What is Progressive Overload and How Does it Help Muscle Growth?

Progressive overload is a concept in strength training that refers to the gradual increase in stress placed on the muscles over time. This increase in stress is necessary for muscle growth to occur, as the muscles must be progressively challenged in order to adapt and become stronger.

One way to achieve progressive overload is to increase the weight lifted during a workout. For example, if you are doing a bicep curl with 10-pound dumbbells and you can complete three sets of 10 reps without difficulty, you can increase the weight to 12-pound dumbbells to make the exercise more challenging. As you continue to lift heavier weights, your muscles will be forced to adapt and become stronger.

Another way to achieve progressive overload is to increase the number of reps you perform in a set. For example, if you are doing a bench press with a weight that allows you to complete three sets of 10 reps, you can gradually increase the number of reps to 12 or 15 over time. This will also increase the stress placed on your muscles and help them grow.

A third way to achieve progressive overload is by increasing your time under tension (TUT). For example, if you are doing 3 sets of 10 push-ups with ease you can add a 3 second pause at the bottom of each rep to make your total of 30 push-ups much tougher!

In summary, progressive overload is a key principle in strength training that helps stimulate muscle growth by gradually increasing the stress placed on the muscles. By increasing the weight, reps, or TUT, you can challenge your muscles and force them to adapt and become stronger! This is how muscle growth happens!

But muscle growth isn’t that simple… There’s still a lot that goes into it like recovery, nutrition, sleep, water, meal timing, etc… Which is all in the Fit For Life Program so be sure to check that out!