Progressive Overload

Hey Fit Sis

Hope you’re well!

The other day I shared the main reasons strength training is so important for overall health & wellbeing. 

And today I wanted to share a strength training concept that is CRUCIAL if you want to tone up or build muscle. 

If you don’t progressively overload the muscles by forcing them to do more than they’re used to, they won’t make further adaptations and grow and you simply won’t see results.

That’s why you can never get complacent with your training and you always have to try new things to adapt and evolve.

Here are some ways you can incorporate progressive overload into your training.

Let’s talk about progressive overload; maybe you’ve heard of this, perhaps you haven’t. But today, I will explain the what, why and how.

What is Progressive overload?

Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed open the body during exercise ( muscle specifically).

How do we apply it to our training sessions?

By Increasing the intensity with additional weights or introducing tempo to spice things up and make it more challenging.

   1. Increase resistance

The most obvious way to increase the demand of your muscles is to increase the load, or weight. When you increase the weight, your reps are likely to reduce, but eventually (if you keep training) you’ll get stronger with that resistance and be able to repeat the cycle over again.

2. Increase reps

You don’t necessarily have to add weight. You can simply do more reps. Never stop a movement when you reach the end of the rep count; keep going until you can’t complete any more on your own with good form (to failure).

3. Increase volume

Volume is simply sets multiplied by reps multiplied by resistance. By adding more sets, you’re progressively increasing the demands on your muscle tissue. 

4. Increase training frequency

Like volume, increasing the frequency of training a muscle group can increase the overload. This technique works really well if you’re targeting a weaker body part. 

5. Reduce rest time between sets

By reducing your rest between sets, you’re ultimately doing the same amount of work in less time which requires your body to become more efficient.

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