What Does Progressive Overload Mean & Why is it Important

To incorporate progressive overload, focus on gradually increasing the intensity, resistance, and frequency in your workout routine. As your muscles adapt to an increased stress, this leads to muscle hypertrophy, increasing strength.

What is Progressive Overload?

Progressive overload is the act of increasing intensity, resistance, and frequency within your workouts to promote an increase in muscle mass and strength. Progressive overload is a concept that can be used within weight training or endurance exercises.

Why is it Important?

As you incorporate progressive overload within your workout routine, this helps to prevent plateauing, while increasing strength. However, the key to progressive overload is gradually increasing stress to prevent injury.

Key takeaways:

• progressive overload is an effective method in helping you achieve your fitness goals
• gradually increasing intensity, resistance, or frequency will promote strength and endurance gains while lessening your chance of developing an injury
• progressive overload should be completed every week to every 2-4 weeks, dependent upon the individual and their training schedule
• focus on progressing in an increase of stress by 5-10% to prevent injury, while promoting gradual adaptation
• progressive overload prevents burnout in the gym as your workouts will consistently change every to every few weeks

How to Implement Progressive Overload

Depending on what your current training routine is, focusing on these three areas can help to promote gradual progressive overload. This in turn will help you achieve your fitness goals.

Increasing Intensity

Intensity, or tempo, is the focus of increasing the pace of lifting weights. I recommend doing this with the use of a lighter weights, completing 10-15 reps. For endurance workouts, increasing intensity may look like 15-20 minutes at race pace, 5 minutes easy, 1-2 minutes easy recovery.

Increase Resistance

Adding additional stress, or weight, will help to focus on building muscle through strength hypertrophy. If you’re able to lift a weight for 10-12 repetitions, then it’s time to increase weight. Look for a weight that you can lift for about 10 repetitions — but the last 2 or 3 reps are a challenge.

Increasing Frequency

Increase how often you are training a specific muscle group. If you’re doing a 3-day split, can you increase that to a 6-day split?

Incorporating progressive overload can lead to improved exercise performance, increased muscle size and strength, and a reduction in burnout or boredom with your training schedule. Have any questions on this topic? Be sure to comment below.

Looking for more fitness tips? You can review all my posts here!

Sources

Adams, A. (n.d.). Progressive overload explained: Grow Muscle & Strength Today. NASM. https://blog.nasm.org/progressive-overload-explained

Chertoff, J. (2020, July 30). Progressive overload: What it is, examples, and tips. Healthline. https://www.healthline.com/health/progressive-overload#ways-to-do-it

Gordon, S. (2024, March 18). Can progressive overload make your workout more effective? here’s what to know. Health. https://www.health.com/progressive-overload-8607549#