Progressive overload.
You’ve got probably heard of this topic being preached on TikTok and other social media sites as the most effective technique to maximize muscle growth. But what exactly is it? To maintain things easy, progressive overload involves continually increasing muscle tension over time to cause growth and adaptations.
The 2 most typical ways to advertise progressive overload are to extend the load lifted or the variety of repetitions performed. Recently, a latest study compared these common methods.
I feel it’s value it to dissect this paper and discuss other potential training strategies you may use to raise your physique and strength. And whether we should always consider increasing sets or training frequency to progressively overload the muscles.
Table of Contents
- The Research Breakdown
- Trained Individual Research
- Different Ways But The Same Gains?
- Is It Higher To Increase Frequency or Sets?
- Can You See Strength Gains?
- Outro
The Research Breakdown
A latest paper within the International Journal of Sports Medicine compared the consequences of progressive overload on muscle strength in 39 previously untrained individuals in resistance training by comparing the impact of increasing load versus increasing repetitions.¹ While this may occasionally not apply to most of you reading this, don’t be concerned; I will even add research based on trained individuals.
The topics were trained by doing 4 sets of unilateral leg extensions 2 to three times per week for ten weeks with one leg. They adjusted the burden loads to constantly reach failure in every set of 9 to 12-rep ranges. The opposite leg was trained otherwise.
In addition they performed reps to failure each set, but as a substitute, they stuck with the identical weight from the primary session. So, to achieve failure, they were progressively overloaded by increasing reps as a substitute.
By the tip of the ten-week study, subjects progressed from a median of 9 reps per set to fifteen reps. To maintain the tests fair, the variety of dominant legs was divided between the conditions, and subjects alternated which leg was trained first in every session.
Unlike some studies I’ve read, this research’s test subjects were subjected to the identical conditions, with each leg being trained otherwise. For this reason, genetics, nutrition, and out of doors lifestyle differences are less more likely to muddle the study results.
Strength gains on the leg extension were similar between each conditions. Muscle hypertrophy, indicated by the vastest lateralis growth, was also similar between the conditions. This means that increasing reps was as effective for muscle growth as increasing the burden load.
Trained Individual Research
While the individuals in the brand new study were untrained, an older study from 2022 used 43 individuals with no less than one 12 months of consistent lower body resistance training experience.²
Subjects performed 4 sets of 4 movements (back squat, leg extension, straight-leg calf raise, and seated calf raise) twice weekly. One group aimed to increase the load while keeping repetitions constant, and the opposite group aimed to increase repetitions while keeping the load constant.
The study assessed one repetition maximum (1RM) within the Smith machine squat, muscular endurance within the leg extension, countermovement jump height, and muscle thickness along the quadriceps and calf muscles. The results were just like those of the untrained group in that each sorts of progression training were viable strategies.
I did find it interesting that the results also showed that rectus femoris growth modestly favored rep training, whereas dynamic strength barely increased with load training. Overall, the info indicates that increasing load or reps could be similar for constructing muscle in untrained and trained people.
I’d say that this research doubles down on proving that multiple different training strategies can be found so that you can maximize muscle growth and likewise opens up some questions as to which one it’s best to consider as a part of your training regimen.
Different Ways But The Same Gains?
This part won’t be as much about using progressive overload across training sessions; as a substitute, it should break down the multiple different training strategies you may use in a training session.
Should you were to make use of a rep range just like lots of these research articles, typically within the 8-15 rep range, this might open up multiple training paths so that you can progressively overload your muscles.
Essentially the most common pathway is to make use of the identical weight across sets after which train to failure inside a rep range. While this can be a unbelievable option and may definitely allow you to achieve your goals, there are other options I feel it’s best to also consider, reminiscent of increasing the load across sets, leading to fewer reps.
A study from the compared individuals who had one leg trained more traditionally.³ At the identical time, the opposite leg was subjected to either crescent pyramid or drop set training.
Despite each legs performing different styles, they achieved similar ends in muscle growth, muscle hypertrophy, and strength. One other alternative I might recommend that you simply try, as broken down in a 2022 paper, is to diminish the load across sets.⁴
All subjects trained curls to voluntary failure with these variables. On the primary set of every exercise, all subjects used a weight they might only do for a maximum of ten reps.
The control group kept the identical load on all of the sets, the second group decreased the load by 5% on the ultimate two sets of every exercise, and the ultimate group decreased the load by 10% on the ultimate two sets.
When tested, all groups saw similar increases in muscle thickness and enhancements of their 10-rep maximum. What I discovered to be probably the most exciting a part of this research was that the group that decreased the load by 10%, despite also training to failure and seeing similar improvements, rated their training sessions subjectively as being barely easier.
The primary takeaway is that many various pathways to muscle hypertrophy exist, and so long as you might be willing to keep on with one long enough, you may see significant results.
Is It Higher To Increase Sets or Frequency?
Progressive overload simply means training hard to stimulate adaptations consistently. Nevertheless, simply increasing sets or training frequency won’t necessarily help to realize this.
For instance, say you perform 4 sets of squats during your workout; the following workout with squats, you choose so as to add one other set.
As an example you had enough muscle stimulation in the primary session without the extra set. In that case, you’ll almost definitely go easier on the sooner sets to “save yourself” to your last set, thus making them less effective.
The one thing that the additional set that you simply added is doing is increasing the work that you simply’re doing, making it harder to keep up sufficient tension throughout every set. This same principle applies if you happen to determine to try increasing workout frequency.
As an example you perform the identical workout we discussed above; if all you do is add one other training session in per week, assuming sufficient adaptations were stimulated from the primary session, all these sets will lead to less muscle fiber recruitment and overall tension.
So, all this extra session does is create more work, not results. Eventually, if you happen to try adding too many extra sets or training sessions, you may begin to run into issues with recovery.
This doesn’t suggest that it is about in stone that it’s best to never increase sets or training frequency. In one other 2024 study, results indicated that adding 4 or six sets per week every two weeks elicited greater lower-limb strength in resistance-trained individuals over a 12-week training period in comparison with performing the identical variety of sets weekly.⁵
This journal is not definitive proof that you could have so as to add sets across weeks since all groups progressively overloaded by increasing the load on their sets throughout this system. Still, it is worth it to experiment with this training style and see if it might give you the results you want.
It is completely okay to do the identical variety of sets and use the identical training frequency every week; it’s normal and pretty common. I might recommend that you simply occasionally add changes every couple of months.
Should you want further programming information to maximise your gains, I highly recommend you try our SFS Hypertrophy Training Program below.
Can You See Strength Gains Using Progressive Overload?
Let’s circle back to the brand new research paper and the paper concerning the trained individuals. We will see that the strength gains were similar between increasing the resistance and the rep count despite having different skill levels.
Nevertheless, when most individuals consider strength, myself included, they give thought to the maximum amount of weight you may lift. Based on my experience, that is best done with lower rep ranges and better loads.
On this study within the , researchers tested individuals pre- and post-study for one repetition maximum (RM) strength within the bench press and squat, upper body muscle endurance, and muscle thickness of the elbow flexors, elbow extensors, and lateral thigh. Over the course of eight weeks, each groups performed three sets of seven exercises for the foremost muscles within the upper and lower body.⁶
One group adjusted loads to maintain training to failure within the two—to four-rep range, while a second group adjusted loads to maintain training to failure within the 8—to 12-rep range. The conclusion showed that bench press and back squat strength gains favored training with two to 4 reps.
From this, we are able to deduce that strength-related adaptations could be maximized by training closer to your one rep max.
Outro
Hard training produces adaptations that help us increase the weights we use and the reps we do. While using one technique is greater than sufficient for producing results, I feel there are a number of the reason why it’s best to think about using a combination of each to realize higher results over the long run.
By diversifying our training methods, we are able to stimulate our muscles from various angles, reduce the chance of plateaus, and improve the possibility of balanced development. For instance, higher reps and workout frequency can profit muscle density and size, whereas lower reps are higher for strength gains.
A mixed approach also keeps things fresh and fascinating. If you could have any questions on the brand new progressive overload training research, please be at liberty to go away a comment below. Should you feel like I missed something, be at liberty so as to add it to the comments below!
References
