If you have been training for a while and your goal is muscle growth, you have probably heard of progressive overload. But are you actually applying it properly?
Progressive overload is the principle of gradually increasing the 'stress' placed on the body during training. It is the reason your muscles grow: they adapt to challenges, then they need new challenges to keep growing.
Think of it this way:
If you always stop where it feels comfortable, you will stay exactly where you are. Muscle does not grow from doing what is easy. It grows when it is forced to adapt.
So, what actually is progressive overload?
For hypertrophy, that stress can come from:
- Increasing the weight (most common)
- Doing more reps or sets
- Improving form or control
- Increasing time under tension (slowing down the tempo or using pauses)
It does not have to be a dramatic jump every week. Small, consistent increases over time are what lead to growth.
You should not always hit the top of your rep range
Let’s say your program has you doing 3 sets of 10 to 12 reps. If you are hitting 12 reps on every set, every time, without struggling, then you are not lifting heavy enough.
That rep range is a guide to help you select a weight, not a comfort zone. You should be using a weight that challenges you. If you are always finishing sets feeling fresh, that is not overload.
In a good session, your reps might look like:
- Set 1: 12 reps
- Set 2: 10 reps
- Set 3: 9 reps
That tells you the weight is pushing you. You are working near failure, and your muscles are being asked to do something hard. That is what drives growth.
How to apply progressive overload in real life
Here is what good hypertrophy training looks like:
- You are tracking your lifts so you know what to beat (or attempt to beat) next week - this is why you might see people in the gym with a notebook and a pen! Our clients use our app
- You are lifting with intent, not just finishing sets for the sake of it
- You are choosing weights that take you close to failure, while keeping your form
- You are not just chasing the pump or going through the motions
Let’s take a basic lift like a barbell row. You might hit:
- Week 1
Set 1: 10 reps with 40kg
Set 2: 10 reps with 40kg
Set 3: 9 reps with 40kg
- Week 2
Set 1: 11 reps with 40kg
Set 2: 10 reps with 40kg
Set 3: 10 reps with 40kg
- Week 3
Set 1: 12 reps with 40kg
Set 2: 11 reps with 40kg
Set 3: 10 reps with 40kg
- Week 4
Increase to 45kg
Set 1: 10 reps
Set 2: 9 reps
Set 3: 8 reps
That is overload in action. Simple. Effective. Progressively harder.
Final reminder: train to grow, not just to finish
The goal is not just to complete the session. It is to improve. You should be asking more from your body, little by little, week after week.
Because if you are always doing what is easy, you will stay where it is easy.
Muscle grows when it has no choice.
So ask yourself after your next session:
Did I train to grow, or just to tick the box?
Check out our other blog post on training intensity for more on training to failure.