high levels of experience.
Easy mistakes to avoid
When applying progressive overload at the gym, it’s important to avoid some common mistakes to ensure you stay on track and make continuous gains without risking injury. While it can be tempting to chase big numbers, resist the urge to jump up weights quickly.
You want to focus on form first before hitting heavier weights, as this can often lead to an injury. Being out of the gym for weeks is a lot worse than not hitting a personal best, trust me! Instead, aim to make gradual increases and prioritise technique.
Secondly, don’t neglect the importance of rest and recovery. Overtraining without adequate rest can lead to burnout and diminish your gains. Ensure you incorporate rest days and monitor your body’s response to your training regimen. There is no one size fits all, so look to schedule your fitness goals into your personal life.
Another mistake to avoid is ignoring your nutrition. Fueling your body with the right nutrients is crucial, so look to consume a high-protein diet for muscle repair and growth. We still want to maintain a good balance; for example, 80% of my week consists of a diet with at least 30g–40g of protein, a small handful of carbs and a mix of vegetables in every meal, and consuming as little sugar as possible. Life can take over, and this can be easy to neglect, so look to implement meal prep to stay on top of your nutrition!
Lastly, be mindful of sticking to the same routine for too long. Progressive overload thrives on variety, so mix up your exercises and challenges to keep your muscles guessing and growing. Again, changing grip, cable attachments, or even adding small weight increments will allow your body to adapt and progress.
the workouts
Below is a list of workouts I implemented at the start of my fitness journey many years ago, with a lot of them still in my workout rotation. As I’ve become more accustomed to the workout and the area it targets, I’ve adapted the way I do them with a variety of different exercises, weights, machines, and cable attachments, which has been crucial to maintaining and driving continuous muscle growth.
Chest
1.Dumbbell/Barbell Bench Press
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10-12 reps using light weights to focus on form and mind to muscle connection, focusing on the squeeze and contraction.
- Intermediate: 3 sets of 8-10 reps, increasing the weights and slowing down the movement. Your grip of the barbell should be slightly wider than shoulder-width apart, and lowering down to your chest, maintaining control throughout.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 4-6 reps with heavy dumbbells, using rest-pause to push for extra reps.
2. Incline Bench Press
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10-12 reps using light weights to focus on form and mind to muscle connection, focusing on the upper part of the pectoral muscle.
- Intermediate: 3 sets of 8-10 reps, increasing the weights and slowing down the movement. Variations can also include using dumbbells for extra squeeze or a bar for a heavier load.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 4-6 reps with heavy dumbbells, using rest-pause to push for extra reps. While the bar can be good for more weight, dumbbells require more strength and coordination at a higher weight.
3. Cable Chest Fly
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12-15 reps, with light weight.
- Intermediate: 3-4 sets of 10-12 reps, focus on slow, controlled eccentric (Time Under Tension). At this stage, you can use machines for heavier weight or dumbbells for better control.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, using drop sets after the final set. This can involve starting at the highest weight you can do, and dropping by a certain amount each time working the muscles until failure.
Back
1.Barbell Deadlift
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10-12 reps, using the bar mainly and very light weight to focus on form. I’ve experienced a lot of lower back injuries attempting to go heavy on this exercise, so ensure you perfect the form before adding or increasing weight.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 6-8 reps, progressively increase weight and add rest-pause on the last set. To avoid injury and ensure you get the most out of your lifts, have your back straight and knees slightly bent, only overloading when necessary.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 3-5 reps, heavy weight, and aim to carry out drop sets on your final lift for volume. For pull workouts, I tend to use weight lifting straps to aid in grip control for the heavier reps!
2. Rows
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10-12 reps per arm, light dumbbells. Again, form is key here so ensure your back is straight and knees are slightly bent.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, with heavier weight and slow eccentric (TUT). You can begin to experiment using dumbbells, a bar or a machine with different cable attachments for different parts of the back.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 6-8 reps, with a drop set at the end by reducing the weight. I tend to implement different cable attachments, for example, in a seated row position I use a wide overhand grip, targeting a variation of the upper back and traps or a V-Bar, targeting the middle back and lats.
3. Pull Ups
- Beginner: 3 sets of 5-8 reps. An exercise like this is simple in nature but very effective for the back as a whole. There are usually machines that can assist you with ensuring your form is correct, by focusing on contracting your biceps and squeezing your back muscles, a dual muscle engagement.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, add rest-pause for 2-3 more reps after fatigue. As you transition away from support, look to do as many as you can until failure.
- Advanced: Weighted pull-ups, 4 sets of 4-6 reps. As you get comfortable with pulling your body weight up, add some weight to challenge yourself, using either a plate or dumbbell in between your legs.
Legs
1.Squats
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12-15 reps, using your bodyweight only to master the correct form.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 10 reps, using a bar with lightweight. Similar to deadlifts, injuries can occur very easily so ensure your back is straight, your chest is out, your knees are wide and in line with your toes.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 6-8 reps with heavy weights and a rest-pause on the last set. As you bend down, you want to slow the motion when you’re at the bottom of your squat, maintaining a straight back and chest out when exploding back up.
2. Lunges
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10 reps per leg, using only your bodyweight.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 12 reps, use dumbbells at a light to medium weight and aim to keep your body steady.
- Advanced: Weighted walking lunges, 4 sets of 8-10 reps, focusing on time under tension for each leg or drop sets after the last set.
3. Calf Raises
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10-12 reps. In terms of form, ensure your legs are apart slightly and your on a platform with your heels hanging off, squeezing your calf muscles as you raise up with your toes.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, add rest-pause for 2-3 more reps after fatigue. When implementing some weight, this exercise can be done on a machine but I prefer to be standing on a plate with a weighted bar on my shoulder (Using a smith machine).
- Advanced: Weighted pull-ups, 4 sets of 4-6 reps. If you use a machine, dumbbells or a bar, look to implement pauses and slow down your motion as your heels drop down.
Shoulders
1.Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12-15 reps with light dumbbells. To avoid excess shoulder strain, pin the shoulder blades to the bench creating a slight arch in the back and ensure your arms are slightly bent outwards.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, heavier weight and incorporate Time under tension, slowing down the weights as you lower them to your shoulders and then explode back up, keeping a gap between the weights at the top and making sure they don’t touch.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 6-8 reps, with a rest-pause after the last set. I tend to implement a drop set after my max lift to transition the weight as quickly as possible and keep the muscle tension high.
2. Lateral Raises
- Beginner: 3 sets of 10-12 reps, with light dumbbells. Simple maintain a form of a straight back, chest out and the elbows bend forward, as rotator cuff injuries can be pretty common with this workout.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 10-12 reps, implementing a slow eccentric movement when you drop your arms down back to the starting position. This can be done standing or seated, but you want to avoid swinging with momentum for maximum gains.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 8 reps, add drop sets after the last set. I use a mix of medium to light weights for the drop set, with a slow release until failure. This is one where you will experience a true burn.
3. Face Pulls
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12-15 reps, with light weight. This is an isolation exercise that targets the rear deltoids, so good form consists of having your palms gripping a rope attachment, feet shoulder width apart and your elbows pointed downwards.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 10-12 reps, focus on slow, controlled movement when pulling the rope to your face and squeeze your shoulder blades together.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, add drop sets after the last set, decreasing the weight each time for volume.
Arms
1.Bicep Curls
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12 reps, with a light weight using either dumbbells or a barbell. Depending on the angle of your arms, a close-grip targets the long (outer) head of the biceps, which makes up the biceps peak. A wider-grip will allow you to use more weight and stress the short (inner) head of the biceps.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 10-12 reps. It can be tempting to use momentum, so at a heavier weight, use time under tension by slowing down the eccentric.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 6-8 reps, adding a drop set after the last set. Avoid going too heavy and prioritise good, quality reps to feel some serious tension under isolation.
2. Cable Pushdowns For Triceps
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12 reps, light weight. Avoid pulling the cable down fast, even at a lighter weight and keep your arms and elbows tucked in, squeezing at the bottom as you pull down.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 10-12 reps, heavier weight, with slower eccentric movements as you pull downwards. The wrist twist can be key to feeling the medial and lateral heads of the triceps at work.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 6-8 reps, using drop sets to extend the final set. You want a considerable amount of stress and tension on the main tricep muscle. I aim to use different attachments other than a rope for targeting all three heads of the tricep.
3. Hammer Curls
- Beginner: 3 sets of 12-15 reps, with light weight. Keep your elbows fixed by your sides and back straight throughout the movement.
- Intermediate: 4 sets of 10-12 reps, focus on slow, controlled movement and avoid swinging the weight to ensure you target the brachialis muscle.
- Advanced: 4 sets of 8-10 reps, add drop sets after the last set, decreasing weight each time for volume. You want to keep your elbows tucked in as much as possible and squeeze the bicep at the top, slowing the movement as you lower the weight down.
The bottom line
With progressive overload, it can be easy to assume you need to hit heavy weights every single week without fail. As you will notice, a lot of these workouts are only done with 3-4 sets and between 10-15 reps at a low to medium weight. It’s not really necessary to exceed this and you dont want to burnout or hit a plateau. At all stages, even the most experienced gym goers and body builders stick to this regime.
A very big misconception is that you need to do 10+ exercises, 6-8 sets with 20 reps+ for every body part Keep it minimal and simple, and by focusing on mind-to-muscle connection, using rest-pause and time under tension, your body will adapt and grow at a significant rate.
Its likely you’ll want to track your workouts and goals at any stage, so be sure to check out our digital products which can aid you in your fitness goals and ensure your able to lose weight or gain muscle at a significant rate in relation to your personal goals. Happy lifting!
