Weight Training: Progression and Overload

by Heather Long | More from this Blogger

08 May 2007 11:03 AM

We talked about exercise principles yesterday and the importance of doing it right the first time in order to promote your success. One of the principles we discussed was the concept of overload. I know from at least one reader's note that I wasn't exactly clear on what overload is, so today I want to talk about progression and overload.

Overload

Your body is designed to adapt to stress and to load. For example, when you're pregnant, you get progressively heavier. You don't go from being 1 month pregnant to 9 months pregnant overnight. This important because the progressive gain gets you used to carrying the weight rather than pulling your back out of shape.

The same is true for your body. As soon as you are used to lifting 5-pound weights, you need to step it up. If you are not making a high demand on your muscles, they have no reason to do more. This is true of any activity you perform. If you walk regularly and your five-mile walk is a snap to perform, add some hill to your routine, it increases the stress and thus the demand and makes your workout more effective.

Your body is amazing in how well it can adapt to the stress. When you change the stress or increase it, your body responds. This can lead to physiological changes such as increased muscle tone and increased fat burning. When you increase the weights you are lifting, you are overloading your muscles and that overload encourages their development.

Progression

Overload is good for you, but just as I said in my example you don't go from being 1 month pregnant to 9 months pregnant overnight - you increase the overload progressively. This is considered the optimal time to increase the length of your walk, the incline of your walk or the amount of weight you are lifting.

You shouldn't progress too slowly. If you are doing biceps curls with 10-pound weights and it's taking you three or four sets of 15 reps to feel muscle fatigue - it's time to increase the weight. You are better off doing 2 sets with 15 pound weights than 4 sets with 10-pound weights. If you are just getting started, set your goal at doing 2 sets with 5 pound weights. When that's easy, you graduate to 7 or 8 pound weights. Then you graduate to 10. This progression maintains the overload on your muscles all the while helping your body to adapt to the increased strain on them.

Do you understand how progression and overload help you in your workout?

Learn more about Heather Long

Heather Long is 35 years old and currently lives in Wylie, Texas. She has been a freelance writer for six years. Her husband and she met while working together at America Online over ten years ago.

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