Progressive Overload: How to Keep Making Progress

If you want your body to continue adapting to training, you need to give it a reason to.

Over time, your training needs to become more challenging in some way.

This is the basic idea behind progressive overload.

It doesn't mean destroying yourself every time you enter the gym.

And it definitely doesn't mean you need to set a personal best every Tuesday for the rest of your life.

It means gradually increasing the demands you place on your body as you become capable of handling more.

KEEP A LOGBOOK

One of the simplest things you can do to improve your training is record what you actually do.

Exercises.

Weights.

Repetitions.

Sets.

Times or distances where relevant.

Potentially your RIR or RPE.

Your logbook gives you context for the next session.

Instead of walking onto the gym floor and thinking:

"What did I deadlift last week? Was it 160? Maybe 170?"

you know.

That means you can make sensible decisions about what you're trying to achieve today.

WHAT DOES PROGRESS LOOK LIKE?

Adding weight to the bar is the obvious example.

But it isn't the only way to progress.

You might:

Lift more weight.

100kg × 8 becomes 102.5kg × 8.

Perform more repetitions.

100kg × 8 becomes 100kg × 9.

Complete more work within a given time.

Five rounds becomes six.

Complete the same work faster.

A task takes 10:00 and eventually takes 9:45.

Increase your range of motion.

You gradually become capable of controlling a movement through a greater range.

Improve your technique.

The same weight and reps become more controlled, consistent or appropriate for the goal.

Perform the same work at a lower perceived effort.

Something that previously felt like an all-out effort now feels manageable.

Improve your capacity.

You recover faster between efforts or can maintain your performance for longer.

Progress depends on what you're actually training for.

SMALL IMPROVEMENTS ADD UP

You don't need enormous jumps.

If you can add a repetition here, a small amount of weight there and gradually accumulate improvements over months and years, you can end up considerably stronger than where you started.

Even the smallest step forward is still a step forward.

But there's an important addition:

You won't necessarily take that step every session.

YOU DON'T NEED TO BEAT LAST WEEK EVERY TIME

This is where I'd change the original BearWolf approach most.

I used to tell clients:

"You should attempt to progress on every set of every exercise."

I wouldn't say that anymore.

Training doesn't work that neatly.

Maybe you slept badly.

Maybe you've accumulated fatigue.

Maybe you changed the exercise immediately before it.

Maybe you're dieting.

Maybe last week's performance was unusually good.

Or maybe you've simply become experienced enough that adding weight or repetitions every single week is no longer realistic.

A session where you match your previous performance can still be productive training.

Occasionally performing slightly worse doesn't mean you've suddenly become weaker either.

Look at the trend.

PROGRESS IS A TREND, NOT A STRAIGHT LINE

Imagine your squat looks like this:

Week 1 — 150kg × 6
Week 2 — 150kg × 7
Week 3 — 150kg × 6
Week 4 — 150kg × 8
Week 5 — 155kg × 6

Week 3 wasn't a failed training session.

Zoom out and the direction is obvious.

This becomes increasingly important the stronger and more experienced you become.

Beginners can sometimes add weight almost every workout.

An experienced lifter might work for months for a relatively small improvement.

Both are progressing.

PROGRESSION WITH REP RANGES

One of the easiest methods is double progression.

Imagine your programme says:

3 × 8–10

You might begin with:

60kg × 8, 8, 8

Over subsequent sessions you gradually increase the repetitions:

60kg × 9, 9, 8

Then:

60kg × 10, 10, 10

Once you can perform the top of the prescribed range at the intended effort, increase the weight.

Perhaps:

62.5kg × 8, 8, 8

Then start building again.

You don't need to reinvent your entire programme.

You simply give your body gradually increasing demands.

MORE WORK ISN'T ALWAYS MORE PROGRESS

Another thing I'd change from the original article is using cumulative weight lifted as the ultimate measure of progress.

If you squat:

100kg × 10 = 1,000kg total

and next week:

110kg × 9 = 990kg total

your tonnage has technically decreased.

Have you gone backwards?

Not necessarily.

Likewise, you could dramatically increase tonnage simply by performing loads of additional light repetitions.

That doesn't automatically mean you've become stronger or built more muscle.

Volume is useful training information.

It just isn't a universal score for how successful your training was.

Measure the thing that actually relates to your goal.

PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD DOESN'T MEAN ADDING WEIGHT FOREVER

Eventually, you can't just keep adding 2.5kg every week.

If you could, someone starting with a 60kg squat would be squatting several tonnes after a few years.

At some point progress slows.

Programming becomes more important.

You may need periods where you accumulate training, periods where you push harder and periods where you deliberately reduce fatigue.

Sometimes the programme changes.

Sometimes an exercise changes.

Sometimes you maintain something while concentrating on improving something else.

Progressive overload is a principle—not a command to put more weight on the bar every workout.

ADAPTATION TAKES TIME

Your body adapts to the demands you repeatedly place upon it.

Training provides the stimulus.

Recovery allows you to respond to it.

Then you train again.

Over enough repetitions of that process, you become stronger, fitter, more muscular or more skilled.

You can't rush that indefinitely by simply training harder.

At some point, adding more stress without sufficient recovery becomes counterproductive.

The goal is to provide enough stimulus to encourage adaptation, then continue progressing that stimulus as your capacity improves.

SOMETIMES MAINTENANCE IS SUCCESS

Context matters.

If you're incredibly busy, dieting aggressively, dealing with poor sleep or concentrating on another physical quality, simply maintaining your strength can be a perfectly successful outcome.

Progress isn't always:

MORE. MORE. MORE.

Sometimes maintaining something while circumstances are working against you demonstrates that your training is doing its job.

IN CLOSING

Keep a logbook.

Know what you've done.

Know what you're trying to achieve.

And over time, try to do a little more or a little better.

That might mean another kilogram.

Another repetition.

A faster time.

A greater range of motion.

Better control.

Or the same performance at a lower level of effort.

Don't panic when every session isn't a personal best.

Progress isn't what happens between Monday and Thursday.

It's what happens when you compare where you are now with where you were months or years ago.

Keep giving your body an appropriate reason to adapt.

Then give it enough time to do so.