Progressive overload is a technique that’s as previous as 6th century athlete Milo of Croton and his legendary bull carrying routine. With this coaching fashion, you’re making an attempt to enhance the depth of every exercise to keep away from a plateau in dimension and power. Mainly, it’s doing slightly greater than you probably did beforehand. This will likely appear a no brainer to lots of you studying, however a few of us overlook the plain, so it pays to refresh the message.
Rising weight, reps, and units is the only technique to obtain progressive overload. Growth, instantaneous features, however plateaus are unavoidable in the event you’ve been within the lifting recreation for any size of time. Then, making an attempt to bust out of them might result in some ego lifting, that’s good for the ego however not so good to your physique. You’ve all seen that individual half-repping heavy squats or getting the barbell caught on their chest.
There’s no disgrace in pushing the envelope, however three higher and safer methods exist to realize progressive overload with out growing load. It’s so easy you want you’ll’ve considered it.
3 Strategies To Attaining Progressive Overload
Rising Vary of Movement
Placing the muscle via a better ROM makes any train tougher as a result of it will increase your time underneath rigidity (mechanical rigidity) and the suck. The muscular time underneath rigidity (and never the suck) is a driving power for muscle. Not solely does it encourage muscle-building, however it may possibly strengthen weak factors inside a raise.
As an illustration, growing the ROM with a deficit deadlift will work on weak factors like being gradual off the ground and lockout.
One other instance is the Rear Foot Elevated Cut up Squat. The elevated floor will increase the demand for hip mobility and makes the glutes and quads work arduous to drag you up from the underside of the squat. The cut up squat and the elevated variation are the identical train, however the elevated ROM will increase the depth.
[Please note this works for only specific exercises like the ones described above but not for pressing variations like the bench press, where increasing the ROM puts the anterior shoulder at risk.]
Including half a rep to an train is one other underrated methodology of accelerating ROM and time underneath rigidity. You take probably the most difficult a part of the train, like the underside of a press or a squat, rise midway up, return down once more, after which rise all the best way up.
One in a half-rep methodology works for many workouts however is especially efficient with squat and press variations.
Advantages of Rising Your Vary of Movement
There’s an previous saying round fitness center circles that mobility coaching is power coaching and vice versa. Taking your muscular tissues and cellular joints via an entire and prolonged ROM safely will increase time underneath rigidity and can enhance your mobility with out fancy drills. Including half a rep to particular workouts will strengthen probably the most difficult a part of the raise, hopefully strengthening your raise whereas including muscle.
How To Incorporate It
Rising ROM and including half a rep works finest utilizing sub-maximal weights (60-85% 1RM) as a part of your accent routine. Including half a rep works for many workouts, whereas growing ROM primarily works for leg workouts; exceptions to the rule exist. Performing two to 4 units utilizing a rep vary of six to fifteen works finest. Right here’s an instance.
1A. Rear Foot Elevated Cut up Squat: 8 to 12 reps per aspect
1B. Unilateral Dumbbell Row With Pause: 10 to fifteen reps per aspect
Attaining Mastery
The extra you push it, the extra good kind begins to slide, which is okay generally however turns into an issue if you do it constantly. Sure, I see the one who’s swinging forwards and backwards doing barbell bicep curls.
Weaknesses and compensations might seem in your raise that don’t occur with sub-maximal weights —for instance, battling a lockout within the barbell overhead press or shedding full physique rigidity within the deadlift. If that sounds such as you, utilizing accent workouts to strengthen weaker factors to forestall compensations from occurring is a great guess.
Some lifters make the widespread mistake of testing power somewhat than constructing it as a result of who doesn’t need to see how a lot they will raise? Sometimes, testing your 1 RM is inspired, however concentrating on good kind and mastering the train with the burden you’re utilizing is what you ought to be doing more often than not.
Mastery is a extremely underrated type of progressive overload.
As a substitute, make sure you do the train to one of the best of your capability and with good method. Take psychological notes on the way you’re doing and whether or not the burden is inflicting any kind points. Work on these kind points by programming accent workouts to strengthen weak spot, lighten the burden, or scale back the reps to give attention to method.
Advantages of Attaining Mastery
You raise to get higher trying and carry out higher at life or your chosen sport; none of that occurs when you’re harm. Searching for mastery together with your power work will hold you more healthy for longer. Moreover, creating a greater mind-muscle connection provides you with a greater sense of consciousness and help together with your muscle-building features.
How To Incorporate It
There’s a time and a spot for physique English to get the job achieved, however you ought to be searching for mastery of your principal lifts more often than not.
Tempo Lifting
Every repetition you carry out has 4 components: the eccentric, backside place, concentric contraction, and lockout. Shortening or lengthening how lengthy every a part of the rep takes is tempo. Tempo, every a part of the rep, is represented by the variety of seconds it takes.
As an illustration, let’s use a 3322 tempo barbell squat for example—it takes three seconds to decrease into the underside of your squat (eccentric), a 3-second pause on the backside, 2 seconds to push again up (concentric), and a pair of seconds to pause on the high.
Essentially the most vital good thing about performing tempo lifting, in addition to embracing the suck, is it will increase the time underneath rigidity. Utilizing tempo encourages you to gradual the train down and give attention to kind, which is crucial for mastery and selecting up any kind glitches. Type hitches are simpler to choose up if you’re going gradual somewhat than quick.
Advantages of Tempo Lifting
Rising the muscle’s time underneath rigidity is the place it’s at for constructing muscle and for higher kind and method. Tempo lifting, much like mastery, will create a greater mind-muscle connection to enhance your consciousness and features,
How To Incorporate It
For tempo, use a 2-3 second concentric, and a 3 to 4 eccentric contraction works nicely for muscle and power. The pause and lockout may be manipulated to fit your targets.
Like growing the vary of movement, tempo works finest as a part of your accent routine utilizing weights between 60-85% of your one rep max. You will be unable to carry out as many reps as you normally do with a given weight, however the enhance in rigidity will compensate for that. Three to 4 units utilizing a rep vary of six to 12 reps works nicely for many workouts. Right here’s an instance.
1A. Tempo Bench Press (3131): 6 to eight reps
1B. Higher Again Foam Roll: 10 to fifteen instances.