If you’ve been going to the gym but you haven’t been making the progress you want, this article is for you.
Back in high school, I used to go to the gym and follow routines I found in bodybuilding magazines.
I would do the same program for a week or two, before getting bored and trying a new routine.
Not surprisingly, I made very little progress!
It wasn’t until I started using a well designed strength training program that allowed me to make progress over time that I started seeing real results.
In this article, I’ll go over exactly how to progress your workouts to build muscle and get stronger.
Let’s get started.
Don’t make this mistake..
Before we get into how to progress your workouts, you need to make sure you’re not making a common mistake.
To build muscle and get stronger, you need to be lifting weights that challenge you.
If you finish an exercise at the gym and you think you could have done 4, 5, 6 or more reps with that weight, you’re leaving progress on the table.
Most of the time, you should be lifting weights that are close to failure with good technique. This means that when you finish a set of an exercise, you should not have been able to do more than 3 reps with that weight.
This also goes for exercises you do without weight. Exercises like push-ups, pull-ups and lunges still need to be performed close to failure to build muscle and get stronger.
Basically, you should be lifting as heavy as you can on every set while using good technique!
Progressive overload
When it comes to your workouts, there is one principle that you need to incorporate no matter what kind of program you’re following.
Whether you want to build muscle, lose fat, or get stronger, your workouts need to follow the principle of progressive overload.
Progressive overload simply means to make something more difficult over time.
In order for your body to change, you need to give it a really good reason. Our bodies generally like to stay where they’re at.
A story that’s often told to show how progressive overload works is the legend of Milo of Croton.
Milo was an outstanding wrestler from the Greek colony of Croton. He won 5 Olympiads and was famous for his incredible strength.
Legend has it that Milo had a very unique way of training. After competing, he would start training for the next Olympiad by carrying around a baby calf every single day. As the days went by, the calf grew bigger and Milo grew stronger.
Eventually, the calf became a full grown bull. Milo became strong enough to carry the bull around.
How likely is the story of Milo of Croton to be true?
It’s probably a load of bull, if you ask me. I don’t think there’s anyone on the planet strong enough to carry around a full grown bull!
Even if the story isn’t true, it shows how Milo got stronger by progressive overload.
Because the bull kept growing, the weight that Milo had to carry kept increasing. If the calf never grew any bigger, Milo would have stopped getting stronger because there would be no reason for his body to change.
It also took Milo a long time to go from carrying a calf around to carrying a full grown bull. He gradually got stronger, rather than gaining his strength overnight.
Strength training works in the same way. You won’t go from squatting the barbell to being able to squat 4 plates overnight! You need to increase the weight gradually over time to see the best results.
5 Methods of progressive overload
There are many ways you can use progressive overload in your workouts. As long as you are progressively making your workouts more difficult, you’re on the right path.
You also don’t need to make massive progress every week. Small progress over a long period of time adds up and is much better than trying to make big leaps every week. Trying to progress too fast can leave you frustrated or worse, injured.
Here are 5 practical ways that you can use progressive overload in your workouts.
Method # 1: Using better technique
The first method is using better technique each workout.
Let’s say the first week of your workout program has you doing barbell back squats. You do all three sets at the same weight, but on the last few reps, your technique goes out the window. Your knees cave in, your back rounds and you bounce out of the bottom.
The following week, you decide to keep the weight and try to use better technique (smart move 😉). Now, the last few reps of each set look MUCH better. You’re able to keep your knees pushed out, chest up and stay tight at the bottom.
Even though you didn’t increase the weight at all, you made the exercise more difficult by using better technique. This is a great method especially if you’re a beginner, but honestly it’s good to use at any level. You should be spending a lot of time trying to perfect your technique so that you can hit the muscles you’re trying to build without risking injury.
Method # 2: Performing an Exercise With More Range of Motion
Once you’ve got an exercise down, you can increase the range of motion, or how much you can move your body into a certain position.
Let’s say you’re learning how to do reverse lunges. Once you’re able to perform a lunge on flat ground with great technique, you can progress it by stepping off a small step.
By lunging off a step, your quad, glute and adductor muscles are going to have to work harder because you’re going through a greater range of motion.
Method # 3: Lifting More Weight
When it comes to progressive overload, this is probably the first method you think of. However, there’s a reason it’s third on my list.
Before adding weight, you want to make sure you’re using good technique and a full range of motion for all the exercises you do. Prioritizing both of these will help you use the right muscles and avoid injury!
Once you’ve nailed your technique and you’re using a full range of motion, lifting more weight is going to be the fastest way to progress your workouts.
Each week you would try to add a small amount of weight to your sets.
Let’s say you’re doing barbell deadlifts.
Week one you do 225 lbs for 5 reps.
Week two you do 235 lbs for 5 reps.
Week three you do 240 lbs for 5 reps.
Week four you do 245 lbs for 5 reps.
Notice how the jumps are only 5 lbs each week. Even though that might not seem like a lot, over 4 weeks you’ve increased your deadlift by 20 lbs!
Method # 4: Performing More Reps
Another method of progressive overload is using the same weight, but adding repetitions to your sets.
Let’s say you’re doing dumbbell bench presses.
Week one you do 50lbs for 6 reps.
Week two you do 50lbs for 7 reps.
Week three you do 50lbs for 8 reps.
Week four you do 50lbs for 9 reps.
Again, notice how each week you’re only increasing by one repetition. This may not seem like a lot but it will add up over time!
Method # 5: Doing More Work In The Same Amount Of Time
The last method you can use to progressively overload your workouts is by doing more work in the same amount of time.
For example, let’s say you are going to perform as many push-ups as you can in 10 minutes, resting as needed.
Week one you do 55 reps.
Week two you do 60 reps.
Week three you do 62 reps.
Week four you do 64 reps.
This method is great when you’re pressed for time. You know the workout is only going to take 10 minutes, and each week you are progressing by shortening the amount of rest you’re taking.
Two examples that work
The two examples of progression I’m going to show you below will absolutely help you progress your workouts to get stronger and build muscle.
However, they are just examples of how you can progress your workouts. You do not need to follow them exactly to make progress! As long as you are lifting as heavy as you can with good technique, and trying to improve every week, you’ll be on the right track.
Which way you use progressive overload is going to depend on what type of exercise you’re doing. You can split up exercises into two categories: compound exercises and accessory/isolation exercises.
Compound exercises use multiple muscle groups and multiple joints. They are usually performed first in your workout when you’re the most fresh. You’re going to be able to lift the heaviest on your compound exercises because you typically do them for lower reps and focus on lifting the most amount of weight you can with them. Examples include:
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- Barbell squats
- Barbell deadlifts
- Barbell bench presses
- Trap bar deadlifts
- Dumbbell rows
- Dumbbell lunges
Accessory/ isolation exercises usually use one muscle group and or one joint. They are typically done last in your workout for higher reps than your compound exercises. Some examples of accessory and isolation exercises are:
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- Bicep curls
- Tricep extensions
- Hamstring curls
- Lateral raises
- Calf raises
Linear Progression
To use linear progression, you’re going to focus on increasing the weight you do each workout.
Linear progression works the best with your compound exercises. The reason is that you’re going to be using multiple muscle groups and multiple joints, so you’ll be able to add weight to these types of exercises each session.
Keep in mind you don’t have to add weight to every single set of every single exercise. The idea is to keep your sets 1-3 reps shy of failure. This means you might have to go down in weight during the session, or use the same weight across all your sets. The goal is to add weights to at least one of your sets each week.
Here’s an example of what linear progression might look like over a 4 week program using barbell bench press for 3 sets of 5 reps:
You can see that over the course of 4 weeks, you’ve increased the amount of weight you’re using in a linear fashion.
Dynamic Double Progression
My favorite way to progress accessory and isolation exercises is with a method called dynamic double progression.
Instead of just focusing on weight, you’ll be adjusting the amount of weight you’re using and the amount of reps within the sets to keep your effort level the same across all the sets.
The reason dynamic double progression works better for accessory/ isolation exercises is you won’t always be able to go up in weight each week. You might need to increase reps instead of weight, or use a combination to make progress.
With dynamic double progression, you’ll be using a rep range like 6-8 reps, 8-10 reps, or 10-12 reps. The goal is to stay with that rep range while keeping all of your sets with 1-3 reps shy of failure.
The weight and reps you do on the first set will determine what the rest of the set looks like as well as the weights for the following week. You’re going to pick a weight that you think you can do for the upper end of your rep range, and adjust from there.
If you’re able to do all your reps on the first set, you can go up in weight the following week.
When you hit the bottom end of your rep range during a set, you’ll need to go down in weight to stay within your rep range.
Here’s an example of what dynamic double progression might look like over a 4 week program using dumbbell bench presses for 3 sets of 6-8 reps:
Over the course of 4 weeks, you can see how you’ve gotten stronger, but in smaller jumps than with linear progression.
What progress actually looks like
When it comes to progressing your workouts, remember that you might not make big leaps of progress every single workout.
You might get sick, or have to cut a workout short because of kids, or any number of other things that can get in the way of your progress.
Small jumps in progress are going to be sustainable and allow you to make big changes over time. Don’t sweat it if every single workout isn’t amazing. Do your best to progress each workout, but keep in mind that you won’t be able to do so every single workout.
Keeping track of your workouts
One of the best ways you can make sure you are making progress with your workouts is to track them.
Each week, you should write down the workouts you do and the sets, reps, and any notes that will help you the next time you do that same workout.
Every time you do that workout, you should be trying to improve. Keeping track of your workouts is the only way to make sure that you’re making progress!
In all of my online client’s programs, I include a space for them to record all of the weights and reps they do.
This way, it’s easy to track progress from week to week and make sure that they are moving forward.
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Wrapping up
By now, you should know exactly how to progress your workouts in order to get stronger and build muscle, and turn into an absolute beast!
Remember you should never sacrifice technique to progress. Focus on using the best form you can while lifting as heavy as you can and you’ll be on your way to making progress.
If you need help with exercise technique, check out my YouTube channel. I have over 100 exercise tutorials where I explain exactly how to do each exercise.
If you have any questions, leave them below!