If you want to gain strength, muscle, and endurance, improving your weight training over time is critical to noticing improvement and avoiding a plateau. This is referred to as the principle of progression. In endurance training, the principle of progression states that there is an ideal level of overload—increased tension on your muscles—that should be attained and an appropriate time period for this overload to occur. According to the progression principle, there is an optimum degree of overload between increasing too slowly and quickly. Of course, if you’re content with strength training a few times a week with little variation in weight, duration, and muscle work, you can ignore the progression principle.
What Is the Progression Principle?
The progression principle states that when your body adjusts to your workout program, you must raise the intensity to maintain your fitness. To observe progress, gradually increase the weight, duration, or intensity of your weight training. The progression principle applies to weight training and endurance training, and it can be achieved by increasing resistance, frequency, and duration.
Understanding the Principle of Overload
According to the overload principle, the intensity of an activity must be high enough above the individual’s usual range for any intended physiological adaptation (muscle growth) to occur. Simply put, if you want to see benefits from weight lifting, you must lift more than your muscles can physically bear. The only way for your body to physically change and grow is for the muscles to be taxed to the point where they must grow stronger in order to lift that weight. Micro-tears form in the fibers when muscle fibers are stressed in this way. They mend themselves and grow back stronger than before while you relax. The muscle fibers grow stronger to manage the extra weight throughout the overload phase.
Why Is It Important?
Progression is an essential component of every training program. Runners strive to run farther, and swimmers strive to swim faster, just as weightlifters strive to lift more or for longer. It’s critical to progress toward your strength goals regularly by adhering to the principles of progression and overload. If you stay at the same weight for too long, your muscles will maintain their strength rather than break down and rebuild.
Overload and Progression
Overload is characterized by progression. People frequently repeat the same workouts, resulting in a level of familiarity that might stymie physical improvement. Progression is essential for adequately overloading the body. When an activity becomes easy, it’s necessary to increase the difficulty so that you’re regularly taxing your muscles and adjusting. It is also critical not to always work at high intensities because this can lead to overtraining. Sometimes progressing is as simple as switching up the workout you’re doing.
Progression Types
Exercise frequency, intensity, and length are all examples of progression that you can use to advance your workout.
Frequency
A variety of things can influence how frequently you exercise. Full-body strength training should be done two to three times each week. If you begin lifting weights once a week, you can gradually go to two or three times per week. If you split your strength workouts between the upper and lower body, you could consider adding an extra day for each.
Intensity
The intensity of your workout is how hard you work out throughout a session. The type of exercise, number of reps per set, and amount of weight lifted are all variables that determine intensity. You can modify the intensity of your workout to meet your strength objectives. Begin with smaller weights, more reps, and fewer sets as a novice. As you progress, you may begin with a heavier weight with fewer reps per set or a greater number of sets with fewer repetitions.
Duration
The length of your workout is also adjustable. For example, it may take longer to finish your target number of sets and reps for each muscle group if you conduct a full-body weight-lifting activity. On the other hand, workouts that are split or focused may take less time. You can try working out for more extended periods with weights similar to what your body has acclimated to, or you can add more weight and work out for a shorter amount of time.
How to Exercise Progression
When your workout becomes too easy, or you feel like you could continue after completing your desired sets and reps, it’s time to switch things up.
A good technique to advance is to complete your target reps and sets for an exercise, then gradually raise the weight the next time you do it. For example, if you complete three sets of eight reps at 60 pounds, increase the weight to 65 pounds on your next attempt.
It’s improbable that you’ll hit the new target every time. However, it is still a success if you only perform six or seven reps after raising the weight. Your goal should be to outperform your prior attempt slightly. Even if it isn’t steady, any development is better than none. Strength can also be gained by targeting similar muscle areas with various activities. For example, if you’re exercising your triceps, mix in skull crushers, tricep dips, and other tricep workouts rather than sticking to just one.
Advancement Suggestions
The progression principle states that if the overload process is increased too soon, improvement is improbable. Development should be slow and gradual. Overload that is increased too quickly might cause injury or muscle damage. Exercising over the target zone is ineffective and potentially harmful, resulting in injuries. You should not anticipate increasing your weight or reps at every workout, let alone every week. Muscle development takes time. But it may be time to change things if you’ve been lifting the same way for a few weeks or months.
Possible Difficulties
While consistency is important in weight training, you should not try to workout hard all of the time. Overtraining may be physically and mentally tiring if you push yourself too hard too often. Overtraining occurs when a person feels that the more challenging and longer they work out, the better they will become. On the other hand, prolonged stress on the body and its joints and constant overload can lead to tiredness and injury. In addition, the body requires adequate recovery time between workouts. Therefore, schedule regular rest days throughout the week to give your body a break. If you still want to move, try stretching or yoga sessions on these days.
Kim’s Final Thoughts…
Weight training progression takes time. When you initially begin a new workout or set a new strength target, it can be difficult not to go too quickly or demand too much of your body. Maintaining patience and reminding yourself that you can only move as fast as your body allows is critical. Remember to maintain proper technique and listen to your body as you challenge your body in healthy, productive ways, taking rest days as needed.
