010.6 Progressive overload
Cirencester Personal Trainer.
Progressive overload.
As we know when training progressive overload is needed to allow for continued gains and a continued increase in fitness, but what exactly is progressive overload?
In short progressive overload means to increase the demand asked upon then body when exercising, however don’t just think of demand as weight, or how hard you are working, you can challenge the body in other ways.
Increased volume – This is talking about the length of time, amount of reps, amount of sets, quantity of days trained or distance covered.
Increased intensity – So here we are looking at weight, how hard you push yourself RPE (rate of perceived exertion), heart rate or training zones.
Increased complexity – Now we are going into exercise selection and the complexity of the chosen exercise, think squat to single leg pistols (but don’t be silly here, we’ve all seen the weirdo standing on a stability ball with 50kg on his back), or even adding an extra element into the said movement i.e. going from a standard lunge into a lunge with lateral rotation.
Increased time under tension – Stay on the side of caution with this one, as with any static hold you will also have an increase in blood pressure and the tendency to hold your breath, but essentially we are talking about holding the muscle in peak contraction for a period of time throughout the exercise.
Metabolic training - When you've reached a point with a lift that you just feel you can no longer add more weight, maybe take some time to lighten the load, however with a lighter load should come a higher volume, so instead of the normal 10 - 12 reps shoot for a good 45s - 1min sets, really feel the burn and spent sometime there.
Eccentric overload - Here we are talking about the negative portion of an exercise, the section of the exercise where the muscle is lengthening but under load, again think of the lowering portion of the biceps curl. It has been scientifically proven that we are three times strengthen in the eccentric phase of a lift, so slow this part of the movement down and enjoy the continued progressions that will follow.
If all of the above still doesn’t help to jump you out of the fitness rut then change the exercise all together, sometimes the body becomes adept to the demand and a new change of scenery is needed.
Enjoy.
Refer a friend - Introduce a friend to Apex Athletic and as a thank you for your recommendation you will receive one 1:1 personal training session. Terms and conditions apply.
Apex Athletic - Unit 7
Esland Place - Love Lane
Cirencester - GL7 1YG
Comments