You're working out. Maybe you're bodybuilding or powerlifting, maybe you're just trying to stay in shape. Maybe you're new to the fitness world! But there's likely one thing everyone wants: to grow bigger muscles. Let's say you're showing up five days a week for an hour or more, doing the same reps, sets and routine with the same weight, but yet still after some time you don't see any real results or gains. That's because you keep doing the same things. If you don't progressively overload the muscles by forcing them to do more than they're used to, they have no reason to make further adaptations.
This article may help you out no matter what group you belong to. Progressive overloading is bound to come up some day when you're working out, so why not dive right into it to help you understand what it is, why it works the way it works and how to do it. It'll save you time, because you won't have to search the internet for multiple articles and links on what the hell it actually is without getting a solid answer from any one of them. You'll get one here, so let's not waste any more time and get into it.
WHAT IS PROGRESSIVE OVERLOADING?
Let's look at the words we're working with, progressive and overloading. Progressive means advancing in something. Overloading means putting more onto what you already have. If we put those together in the context of what we're trying to achieve (bigger muscles and strength), we get progressively using more weight to get the optimal results. In other words, in order to get bigger and stronger, you have to keep making your muscles work harder than they're used to.
In practice, this means that if you're using one weight for too long, you'll stop growing. It really is that simple. It also applies to cardio and creating endurance, if you're for example trying to build your running-endurance, it's a good idea to start small. Maybe as little as one minute of running. Then progress with one minute each time or every other time and eventually you'll be able to run a full on marathon.
WHY DOES IT WORK?
Getting stronger and gaining more muscle is all about putting your muscles to work. Your muscles grow because of the little rips and tears that set into your muscles as you do your reps, which heal on your rest days and so give you bigger muscles. It's essentially scar tissue that gives you healthier and bigger muscles. This is another reason why it's absolutely essential that you take rest days. Without them, your progress will be stunted.
Over time, using the same weight and the same amount of reps on your muscles will not have as much effect as it had before, because your muscles will get used to it. That's why they say "Surprise your muscles to make them grow".
You could've seen it coming, this is where progressive overloading comes in. Because you put a little more weight on top of the weight you were using before, your muscles will have something new to get used to. This will start the process of little tears and rips again and that's how you grow.
Those little tears and rips are also the reason your muscles ache after a workout. It's not a bad thing, it's good to feel sore after you've progressed. Though, if you feel it after every single workout you might want to slow down on the progressing as you're probably moving a little too fast. What we don't want is ego lifting.
HOW TO DO IT
Progressively also means over time. That's why ideally you should progress in weight by just a little bit, like one or two kilos at a time, when you're able to complete your sets and reps in full.
For example, you can do a set of the chest press with rep max of 7, with a weight of 70KG. As time goes on and you continue showing up and working out with the same weight, you'll get stronger and your muscles will be a little bigger as a result. But, after a while you'll start to notice 7 reps is not much of a challenge anymore. Your muscles have adapted to the weight you're continuing to push, which is 70 KG. The human body does not grow unless it is pushed to do so. So, what do you do next?
WAYS TO OVERLOAD
1. More weight
The first and most obvious one is increasing the weight you're using. Let's use the example from above. Say you've been using 70KG with benching, the next step could be to add one 2,5 KG plates on each side to increase it to 75KG. That'll increase the resistance and makes room for hypertrophy to happen. More resistance is more strength.
Do keep in mind that weight and reps are intertwined, once you put some new weight on the bar or on your dumbbells, your rep amount will decrease for a short period, but don't worry. Soon you'll be able to get back to your old rep amount because of the adaptation to that weight.
2. More sets
By adding more sets to your routine (either by doing more exercises or adding an additional set for your existing exercises), What'll happen is you'll ask more of your muscles which in turn makes them grow. Remember that since your reps are best kept to the range that works best for you and the weights you use don't dramatically change to stay in that range, increasing your total sets is the best way to increase total training volume.
For example, if you're currently doing two sets per exercise, a great way to stimulate muscle growth could be to change it to three sets or even four, depending on how sore you're willing to be the next day.
3. More reps
Again building from that example from above, the rep max was seven. If you're not ready to scale up to a new weight, increase your reps. That means instead of 7, you'll go up to 8 or maybe eventually 12 or 15 if you're more endurance focused. For more info on reps and set, click here to get an explanation.
To maximize your muscle-building, the point at which you end your set should be in the 6 to 12 rep range. Don't keep adding reps as you get stronger, because after the 8-12 point you're going to get more muscle endurance than muscle growth. For some people, this could be a good thing, but for getting bigger muscles it's not the way to go. When you get to around 12 reps, the best thing to do is increasing weight instead of trying to do more reps. After adding weight, your reps will come down, but it'll keep you in that ideal range for hypertrophy.
4. Less rest time between sets
There's one more way to increase the overload: reducing your between-sets rest time, resulting in the same amount of exercise in less time. What this does is that it requires your body to become more metabolically efficient with regard to anaerobic exercise (weightlifting). It's 100% worth trying out, if anything. Maybe it works for you, maybe it doesn't, but at least you'll know.
APOLLO SPORTS SOCIETY
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