Progressive Overload


Progressive overload

What is progressive overload?

Progressive overload is the process in which you continually increase the workload you do in a session, a week, a month, a program and a year. It is the idea that in order to continually build muscle you need to be constantly doing more. Every avid gym goer understands this principle but doesn’t necessarily understand how to go about ensuring they are constantly increasing their volume in the correct way. Two of the most common mistakes are that people either plateau and do not understand protocols to break through plateau or they go ‘balls to the wall’ from the start and lack the patience to slowly increase volume overtime. People often do not understand how to create a sustainable approach to weightlifting or make long term improvements that create continual lean tissue gains.

Why do we need progressive overload?


Without a stimulus to promote change in place you will remain the same, you need to continually increase the demands you are placing upon your musculoskeletal system in order to ensure you are strong enough to cope with the loads you are lifting, this is achieved by building muscle!

The mechanisms of muscle growth

Muscle grows through a number of different mechanisms:

Mechanical tension – This is the amount of time a muscle spends moving a load. When you lift weight through a full range of motion you create passive and active tension. Active tension is the isometric contraction you place on a muscle during the movement (squeezing or tensing through the movement). Passive tension is tension created through stretching the muscle (think about the stretch you feel at the bottom of a chest fly). Creating tension through both of these is optimal for muscle growth. Tension through a full range of motion.

Metabolic stress – Metabolic stress refers to the pump and the burning sensation associated with exercising. It is created by a cell swelling from blood pooling, metabolic waste such as lactate and a lack of oxygen to the muscle which is down to the occlusion of veins. This process causes physiological changes that promote muscle growth.

Muscle damage – Everybody knows the feeling of being sore and associates that with a successful workout. Damage elicits the release of certain satellite cells, inflammatory agents and the upregulation of IGF-1 which help the signalling of hypertrophic pathways. Just note that sometimes too much damage isn’t a good thing and can have a negative effect for example if after every leg session you are unable to walk.




How can you increase volume?

This is where periodisation plays a huge role. As mentioned earlier people are unsure how to break through a plateau or burn themselves out in the process of trying, which can lead to a lack of progress and ultimately people quitting.

So, what is periodisation?



There are a number of periodisation strategies:

Linear Periodisation – Linear periodisation is a method where you concentrate on 1 rep range for around 3 to 4 weeks and will usually consist of 3 blocks. What I mean by 1 rep range, when it comes to weight lifting it is generally split into 3 categories hypertrophy, strength and power each of these categories represents a phase of training with linear periodisation, you may structure you program like this:

Weeks 1-4 (hypertrophy) – 12-15 reps
Weeks 5-8 (strength) – 8- 12 reps
Weeks 4-8 (power) – 4-8 reps

In order to increase volume you should be continually trying to lift heavier, your intensity is increased as you change from hypertrophy to strength to power.



Non-Linear Periodisation – The main difference between linear and non-linear periodisation is in the name, you don’t concentrate on 1 rep range which allows you to maintain and increase any adaptations made week to week. You could structure your training like so:

Workout A – 12-15 reps
Workout B – 5-8 reps


Week 1, session 1: Workout A
Week 1, session 2: Workout B
Week 1, session 3: Workout A
Week 2, session 1: Workout B
Week 2, session 2: Workout A
Week 2, session 3: Workout B


Workout A: 12-15 reps/Hypertrophy
Workout B: 8-12 reps/Strength
Workout C: 4-8 reps/Power

The good thing about DUP is that it allows you to concentrate on areas of weakness, if your main goal is to build more muscle you could increase the ratio of hypertrophy sessions, e.g. for every strength and power session you would carry out 2 hypertrophy sessions:

Week 1, session 1: Hypertrophy
Week 1, session 2: Strength
Week 1, session 3: Hypertrophy
Week 2, session 1: Power
Week 2, session 2: Hypertrophy
Week 2, session 3: Strength
Week 3, session 1: Hypertrophy
Week 3, session 2: Power

You get the drift. If your goal was to increase strength you would switch the hypertrophy sessions for strength sessions, same would apply for power.


For any gym goer serious about building muscle you absolutely NEED to be progressively overloading to advance you physique, the accumulation of small advances in volume over time is going to add up and result in growth. If you are not incorporating a periodisation strategy the likelihood is you have no idea what sort of volume you are getting in the gym or have any structure to your sessions, this simply will not cut it long term. What you need to do:

  • Assess what stage you are at in the gym
  • Set up your own program using the above strategies or enlist professional help
  • Be patient and consistent with lifts, slowly increasing volume over time


Easy enough right! Let me know how you get on by contacting me here




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