Are You Making Improvements?

Are You Making Improvements?

When it comes down to making improvements in the gym, we know that Progressive Overload (improving on previous performance) is king. Although, when going about this people often only focus on two variables, increasing weight and/or reps. An often-forgotten variable is in execution.

It may be argued that execution does not have the same potential for improvement in the long term as increasing load does, as once it is very good there is less room to progress it further. However, you do not have to look hard in the average gym to see this is a variable with a lot of potential for improvement for most people.

The reason increasing the loads you are using aids muscle growth is that, assuming form remains constant, it increases the tension on the working muscle. This is the same reason improving form can also aid hypertrophy. By using better form, even with the same weight, the target muscle will be placed under increased tension. Therefore, you can provide an equal (if not superior) stimulus for muscle growth without having to use as heavy weight, which will potentially reduce injury risk.

Focusing on tightening up your form may not seem as fancy or look as cool as adding more weight to the bar or cranking out more reps but for many people it is the progression variable that will provide the biggest bang for its buck in improving their physique. 

A great article to read to learn this concept would be:

The Case For Milking A Weight: How To Progressively Overload Without Adding Weight To The Bar

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Ed Pilkington
