If you're able power through all your working sets feeling like Batman, I've got good news for you: It's time to increase the weight, Bruce. Great! Now repeat the same format during the following week and you'll notice that it's even easier. You nailed all the reps, with just a bit of grinding toward the end. Set 2: 3 warm-up reps 3 reps at 95 pounds (still grooving technique).Set 1: 10 warm-up reps with the bar (grooving technique).Say your main lift of the day is squats, and your plan is to perform 4 sets of 5 repetitions. This is the model I usually advocate for them to introduce progressive overload. Still, plenty of people have trouble understanding that their only options aren't a) staying put forever, or b) cranking out reps to failure. People love to argue about how many sets are "necessary" for hypertrophy, but I've found that more often than not, the quality of your training ends up being far more important to the results you earn than the quantity. If you're just starting to train, don't risk missing lifts just to hit an arbitrary number of reps or to "rep out" at the end of a workout. Quiz any elite powerlifter on how many times they miss a lift, and 95 percent of the time they'll say "zero," because they know it doesn't make them better. There is something to be said for building mental toughness, but it's unnecessary to make it habitual. I'm not saying it's wrong to grind out a rep on occasion. Training to failure repeatedly will eventually fry your nervous system, leaving you exhausted and ripe for injury. It's inevitable that most of us are going to miss a rep every once in a while, but in my opinion, a major difference between people who succeed and people who struggle in the weight room is that winners don't make a habit of missing reps consistently. Unfortunately neither dream is likely to come true. In an ideal world, no one would ever miss a lift, and Keanu Reeves, by law, would never be able to make another movie. Here are the two progressive overload techniques I use to help lifters of all levels progress safely and strategically to get stronger and bigger. It means you need to have a system, and then have the patience to trust it for a matter of weeks, not just a workout or two. If your goal is to grow, change, or improve, you simply must give your body more challenging obstacles to overcome!ĭoes this mean you should crank out reps to failure on every set of every movement? Nope. I often see people use the same weight week-in and week-out, and they're left dumbfounded when realize they look exactly the same now as they did three years ago. To see consistent and long-term results in the gym, you must gradually increase the total amount of weight you move. If your goal is to grow, change, or improve, you simply must give your body more challenging obstacles to overcome! The body is much smarter than we give it credit for and will adapt to most stresses placed on it. Progressive overload is the gradual increase of stress placed on the body during training. If you're tired of guessing-and guessing wrong-then it's time to get serious about progressive overload. When someone asks about weight, what they really ask is, "How can I choose weight in order to keep getting stronger today, tomorrow, and six weeks from now?"Īs a strength coach, this sort of strategic planning is my bread and butter. Conversely, if you barely eek out 4 reps, the load is probably too heavy and you need to check your ego at the door."īut that's only a short-term answer, and it misses the greater point. In this situation, I occasionally offer up a simple but somewhat facetious answer like, "If your goal is to perform 8 reps and you can easily bang out 15, add some weight. But on the other hand, I also know that the question of "how much" is one that people tend to overcomplicate more than almost any other. They're not seasoned veterans, and it's my job to be their guide on these sorts of questions. On one hand, I can't blame a client for asking how much weight they should use. And I'm not going to lie: Many times, when I hear the question, it's often like someone taking their fingernails and scraping them down a chalkboard, Freddy Krueger style. I get this question a lot, particularly when I'm working with someone who has little experience in the weight room. Occupation: Co-founder of Cressey Performance.
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