Progressive Overload

Progressive overload is the core principle of why lifting weights builds muscle.

Your body is constantly adapting to the type of exercise you’re doing.

When you do a workout, it is putting your body under stress. You are overloading.

And its response to this stress, is to adapt, so the next time you put your body in that situation, it is better equipped to cope.

That adaptation is – you get stronger and are building muscle. Which is the aim.

After a while repeating the same workout, using the same weights every time you train, doing the same number of sets and reps, that workout that was once challenging is much more comfortable.

This shows you have gotten fitter and stronger, and you are better adapted to the demands that workout is putting on your body.
This is where the principle of progressive overload becomes important. As your body adapts, you need to continue to progressively overload within your workouts to put your body under more stress.
Otherwise, your body won’t need to adapt anymore. Which is when your progress will start to plateau. (Progress regarding building muscle and getting stronger, not your fat loss).
Now you can do this in a variety of ways.
It is common to assume that to overload – you need to lift more weight. But there are more variables than just weight for you to work with.
You can increase the weight, but you can also increase the number of sets or reps.
All of which will result in you challenging your body more, progressively overloading!
Your sets, rep ranges, and rest times are all already written for you in your workouts, so that all you have to focus on is following the workout and pushing yourself and getting better week on week.