Defining Progressive Overload, The Heart of Strength Training

Gro Marit Istad-Krsitiansen trained periodization for strength with Fred for over 5 years.

Progressive overload is the cornerstone of strength training, but so few lifters or strength coaches approach it the right way or even understand it. Here’s another look at a smart way to get big and strong or stronger and faster in sports.

It’s been this way for 20-plus years, and still much of the informtion you get is still on the exercises. Some really good stuff is available too. My interest is to help you go one step further in your quest for results and help you try and understand  the concept of progressive overload.

Usually you get some kind of spin on what sets and reps to do, but never an exact answer or definition as I see it.

This article will set the record straight or at least give many of you some food for thougth. I will start by defining progressive overload, and finish off with a sample bodybuilding program that I guarantee will give you the best results of your training career. Sports programs I have been doing for years and you can contct me about them.

Progressive Overload: The Heart of Strength Training 

Progressive overload, also known as the overload principle, is the driving force behind strength training. Dr. Tudor Bompa was the first to actually define it in an understandable way in his books Theory and Methodology of Training and Periodization.

Here’s a sample progressive overload program used by a professional sprinter.
 You can find a full explanation by Tudor just click here.

In this article I want to define and exact set and rep base for the two of the numerous  phases Dr. Bompa talks about, hypertrophy and Maximum strength. How they have been adapted to be used in an MS excel spread sheet.  Then I will finish off with my own personal experiences with A bodybuilder, top female athletes, who won a gold medal in a world cup Biathlon and a male biathlete who happens to be the most winning winter athlete in history with over 90 Olympic or world cup gold medals.

The definition goes, progressive overload is the process of applying an increasingly heavy training stimulus that’s sufficient to induce positive physiological changes without exceeding your body’s capacity to safely adapt to it.

In other words, the goal is to achieve an appropriate balance between training and recovery.

Weight trainers usually explain the principle in even more general terms, like the classic “when you stress your body a little bit more each week by increasing the weights, it will react to the stress by getting bigger and/or stronger.”

A cute description to be sure, but it begs the question: Just exactly what constitutes “a little bit”?

The standard cookie-cutter answer is 5 pounds a week to your bench press. However, that figure equals 20 pounds per month. Well, as anyone who’s trained seriously with weights knows 20 pounds a month is an unrealistic goal for anyone short of a total newbie.

Here’s another frequently heard instruction. Pick a weight that you can do for 10 reps with good form and increase the weight when you reach 12.

That’s great, but what if I reach a weight that I just can’t get 12 reps with? Or what if I’m building strength and using a low rep range? In that case do I do 3 reps and, when I can do 4, add weight?

It makes no sense.

So what we have is an entire category of training called weightlifting — which encompasses bodybuilding, fitness training, and strength training — that’s built on sand. No one has ever empirically defined the basis of what we do.

The end result is the majority of us head to the gym and train according to how we feel that particular day. And ninety percent of the time we train to exhaustion.

The Running Joke              

How asinine is that? Can you imagine a runner going out to run until he can’t run any farther, then waiting until he recuperates (which may take a week) and doing it again?

Some may scoff at the comparison between weightlifting and running, but training to exhaustion is training to exhaustion, whether it’s a light load, a heavy load, or running till you can’t run anymore.

This haphazard “trash it and leave it alone” approach to training runs counter to one of the fundamental scientific principles of weight training — muscles must be stimulated twice a week, not just once, because after five or six days we start to detrain.

To use the running comparison again, would a runner run only once a week?

The solution is to train with a method that is scientifically based. The solution is periodization.

Annual plan for a proposed Bodybuilder.

                            

Periodization simply means breaking up the year into segments that focus on different goals, such as strength, power, or general fitness.

In periodization you don’t train the same way all year, no matter what your ultimate goal is — the specific goal defines the exercises and repetition range.

So with periodization we can effectively define what “a little weight” is.

 

However, another key to making progressive resistance work is that you don’t want to continue adding weight each week without taking a break.    

As you can see in the above chart, the workouts get harder for three weeks and then lighten up for a week. This is nothing new or groundbreaking — strength athletes have said for years that they could train really hard for three weeks and then their bodies would suddenly just give out.

In the old days it was believed the answer was simply to gut it out or “grow a set” and persevere. Unfortunately, the standard tough guy approach only leads to frustration.

The Numbers                                         

As indicated, you start by doing 50 percent of your one-rep max (the most weight you can lift on a given exercise for one rep) for one set, then 55% for one set, then 60% for 2 sets.

You use these formulas or a variationof these type for all your exercises.

So what happens? The same thing that happens the first time a person runs a mile. The first time you do that workout it will be a novel stressor, after which the body says, “Oh man, some outside stimulus just stressed my muscles. I better adapt because that hurt.”

In 24-48 hours the body uses the appropriate hormones and nutrients to help the muscles adapt to those 4 sets. Two days later you repeat the same sets and reps. “Cool,” says the body. “I adapted to that perfectly. I can now do that weight easily.” That second workout tells you you have adapted.

Progression                  

The next key step is progression. You can manipulate intensity (weight) or volume (reps), or both.

On week 2, instead of doing a fourth set at 60 percent, you do 70 percent for 10 reps.

“Whoa!” says the body. “He did it to me again.” So it has to adapt to another new stimulus. You do the second workout of the week and your body adapts again.

But after three weeks the body just can’t do this anymore. It needs a week to catch-up and chill out. Guys like Wendler and Cressey call it a de-load week, others have their own terminology.

Notice that the workout for week 4 is about the same as the one for week 2, but since the body has done it all before and gone beyond it, you’ll find it easier than it was the first time.

Hypertrophy        

Now, here’s where the muscle building starts. The payoff for all that stress and adaptation is that you get bigger and stronger. You know because you measure your one-rep maxes again at the end of each month.

Figure 2 provides a specific example of how that works. The formulas shown are designed for muscle strength, as the best rep range for strength is around 3-5 reps. Still, you can see how we stick to the lower end in the first week and increase the weight in later weeks as the body adapts to the stress.

The bottom line is with this training system — provided you take in the proper nutrition — your body has a set plan to reach its genetic potential. No more guess work or “instinctive” training; with this system you can preplan your training, monitor it as you go along, and evaluate it when you’re finished.

This is huge for removing the guesswork and broscience from strength and bodybuilding training and legitimizing it as a science-based pursuit.

For example, because the exact set-and-rep scheme is planned, the evaluation can tell you exactly how much you’ve over trained or how much more you can add to the next training phase.

Contrast this with the laughable ways most “exercise scientists” (some who’ve never lifted a weight) define over training — your heart rate goes up, and you feel tired — not exactly an exact system!

You can also tell if you’ve over trained specific body parts. Let’s say your legs get stronger but you lose some strength in your arms. Your previous month’s formulas will show you how you should adjust the workouts for the two body parts to maximize gains. Suddenly, you own your machinery! 

A Test Drive

Let’s take a look at a sample bodybuilding program using the above information.

Here’s a sample 24-week program, starting with the calendar of events:

Let’s take a look of some examples. Lets take a look at Dr. Bompa’s orginal writings.  He started my adventure into defining Overload in a usable way which lead to the use of MS excel spread sheets which I will give some examples of and how they are used in various phases and what this tye of training produces in the way of athleteic results. If you follow me through the sytem it bcomes easy to understand. When it comes to sports we have a progression based on maximum strength phase as tis is the main nervous system stimulant for conversion to power or muscle endurance. In Bodybuilding both maximum strength andof course hypertropy phases or steps as they are refered to in my writings.

The steps presented are H-heavy is one set of formulas for large muscle group exercsies, such as benches or squats. Another set of formulas is used for smaller muslces such as shoulders or hamstrings refered to as M-medium, a third set of formulas for secondary exercises like side laterals or pec deck. They are refered to as L-light. For the spread sheet they would not have a warm up or maybe just 2-3 sets due to the fact the muscle has already been warmed up.

Finally you will see a step were I just use % of reps with a given weight that is tested. These formulas are used for exercsies where the weight is really small , such as stabilizers, external or internal rotation where the light weight is hard to progress with such small increments. Thes forulas are lso used with exercises such as ab mat situps with weights due to the fact it is hard to figure out the exact weight the upper body is during the situp movement. It would be illogical to defne overload in all the bodyparts and then train to exhaustion in the important core or stabilizer muscles. First you can take a look at a young bodybuilder that used the program. Notice on the  result sheets because all the workouts were pre-planned it was easy to evaluate if each phase worked. If hi strength went up or stayed the same in some of the smaller muscles I knew that the muscle was being stimulated and recovered enough so that if he was eating correctly he would gain weight or in this case not be overtraining.  To me this is what Dr. Bompa wrote. How can you telll if the athlete is overtraining without a plan.

see Results Thomas full story here

Full results Gro-Marit Maximum Strength phase here.

Ole Einar Bjørndalen has won more Gold medals in Olympic and International competition than any man in history (over 90).

 

A Test Drive

Let’s take a look at a sample bodybuilding program using the above information.

Here’s a sample 24-week program, starting with the calendar of events:

Sample Annual plan for the Bodybuilding program

This sample plan is a 6 day program working each body part twice a week.

Monday/Wednesday — Chest, Shoulders and Triceps.

Bench Press

Pec Dec Fly

Incline DB Press

DB Shoulder Press

Lateral Raise

Lying Triceps Extension

Tuesday and Thursdays — Back and Biceps

Cable Cobras

Reverse Grip Pulldowns

Seated Rows (elbow down)

Seated Rows (elbow up)

Barbell Curls

DB Curls

Concentration Curls

Wednesdays and Fridays — Legs and Abs

Squats

Seated Calf

Leg Press

Standing Calf

Leg Extension

Leg Curls

Ab Mat Sit-Ups

Back Extensions

H (Heavy) is one set of formulas for large muscle group exercises, like benches and squats.

M (Medium) is another set of formulas for large muscle group exercises, such as shoulders or hamstrings.

L (Light) is the third set, for secondary exercises like lateral raises and pec dec flys.

Finally, there’s a step where just percentages of reps with a given weight. These formulas are used for exercises where the weight is really small, such as external or internal rotation where the weight is hard to progress with such small increments. It would be illogical to define overload in all the bodyparts and then train to exhaustion in the important core or stabilizer muscles.

Even the small muscles must have some defined overload.

The results of the test are then placed into an MS excel spread sheet that gives you the exact progression in sets and reps for the next 4 weeks. You then have a week to re-test and another week in case you don’t have the time to set up the next phase.

Next is the maximum strength phase. This is where you’ll see strength gains like never before.

Why? Because you’ve taken the time to re-set the body and now it’s fresh and ready to activate more muscles. Now when you go to the next hypertrophy phases you have as many muscles as possible growing.

Testing after each phase is your way of telling if the program is working — if you’re getting stronger (or in the case of hypertrophy phase, not losing strength) then you know that you’re right on track.

Wrap Up   

Remember, getting results starts with having a plan and being able to monitor it. Then, when the plan is finished, you can evaluate how effective it was and whether you need to change it.

 

The point of this article is to draw attention to some of the core principles of strength training that few bodybuilders bother to understand, to the detriment of their development.

Here you see the results from one trainer on the system and how his result sheets after each phase made it easy to deside what was needed in the next phase.

Fred Koch, P-SCE is the International Director for Tudor Bompa Institute, TBI, one of the world’s top certifications systems. Fred has been in trainer in the bodybuilding world for over 30 years. He first was know when he used Dr. Bompa’s theories as the creator of the “Ironman Training Sysem” and a writer for Ironman Bodybuilding magazine being the first to have the title “the Musclecoach”, when he worked with such pro bodybuilders as Lee Labrada, Michael Ashley and Rich Gaspari.  For more information you can e-mail Fred, fredredkoch.com. or see his blog at www.fredkoch.com. Fred does custom training with this sytem see Fred Koch Training on facebook or read more about the custom system here. Fred is co-owner of The Bear Cave Training Center in Kristiansand Norway.

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