What is Progressive Overload?

Do you ever want to…lift more? Then you have to progressively overload your lifts. This means adding weight gradually over time to prevent plateaus in your workouts. This can happen within one workout and over the coarse of a training cycle.

Here’s a basic layout:

• Week 1 Squat - 45lb (just the bar) for 5 reps

• Week 2 Squat - 55lb for 5 reps

• Week 3 Squat - 65lb for 5 reps

• and so on.

You can also do this within one workout, starting small and working your way up until you can no longer lift the weight without assistance or failure. This is a great way to test your rep max so you can see where you’re at. When you know your max weight on lifts you can then plan workouts based on that number by doing a certain percentage and reps.

For example:

If your 1 rep max on a bench press is 100lb, then you know if you wanted to do a set of 6 reps at 60% you’d use 60lbs. There are charts online that can help you calculate these numbers and apps that do it automatically.

We like the following apps for logging workouts and tracking lifts:

• Train Heroic

• Trainerize

• Hevy

• Pen & paper work well

• or utilize a personal trainer to track and motivate you through your lifting journey

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