Firstly lets give a brief understanding of where the term progressive overload came from and what Is…
What is Progressive Overload?
Progressive Overload is a method of strength training that promotes the gradual increase of the stress placed upon the muscles and nervous system. The principle of progressive overload suggests that the continual increase in the total workload during training sessions will stimulate muscle growth and strength gain. This improvement in overall performance will, in turn, allow the lifter to keep increasing the intensity of his/hers training sessions.
The Science behind Progressive Overload:
The goal of strength training programs is to increase our members physical strength and performance through the delivery of our Dynamic Classes Monday and Fridays. This is what is referred to as RESISTANCE TRAINING. What that means = by placing the muscles under greater-than-normal demand, the body will start a natural adaptation process, improving its capabilities to endure that higher amount of stress. ( because ultimately exercise and strength training is a form of stress to the body)
Neuromuscular adaptation will occur first, which will already increase the individual’s strength when lifting. With consistency in the training sessions, what will follow will be an increase in overall muscle mass and the strengthening of connective tissues.
Progressive overload not only stimulates muscle hypertrophy but it also stimulates the development of stronger and denser bones, ligaments, tendons and cartilage. Progressive overload also incrementally increases blood flow to regions of the body exercised and stimulates more responsive nerve connections between the brain and the muscles involved. In fact, studies suggest that the increase in muscle contraction force, caused by resistance training, happens partially due to an increase in the responsiveness and efficacy of the neural system.
So how the FUNC do i Progressive Overload?
Progressive overload requires you to start somewhere, preferably at a comfortable weight you can easily lift and a moderate to easy intensity than GRADUALLY increase either the volume, intensity, frequency or time in order to overload slightly.
What do we mean by Volume, Intensity, Frequency and Time?
Volume refers to the total number of reps multiplied by the weight in each rep
Intensity refers to the percent value of max functional capacity
Frequency refers to how often you engage in the strength training program
Time refers to the time in between sets of same exercise or between different exercises.
This technique results in greater gains in physical strength and muscle growth, but there are limits. An excess of training stimuli can lead to the problem of over training. Over training is the decline in training performance over the course of a training program, often accompanied by an increased risk of illness or injury or a decreased desire to exercise. To help avoid this problem, the technique of periodisation is applied.
Periodisation in the context of fitness or strength training programs means scheduling for adequate recovery time between training sessions, and for variety over the course of a long-term program.
How would i apply the technique of periodisation to my training program with Technofunc?
Our recommendations would be to look our our training schedule, see what fits in with your other work/ life schedule and add in our Monday, Wednesday, Friday classes for those strength and progressive overload gains. Track your weights and what your lifting and how many reps for the 4 sets!
We asked our coaches their 3 top tips for Progressive Overload:
HEAD COACH CHANNY - FOCUS ON YOUR WEAKNESSES AND MAKE THEM YOUR STRENGTHS…
Start light and focus on the mechanics of the movement, along with volume before intensity
Pick a weight that is easy for you, make sure you are doing the exercise 100% correct and that it feels good for you, than build your capacity with that than increase - Its DOES NOT MATTER what the guy or girl next to you is lifting/squatting. Honestly throw comparison out the window. Everyone is at a different stage of their strength gains and journey! As the saying goes - YOU DO YOU BOO…
Don’t miss your strength workouts
If you only come lift some shit when you feel like it and there is no consistency, the weights will always be too heavy for you and you will never progress. Like around new years, everyone is incredibly motivated and exercise like they going into Covid19 lock down and fizzle the func out reaalllll quick.. So using the strategy of starting small and building a solid foundation of lifting something incredibly easy and increase the volume and intensity gradually you’ll feel more motivated because you’ll see your strength increase
Increase ever so slightly. In small ways….
Each week add 1-2.5kgs increase to your weights . This week if you start with the bar, next week add the 2.5kgs on and start there for your squats. If you start with body weight than start with the lightest weights. Adding a bit each week theses teeny tiny gains add up to BIG weight in a shorter amount of time. lets think about it like this… This week you squat 22.5kgs for 3 sets of 12 reps. Do you think next time you can add 5kgs to that? If you add 5kgs each week for 4 weeks, in 4 weeks you are squatting 20kgs more than when you first started.
From the other coaches:
Always track your weight and reps to know if you’re improving
Try to progress in some way every single session; better form, bigger range of motion, load and tempo
In closing, small gains add up fast. The weight on the bar or the weight of the dumbbells should be increasing each time the strength classes roll on it. SLOWLY, GRADUALLY and REASONABLY
Coach Channy
xo