What is progressive overload, and why is it important?

Progressive overload is stimulating the muscle to prompt it to grow. Just like most anything else, your muscles will adapt to what you are doing consistently, so you often need to increase the stress to create change.

This can look like increasing the reps, the sets, weight; changing the tempo, adding one and a half reps, isometrics, or improving your form. If you are constantly doing the same weight, the same tempo or rep ranges without pushing yourself, then you will struggle to see any change.

This is why following a structured program is so important. Following the same program for 4-6 weeks will allow you to work through pushing your limits each week.

In regards to weight training, we want to get to the point where we really struggle to get the last few reps out. The longer you are training for, the more you will learn where your current limits are and where you can push to.

Often people stop when it starts to burn or becomes too hard. But this is the exact time where you need to push it a little further. It's okay for the last few reps to break down in form slightly, just as long as all the sets don’t look like this.

Make sure to note down each session that you are doing: are you increasing reps, weight, intensity each week? Is it feeling easier each week?

‍