When To Increase The Weight: Mastering Progressive Overload For Peak Fitness Results

Now I'm sharing what I know with you fitness , nutrition and all the deeper stuff to help you discover your strongest body . Hello , hello , welcome back to another episode of your Strongest Body . I hope you're having a great day so far .

Today we're jumping into a topic that I think is really helpful for people , because there's a lot of confusion around it , and that is when is it time to increase the difficulty ?

So what we're going to be talking today about is progressive overload , what that concept is and then what it actually means , because it's going to look different for different people , based on how frequently you train , where you are in the sort of difficulty level already , meaning , are you at the upper limits of your strength or are you just beginning ?

What are your goals ? Things like that . So this idea of progressive overload is the idea that in order for our bodies to make adaptation particularly when we were talking about muscle strength , so increasing our ability to produce force , create strength , or the idea that our muscles are growing , so hypertrophy , muscle hypertrophy , growing in size .

We need to create a stimulus that is more challenging than it was before in order to create adaptation , because if we are not challenging past a certain point , past the point in which our body is forced to adapt , then we are maintaining .

Training isn't a bad thing , and there are going to be periods of your training time where you are going to need to maintain , but it isn't always the case , and if you're trying to make consistent progress , then we are definitely going to need to overload the system . So we progressively overload .

One of the best ways to do that is to stay consistent with our exercise selection , so we continue to do the same exercises and we progressively overload those exercises . How do we overload them ?

The most common and maybe most obvious way is with added additional weight , but we can also do that with more reps , longer time under tension , so meaning going a little slower . We can do that with more sets . We can do that with less rest .

All of those adaptations , or all of those changes in variables , are going to overload because they are going to be more than you were doing before . Now the question for most people comes with when am I supposed to be overloading ? How frequently ? Every single workout should I be adding weight ? Every single workout should I be adding reps ?

And there is not a definitive , clear answer . But I'm going to give you some things to think about and then you can apply them to your own program and to where you are in your exercise journey . So the common misconception is that we need to overload every single week . Every single week , we're adding weight . Every single week we're adding weight .

If you are training very consistently and , let's say , you're doing the same exercises three times in one week , you may be able to add weight the following week . But for most people , especially if you're only hitting a certain muscle group or movement once or twice per week , we may not be ready to increase the weight every single week .

No-transcript we don't want to get too comfortable and we don't want to spend too much time in that maintenance zone . If our goal is to get stronger or to grow muscle or something like that , so we do want to be progressing it , but it's not going to look like that every week .

What we have to do is be honest with ourselves about how consistent we are , first and foremost . So if we're inconsistent , you may be spending a lot more time at the same weight . That's fine . That's because you're still challenging yourself .

If you're unable to exercise with great frequency , you're probably going to still challenge yourself at the weight you've been working at . What we want to do is aim to increase consistency first , because that is going to allow us to get enough reps under our belt to be able to progressively overload . The next step is to then ask what is the jump in weight ?

Next logical jump in weight for me ? So let's say you are doing an exercise and you're and I'm just going to randomly select you're doing five pound dumbbells and it's feeling easy for you . The next set of dumbbells is an eight set of dumbbells or a 10 set of dumbbells .

You might be able to increase the weight pretty quickly with that , because it was easier to start out and the increase isn't that large . But on the other hand , let's think about a jump from two five pound dumbbells to two 10 pound dumbbells . That's doubling the weight .

So if you were doing an exercise where the five pound dumbbells were challenging , it is going to take a while to be able to increase to those 10 pound dumbbells . If that's the only option , what do we do in that case ? This is where we add reps . So maybe last week you did eight with the fives . You do that for two weeks in a row .

After those two weeks it's time to increase the reps to 10 or 12 . Maybe we get to 12 or 15 . Maybe we add an additional set the following week or two weeks later .

We add an additional set , still with those same amount of reps and that same amount of weight , until we get to the point where we can comfortably and confidently move those 10s in good form for the amount of reps we want . Now you may drop reps when you increase the weight , which is totally appropriate .

But what we want to be thinking about is how we can increase and we don't want to drop the reps so much so that we're not getting the volume of work for that muscle group that we want . So we have to think about a little bit , like when increasing the weight what is the jump for ourselves ?

Now you may also find that if you are just starting or you're in the first year or two of exercise , you move through weights more rapidly when you have been training for a long time and you're at the upper ends of your strength , thinking about like you're doing sets of six to eight reps regularly and you are reaching failure with these very large weights .

It might take a long time for you to be able to jump to the next weight because you are already at the top part of your strength and then that increase is going to be great . Usually we're looking at an increase , ideally of about 5% to 10% if we're adding weight . Sometimes that doesn't work exactly . If we're using dumbbells , we get to jump a lot .

If we're using barbells and tiny plates , we can typically add a little bit of weight . But one of the places I think about this most is , for a lot of people , overhead strength is challenging . So pressing a weight overhead and the jumps in weight can be too much for you to be able to increase that .

So , like I said , we might increase the reps , we might increase the number of sets . We might slow the eccentric portion of the exercise . So that means as you're bringing the weights down , you're going to slow and control them , which is going to give your muscles some more time under tension . You might decrease your rest periods .

You might add an extra exercise that work out . Maybe you're finishing with something else , because there are lots of ways to progressively overload . That's the thing I think we get kind of stuck in .

We think it's all about adding weight and when we are getting frustrated with our ability to progress or we're rushing that progress because we're trying to jump weight quickly to overload , we stifle our ability to see results . So those are lots of ways in which you can overload the system . It's going to depend on the exercise .

It's going to depend on your ability level . What I like to say is , if you are consistently doing the same workouts with pretty regular frequency , I like to say that we're going to excuse me , unless you are again really at the upper ends of your strength as it is and you have been training for a long , long time .

It's funny , you've been training for a long , long time and you stay at that sort of maintenance place for a little bit longer than you would think . But for a general rule of thumb is we don't want to be doing the same thing we were doing for more than two to three workouts in a row .

So if your frequency is that you do that same workout , workout B or workout one , and you do it every single week .

Once we have done it with the same weight or the same reps or the same sets for at least two or three times , the next time we come back to it time four , I want to find some way to increase the difficulty that might be with more reps , more sets , more weight , more time under tension , less rest .

What is also important is that we're trying not to increase more than one or two variables at a time . There are variables that sets , reps , rest , time under tension . There are other ones , but at the moment it's leaving my mind , but those are the ones I've been talking about here .

Weight load I don't want to manipulate too many things at one time , otherwise when the form falls apart or when it becomes too difficult , I now no longer know what that overload that was too much , was . So if I'm adding weight , I'm probably going to stay with the same sets or reps . I might drop a couple reps .

If I'm adding a set and I'm adding some reps , I'm not going to add weight along with those sets and reps . I'm going to master those sets and reps as much as possible .

So if you've been doing the exact same thing for more than two to three weeks in a row , or two to three workouts in a row , it's time to increase . Now , if you are doing that workout every other week , it might be six weeks , because that's going to be the frequency with which you get through that same workout for three times .

This isn't always going to be exactly perfect as well , because we have to think about our lives are constantly in flux . Sometimes we get sick and we have to come back and the weight is not as easy as it was before . Sometimes we have more energy , we got better sleep and we can actually push it harder on one day .

So this is both a rule to think about , but also a reminder to check in with your body , because there may be opportunities where you are ready to progress faster than those two to three times . Maybe in the beginning you are increasing every single week and then there gets to a point where you have to slow that progressive overload down .

But the idea that we can consistently challenge our muscles , challenge our ability to complete those reps , that's what we need in order to build that strength and to build that muscle . That is imperative . Otherwise , you are in so many words . You are burning calories and sweating . Those things are good . You need those . You want to raise your heart rate .

You want to . You know you likely want to burn calories . There are probably more efficient ways to burn more calories . If that's the goal , if our goal is to get stronger or change our physique , then we have to be intentional about our workout and we need to get to that place where we are being challenged . So that overload needs to be a push .

You need to get in those last two-ish sets and those last two reps of those last two-ish sets to a point where it feels like you're not sure if you could complete two more . That's very important and that is when we know if it's time to overload , time to increase the weight or sets or reps .

If I can easily do it , it's time to increase it in one way or another . Oh no , I don't think I could go up in that weight . Let me try for two more reps . So it's about developing an awareness about what you have left in the tank and how you can push to a place where you are going to elicit the kind of change that you want .

When I create programs for people we talk through when it's time to increase and for most people . When they have a really well-developed progressive program , they actually know when it's time to increase . Because they've been doing these , they've been doing the number of sets . We're constantly revisiting these workouts .

They are structured in a way that they begin to cultivate that kind of awareness of what more they can do . And because I use an app with my clients , they can track that progress . So we actually see that we're consistently doing it . Maybe not every week , maybe there is a sick week that you couldn't get to the sets that you were .

But if we look at it cumulatively , over the last six to 12 weeks you have increased this , this and this . We're moving in the right direction and it also allows me to be able to see is it time to change anything because we're not getting the kind of overload that we need .

So that's another just reminder that the programming and following a program is going to be such an instrumental part of being able to create this kind of overload that you need . So hopefully that answers the question for you about sort of when it's time to make it more difficult , what kinds of things you can be thinking about .

Again , just recapping it can be with sets , reps , rest , like decreasing the rest . It can be adding weight . You have to determine what that is best for you and a coach can help you decide . What I do with my clients is they say , like , should I be adding a set or adding weight ? And I say , for our goal , this is what I would like you to aim for .

So that's helpful in sort of instructional .

But for yourself you can kind of think it through and then if you've been doing the same thing for two to four workouts and you're doing those workouts pretty consistently , it is definitely time to increase the difficulty level , especially if you aren't at the sort of upper limits of your current strength or that the jumps would be too challenging .

Yeah , okay , so that's all I have for you today . I'm going to just remind you of my Built Bodies program . It is coming out in April . It's a 12 week muscle building program , building visible muscle building , strength . That's going to be a physique changer and in that we are not just talking about fitness and nutrition .

We are covering the recovery aspect as well as the deep understanding of body image and body autonomy . That's going to help you build confidence . So when you put those things together , you are going to have your most confident summary you've ever had . That is a guarantee with this program . It's coming out in April . I do have a wait list open .

The wait list is a no purchase necessary , no obligation . It's simply so you can get the information .

In the next two weeks , I'm going to send out the information to the wait list , give them the whole breakdown of the program , because , if you are already interested , I definitely want to know and I want to get you the information first , because I am going to cap the number on this program , especially because I'm aiming for it to be a small group and it's

doing all of the things that I kind of explained in this episode .

The wait list is going to get a few special offers to them in particular . So I want to make sure , if you want to be on that list , that you get that information . So I'm going to put that link in the show notes . Yes , I have other stuff coming that I'm excited about too and I'm going to share with you in future episodes .

So , as always , I am really open to your questions and anything that you might need . You can email me , betsy , at bfosterstrongcom , you can send me an Instagram DM at foster underscore strength and , as always , I'm grateful that you're here . I want you to go build your strongest body , and I'll talk to you next time . Bye .