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e’ll discuss in a moment, there are other ways to increase the overload. On the other hand, if the demands on the target muscles are not maintained or decrease, then you will ultimately lose strength and size. Progressive overload training is a very simple but crucial concept, laying the foundation upon which successful resistance training and hypertrophy is built. By consistently overloading your current capability, you will get bigger and stronger as your body will adapt to the increasing demand. Several things happen to your body through a progressive overload routine: Your nerves become more responsive Increased coordination Increased muscle and bone mass Your connective tissues get stronger For example, you may only be able to bench press the bar. Continue to put in the work and over time you’ll be able to lift more. Now, as mentioned earlier, there are several ways of using progressive overload. In fact, there are eight: So, here's how to do a progressive overload workout. 1. Increase the number of reps. So instead of doing 8 reps, go for 9 next time. Then 10 after that, and so on. 2. Increase the number of sets. So instead of doing 3 sets of 8 reps, you do 4 sets of 8 reps, then 5, and so on. 3. Increase the weight. 4. Increase your frequency of workouts. For example, if you do three times a week, you add an extra day in and go four times a week. 5. Reduce your rest time between sets. This puts more tax on the body and is a good option if you’re short on workout time. 6. Do a more difficult variation of an exercise. For example, if you’re doing assisted pullups, then you’d go from the machine to the bar. This makes the movement more challenging and therefore overloads the muscles. 7. Slow the tempo. The longer your muscles are under tension, the tougher the exercise gets. 8. Hold your position. Again, this increases how long your muscles are under tension, forcing you to work harder. No matter what exercise you’re doing, there’s probably a way you can make it tougher using one of these eight methods, and so perfect for progressive overload. Now, you’ll know how to progressive overload and when you’re ready to up the challenge when you can complete all sets/reps for an exercise and still feel like you’ve got gas left in the tank. This will happen a lot more often for beginners as you’ll adapt to the exercise quicker. But this progressive overload won’t continue going up that quickly forever. Let’s say you start benching with just the bar and add 5kg every week. After just a year, you’ll be benching over 200kg. You’d be superhuman. Don’t get me wrong, that would be amazing to see, but unfortunately, it’s just not going to happen. Once you reach a certain point, your progress will get slower and slower. You may even stay at the same place for a few weeks, or even longer than that. But that’s totally fine. That said, don’t be afraid to test the waters and do something more difficult. You may be surprised at how much you can handle. There’s nothing stopping you from going back down if things don’t quite feel right. Feel free to use any of the eight methods of progressive overload in your own training, but focus on just one of them at a time. As your body adapts, it’s good to know that you have plenty of options to take your training to the next level, especially if simply putting more weight on the bar just doesn't seem to be working. Alright then, now in terms of how much weight you should add, you should go up in small increments. For barbell lifts, adding 2.5kg to each side, or 5 pounds, is a good rule of thumb. This will increase your entire lift by 5kg or 10 pounds. So you might go from a 50kg squat to a 55kg squat. Of course, this may be different based on the exercise you’re doing. For example, if you find lower body exercises difficult, then this could be too much of an increase. It may be a good idea to add 1.25kg to either side of the bar instead, so an overall increase of 2.5kg. On the other hand, if you have a strong lower body, then 5kg might be too small of an increase. In that case, look to add 5kg to each side of the bar, so an overall increase of 10kg. In terms of dumbbell exercises, increase the weight by how much you’d add to each end of the bar. So if you add 2.5g to each end, then increase each dumbbell by 2.5kg. ---------------------------------- » SUBSCRIBE HERE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFfRfEwOdkwhz8oIO-2FMPg/?sub_confirmation=1 ---------------------------------- » NEW VIDEOS EVERY THURSDAY AND SUNDAY ---------------------------------- » FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: http://instagram.com/alexjdenholm​ @alexjdenholm ---------------------------------- » WEBSITE: http://alexdenholm.com ----------------------------------