{"id":995,"date":"2020-01-23T17:08:43","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T17:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifestyle.hussle.com\/?p=994"},"modified":"2021-06-15T18:56:57","modified_gmt":"2021-06-15T18:56:57","slug":"what-is-progressive-overload","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hussle.com\/blog\/what-is-progressive-overload\/","title":{"rendered":"What is progressive overload?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Nobody begins their fitness journey being able to do loads of reps or lift very heavy weights. You need to challenge your muscles to develop them.\u00a0 A great way to build your strength<\/a><\/strong> and fitness<\/a><\/strong> is to follow the principles of progressive overload.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is progressive overload?<\/h4>\n

It sounds scary, but it\u2019s just the process of gradually overloading your body with reps, weight, intensity and time to improve and develop. Simply put: do more each time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The beauty of this approach is that your current fitness level is irrelevant. It works whether you\u2019re a complete novice, recovering from an injury, or the strongest person at the rack. You don\u2019t need to concern yourself with what anyone else is doing. It\u2019s your journey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How do you practice progressive overload?<\/span><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s all about increase.<\/p>\n

Increasing Intensity<\/strong>: lifting more weight in your next training session.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Increasing Tension<\/strong>: taking longer to perform each rep. Just like the bodybuilding technique, you extend the time under tension (TUT) of a muscle. For example, taking 4 seconds to lower after a bicep curl.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Increasing Frequency<\/strong>: doing more training sessions than the previous week<\/p>\n

Increasing Volume<\/strong>: performing more reps\/sets in your next training session<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What are the benefits of progressive overload?<\/span><\/h4>\n

It\u2019s an effective and time-efficient way of improving and reaching your fitness goals.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also very safe. Jumping from 5kg one week to 20kg the next is the perfect recipe for injury. Instead, by progressively increasing the load or reps<\/a><\/strong> you give your body time to adjust and grow.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Finally, it makes your workouts more interesting. Doing the same exercises day after day is boring. Changing your routine<\/a> regularly keeps your brain switched on and your body challenged. More fun. More effort put in. More results.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How can you start?<\/span><\/h4>\n

Form always comes first. There\u2019s no point in performing more reps if you\u2019re not doing them correctly.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Find a weight that challenges you to lift for about 3 sets of 12 reps. Next session, add 2-3kg to the weight or so you can only manage 3 sets of 8 reps.\u00a0 Once you can do this, add more weight again so you can manage 3 sets of 8. And so on.\u00a0<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How quickly will you progress?<\/h4>\n

We all want to improve as quickly as possible. But fitness progress isn\u2019t a straight line. You won\u2019t see progress at every single workout. It also depends on your starting point. If you\u2019re a beginner, you\u2019ll probably jump up in reps and weight rapidly. But as strength builds<\/a>, this slows down or plateaus.<\/p>\n

Your body is an unpredictable creature. Just keep adjusting your routine according to whatever you can manage. You\u2019ll see a definite improvement over the long term.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Nobody begins their fitness journey being able to do loads of reps or lift very heavy weights. You need to challenge your muscles to develop them.\u00a0 A great way to build your strength and fitness is to follow the principles of progressive overload.   What is progressive overload? It sounds scary, but it\u2019s just the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":996,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,105],"tags":[],"acf":[],"infloai":null,"yoast_head":"\nWhat is progressive overload?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"You need to challenge your muscles to develop them. 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