Progressive Overload: The Science Behind Maximizing Muscle Growth

If you have been in the iron game for a while, “progressive overload” might not be something new. It’s a common phrase to help explain what is needed for effective training.

The idea is pretty simple. Training must present progressively larger stressors over time for continued progress. However, as straightforward as it is, there are a ton of misconceptions. Progressive overload is about more than just adding weight to the bar. Yes, lifting heavier is part of it, but it is not the only way to progressively overload the muscles.

In this article, we will address some common fallacies and more as we dig into progressive overload and the science behind maximizing muscle growth.

What is Progressive Overload?

All talk on progressive overload, for better or worse, starts with the story of Milo of Croton. Milo was an ancient Greek wrestler who was known as quite the stud. As legend has it, Milo began lifting a tiny calf on his shoulders daily. As the calf grew, Milo k

ept lifting it until one day, the baby calf grew into a full-grown bull. As a result, Milo grew too.

The story is more myth than fact, but it does help illustrate the concept of progressive overload. In simple terms, progressive overload means training must get progressively more challenging over time to continue stimulating adaptation.

But let’s take a step back.

The human body is a well-balanced machine controlled by homeostasis. It’s like the body’s built-in thermostat. Blood pressure, body temperature, and blood sugar are examples of homeostasis within the body. If the body detects any changes, it takes action to return to balance. It’s why we sweat in the heat and shiver in the cold.

Building muscle is no exception.

The process of building muscle can be described as stimulus, recovery, and adaptation. Or, in a practical sense — train, recover, and then get stronger and more muscular. Lifting weights is the first domino, but the entire process must repeat for continued progress.

The key is the stimulus must represent an overload. Overload is a workload beyond what the lifter is accustomed to.

The adaptation (getting more jacked) is only a result of the overload forcing the body out of homeostasis. This is why doing the same weight for the same reps is eventually a dead end. Progress slows or stops as soon as the workout is no longer challenging, and your body can maintain homeostasis.

Why Progressive Overload Is Essential

The importance of progressive overload comes down to mechanical tension. Mechanical tension is the stress applied to a muscle from external resistance. It’s what happens to the muscle when we lift weights. Although there are many factors for initiating muscle growth, mechanical tension is widely considered the primary factor.

To illustrate how critical tension is for building and maintaining muscle, look no further than astronauts in space. Whether we realize it or not, we are always resisting the force of gravity. Of course, gravity on earth is a low level of tension, but its tension nonetheless.

When astronauts are up in space, they don’t have gravity, so tension is removed. In fact, minimal muscle contraction is needed. According to NASA, astronauts experience up to a 20% loss of muscle mass during spaceflights. In a weightless environment, the body doesn’t require additional muscle mass. If you don’t use it, you lose it.

You may wonder what this has to do with progressive overload and muscle-building.

The reason astronauts lose muscle in space helps explain why progressive overload is essential for progress. The body only wants as much muscle and strength as it needs to carry out daily functions.

Lifting boxes, carrying our kids, and climbing stairs are examples of enough tension to create a hypertrophy stimulus, just a minuscule amount. Once we have enough muscle and strength for these daily functions, they no longer stimulate growth.

To grow additional muscle beyond what is needed for daily functions, we must introduce the body to higher levels of mechanical tension. At first, all forms of resistance training satisfy that requirement. This is why when you first start training, progress is easy. You get bigger and stronger if you show up to the gym a few times per week, give a reasonable effort, and eat halfway decent. But, the newbie gains only last for a brief period.

The body is very good at adapting. Eventually, just showing up will not deliver results. The body adjusted to the workouts the same way it did daily activities. Most of us have experienced this as we transitioned from beginner to intermediate. It’s often called a training rut or plateau.

You must continue overloading the body to break the plateau and stimulate progress.

How to Build Progressive Overload into Your Program

So far, we have talked a lot about the concept of progressive overload but have yet to learn how to implement it. There are many ways to build progressive overload into the training plan. Here are the most common:

• Increase the weight lifted: Adding weight to the bar is the easiest way to build progressive overload into any training program. Accomplish this by increasing the weights lifted over time while maintaining the same reps and sets.
• Increase the repetitions performed: Another option for progressive overload is adding repetitions over time while keeping the weights and sets performed the same.
• Increase the number of sets: One of the most overlooked ways to build progressive overload into your program is by increasing sets. Do this by adding sets over time while maintaining weight and reps. Adding sets is a great way to increase training volume.
• Increase the number of exercises performed: Adding exercises is another way to increase training volume and progressive overload. For example, you have implemented progressive overload if you usually do three chest exercises per week and bump it up to four.
• Decrease rest periods: Training density refers to the work you can do in a given time. Completing your workouts faster is another form of progressive overload. You can accomplish this by decreasing rest periods between sets. That said, be careful not to reduce rest periods too much that it limits performance. For optimal performance, rest for 1-3 minutes between sets.

Progressive Overload Misconceptions

On the surface, this all seems straightforward. However, there are some common misconceptions we need to address.

Misconception #1: Progress is Linear

Okay, so we have established that doing more work overtime leads to progress. Awesome. Let’s do the math. If you can bench 135 pounds for five reps today and add five pounds to the bar each week for the next two years, you will be benching well over 600 pounds!

We all know it doesn’t work like that. But why?

Progressive overload is the observation of increased performance based on the adaptations that have already occurred. Put another way; you must earn the right to progressively overload your training. It’s not just the act of doing more work. It’s the result, too. Overload is limited by the positive adaptation that results from training. It can’t be forced. The limitations of muscle growth are beyond the scope of this article, but they exist.

Misconception #2: You Need to Progressively Overload Every Workout

Progressive overload does not need to occur in every training session. Beyond the beginner and early intermediate stages, this is unrealistic. However, growth will be limited if you do not add weight to the bar over time. The goal is to keep the big picture in mind.

The more advanced you get, the longer it takes to see meaningful progress. Sometimes you have to do the same thing for a couple of weeks before you can up the ante. The goal is not to do more in each workout but to push for more in each workout. Results will come if the programming is well-designed and the effort is there.

Misconception #3: It’s All About Going Heavy

The biggest misconception about progressive overload is that it’s all about lifting as heavy as possible. Yes, adding weight to the bar is an excellent way to progressive overload, but it’s not the only way. In fact, adding reps is highly effective. Research shows muscle growth occurs with low and high reps [1]. The key is pushing each set close to failure.

Misconception #4: It’s All About Volume

Over the past few years, training volume has received much attention as a primary driver of muscle growth. On the surface, this is true. Research comparing one, three, and five sets per exercise shows that multiple sets are more effective for muscle growth than a single set [2].

However, the response to volume follows an inverted “U” shape curve. What this means is, adding more volume works until it doesn’t. Eventually, volume increases to a point where it exceeds the body’s ability to recover. At that point, progress stalls and, if continued, starts to backslide. Besides, who has all day to spend in the gym?

The right amount of volume will be slightly different for everyone. Based on the current literature, ten sets per muscle group per week is a great spot to build muscle [3]. This doesn’t mean you can’t go beyond ten sets per week. You can. However, once you get beyond ten sets per week, start looking at other ways to build progressive overload into your program to facilitate progress.

Three Examples of Progressive Overload

The key to taking advantage of progressive overload is not leaving it up to chance. Here are three ways to build progressive overload into your program.

Example #1: Increase Weight

The first example is adding weight each week. Don’t be tricked by the simplicity of this setup. A basic linear load progression can be highly effective.

• Week 1: 3 sets of 10 reps at 66% of 1RM
• Week 2: 3 sets of 10 reps at 68% of 1RM
• Week 3: 3 sets of 10 reps at 70% of 1RM

Example #2: Increase Sets

In example two, the number of sets increases weekly while the weight stays the same. Adding sets is a great way to increase volume without lifting heavier each week. Advanced lifters respond well to this style of overload.

• Week 1: 3 sets of 10 reps at 68% of 1RM
• Week 2: 4 sets of 10 reps at 68% of 1RM
• Week 3: 5 sets of 10 reps at 68% of 1RM

Example #3: Increase Reps

The third example involves adding a rep each week while maintaining the sets and weight on the bar. Increasing reps each week is sometimes more feasible than increasing the weight.

• Week 1: 3 sets of 8 reps at 70% of 1RM
• Week 2: 3 sets of 9 reps at 70% of 1RM
• Week 3: 3 sets of 10 reps at 70% of 1RM

Progressive Overload Principles

There are three progressive overload principles you must keep in mind.

Principle 1: Only change one variable at a time

The first principle of progressive overload is only to change one variable at a time. It’s easy to assume that if a bit of progression is good, more must be better. With progressive overload, that muddies the waters, making it hard to know what is driving progress.

Additionally, changing more than one variable at a time can cause you to push beyond your recoverability. For example, if you try adding weight and reps simultaneously, you can outpace your progress and miss reps.

Principle 2: Always maintain good technique

For progressive overload to work, we need natural progression. You can’t use a lousy technique to force weekly advancements that are not there. Adding weight or reps but allowing your form to break down differs from actual progression.

Principle 3: Keep a Training Journal

The key to progressive overload is knowing what you have done during your workouts in previous weeks. Keep a training journal and track the exercises, weights you used, sets, reps, etc. Before each training session, review the journal to know what numbers you need to beat.

Benefits of Using Progressive Overload

Regardless of your goals, there are many benefits to using progressive overload in your training.

Avoid Muscle Building Plateaus:

Once you get past the beginner stage, continuing to build muscle becomes harder. If you don’t have a strategy to build progression into your program, it’s easy to get caught in a muscle-building rut. Eventually, you will stop progressing if you continuously do the same exercises for the same weight, sets, and reps. By constantly planning ahead and building ways to stress the muscles to greater degrees, you can mitigate stalls in progress.

Gain Strength:

To gain strength, you need to lift heavy weights. There is no way around it. That said, you can’t just go to the gym and max out every time and expect to get the best results. Part of quality strength programming is gradually increasing the weights used systematically.

Save Time:

Chances are you live a busy life and can’t spend all day in the gym. Well, using progressive overload is the most time-efficient way to train. One of the problems with training programs that don’t use progressive overload is they end up with a lot of junk volume.

Junk volume is work that needs to be more challenging to stimulate muscle growth. Often this happens when working sets are not close enough to failure to produce enough tension in your muscles. People typically add more sets to make up for the abundance of junk volume. You can train for two hours at a time, but if the workout is 80% junk volume, it won’t deliver results.

Focusing on progressive overload and beating the logbook ensures your program has no wasted sets.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is an example of progressive overload?

There are many examples of progressive overload. You can increase the weight lifted, the number of sets performed, and do more reps or exercises. 

Should I progressive overload every week?

In a perfect world, we could implement progressive overload every week. However, progress is only sometimes linear. As an advanced lifter, you can outpace your progress if you try to force weekly progressions. Think of progressive overload in the big picture. If week-to-week gains are too aggressive, aim for month-to-month.

Is progressive overload safe?

As long as you maintain good form, progressive overload is safe. That said, if you add weight too quickly, you can increase your risk of injury. Only use weights you can handle with good technique.

Can you grow muscle without progressive overload?

Yes, you can grow muscle without progressive overload, but only temporarily. Eventually, your muscles will stop growing unless you continuously apply more stress.

Wrapping Up

Progressive overload is one of the primary principles in strength training. Anyone can make progress for a short time, but as the iron game veterans know, long-term results are a different story. Whether you want to be as strong as possible or look great naked, your workouts must have built-in progressions. 

That said, there is more to it than lifting heavier weights. Of course, always aim to get stronger, but don’t avoid the other methods of progressive overload, either. Using all the tools available is the key to long-term progress. Now all you have to do is put in the work!

References:

1. Schoenfeld BJ, Grgic J, Ogborn D, Krieger JW. Strength and Hypertrophy Adaptations Between Low- vs. High-Load Resistance Training: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. J Strength Cond Res. 2017 Dec;31(12):3508-3523. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000002200. PMID: 28834797.
2. Radaelli R, Fleck SJ, Leite T, Leite RD, Pinto RS, Fernandes L, Simão R. Dose-response of 1, 3, and 5 sets of resistance exercise on strength, local muscular endurance, and hypertrophy. J Strength Cond Res. 2015 May;29(5):1349-58. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000758. PMID: 25546444.
3. Schoenfeld, Brad J, et al. “Dose-Response Relationship between Weekly Resistance Training Volume and Increases in Muscle Mass: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Journal of Sports Sciences, vol. 35, no. 11, 2017, pp. 1073–1082, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27433992, 10.1080/02640414.2016.1210197.

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