Progressive Overload Without Progressing Load: A Review
Mar 26, 2023
Short blog post today, but very interesting.
Progressive overload is a well-known principle in resistance training that relies on increasing load or repetitions to increase muscle size and strength. But what happens when you don’t progress the load? Can we still make progress?
A recent study looked at the effects of progressive overload without progressing load on muscular adaptations. The study was conducted with 24 healthy, untrained men who were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a control group, a group that performed progressive overload without progressing the load, and a group that performed progressive overload with progressing the load.
The participants trained three times per week for eight weeks using a full-body program comprising nine exercises. The exercises included barbell squats, barbell bench press, bent-over rows, shoulder press, triceps extensions, biceps curls, leg extensions, leg curls and calf raises.
At the end of the eight weeks, all three groups showed significant increases in muscle size and strength. However, the group that did not progress the load showed significantly greater gains than both the control group and the group that progressed the load. This suggests that it is possible to make gains without progressively increasing the load.
The authors concluded performing progressive overload without progressing the load can be an effective way to increase muscle size and strength in untrained individuals. This could be beneficial for those who are limited by equipment or have difficulty increasing their loads because of injury or other factors.
Overall, this study shows it is possible to make gains without progressively increasing your loads as long as you are consistently challenging yourself with higher reps or more difficult variations of exercises. It also highlights how important it is to vary your workouts in order to keep making progress.
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