TO GET STRONGER—and generally, to get better at whatever you’re doing in life—you need to subject yourself to greater challenges. In the gym, that’s called progressive overload, and it’s one of the key principles to muscle growth.
“By gradually, and progressively, overloading your muscles to work harder and harder in your workouts overtime, you’ll subject them to the stimulus they need to grow and get stronger,” says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S.
How do you make your workouts harder? The simplest method is to work with heavier weights, which is typically the first thought guys have when they plot out their training. But progressive overload isn’t only determined by the weights you can lift. There are a few crafty tactics to increase the challenge without stacking on more plates of working down the dumbbell rack. Here, Samuel explains what progressive overload is, and four ways to implement it in your workouts.
How Does Progressive Overload Work?
Progressive overload is the systematic increase in challenge in your workouts over time to continue to provide the stimulus your muscles need to grow. The biggest misconception around progressive overload is that it only works when you add weight, Samuel says. If that were the case, everyone with a few years of training experience would have an unobstructed path to huge PRs.
There’s a glaring problem with that approach: At some point in your training journey, you’ll hit a point where you can no longer increase your weight every single time you step into the gym. When you stuck, that’s a training plateau. If you’ve been training for a long time, you’ve probably experienced this multiple times across several different exercises.
Exercises have different rates of progression. Big compound lifts, like bench presses and squats, will progress a little faster than smaller isolation exercises, like bicep curls and tricep extensions. This is because multi-joint movements recruit several muscle groups at one time.
More isolated exercises are harder to progress, because they single out muscle groups. And, when it comes to adding weight to these movements, you’re more than likely going to start breaking form and end up using muscles that are not the ones you are looking to target. That’s why you need to look at other ways of increasing challenge than simply increasing load.
There are other variables in your training you can adjust in order to present new challenges to your muscles.
4 Methods of Progressive Overload
Time Under Tension
Emphasizing time under tension is an underrated way of overloading your muscles, Samuel says. Every time you do a rep of anything, your muscles are placed under tension to control the weight through the rep. Tension ultimately promotes growth.
Depending on the exercise, you’re likely taking one to two seconds on the lowering (generally, eccentric) portion of the movement, and one to two seconds on the upward (concentric) portion of each of your reps. Change up your pace, and you’ll increase the challenge to your muscles by forcing them under tension, longer. There are a few ways to do this:
Change the Tempo of Your Reps
Focus on adjusting the amount of time you spend on the different parts of your reps. For example, if you’re doing a bench press, try taking three to four seconds to lower the weight to your chest. That will result in four to five seconds of tension per rep, rather than two to three seconds.
Forced Reps with a Partner
After you’ve completed your set, have a partner spot you while you aim for super long lowering—think at least five seconds. Once you hit the bottom of your rep, have your partner help you back to the starting position. Complete two to three reps like that, and you’ll have added an extra 10 to 15 seconds of tension on your set.
Cut Rest Times
You’re likely going to rest anywhere from 90 seconds to two minutes on a normal set. But, if you’re struggling to add weight, try cutting that all the way down to 60 to 75 seconds. “By moving more quickly between sets, you’re subtly training your body to battle through lifts with increasingly limited recovery time,” Samuel says. “That will gradually increase your body’s ability to squeeze out an extra rep at the end of your regular set.”
Be careful when taking this approach, though. Don’t take more than 20 seconds off your rest in any given workout.
Increase Entire Load Per Workout
Normally, you’ll track weight and reps throughout workouts. To add another element of progression, you can think about how much you’re lifting in a different way. Multiply your reps and sets by the weight you’re lifting to get your total training volume.
To increase this number, you can add in another working set to your target exercise. Know that one set of a few extra reps is enough, though. If you’re not training to the point that you’re near failure just to tack on an additional set, you won’t get the most out of your workout. And you don’t need to waste your whole day doing a ton of extra sets to see improvement.
Change Execution
Another way you can adapt is by adjusting your exercises, or the tools you use. Instead of a flat bench press, try it with a slightly inclined bench to increase the range of motion you work through. Or, switch up your exercises by using a set of dumbbells instead of a barbell to challenge your stability and, in certain cases, range of motion.
However you choose to progress your workouts, pick a method and stick with it. Progress won’t come overnight. Give it three to four weeks to really see results.
“Do not expect instant results in one session with a new approach,” Samuel says. “In the long term, you’ll continue to build muscle and strength.”
