Progressive Overload for Women: What It Is and How to Do It

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You have to implement progressive overload in order to build muscle, limiting the cardio and putting more emphasis on progressive overload and stimulating the muscles, all of the muscles of your body. That is how you're going to build muscle. That is how you are going to get toned.

What is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show. Or if this is one of your first episodes, welcome to the show. I'm excited that you guys are here. On this podcast, we talk about mindset, methodologies, and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident. I am your host, Nikkiey Stott, and welcome to episode number 97. We're getting so close to that 100 mark.

Today we are going to talk about progressive overload. I'm going to bring this back. I've talked about this, I think, in early, early episodes, but I haven't touched back on it in a while. And I want to resurface it because it is a very important topic to understand when you are seeking the goal of building more muscle. Progressive overload is so important. And that's what I want to talk about today. I want to talk about 11 reasons why it's so important, and then I want to share a couple of ways to implement it into your routine. So I'm going to break this down. What is progressive overload? Why is it important? How can you implement it into your routine for optimal results?

Now, first and foremost, before I dive into this podcast, I'm getting a download to my mind to share with you right now. Listen up, you guys. If you are doing the same workout for four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, that is completely freaking normal. You're doing a shoulder workout on a Tuesday or a full body workout on a Thursday. Or you're doing a full body workout and you're hitting different muscle groups each day. And you're doing that same routine for four to six to eight weeks. That is completely normal, okay? Those of you that want to change it up every single day and you want to change it up every single week, listen to me loud and clear right now. You have to do the boring work. You have to do the exercises repeatedly, over and over, for X amount of time.

And that's where I'm going to dive in today. That is progressive overload. It's not that you're just going in and routinely doing the same things, while it may sound that way. You need to challenge yourself in every single one of those workouts, in every single one of those training sessions, in every single exercise that you are doing. It's not that for the four weeks, six weeks, eight weeks, you're going in and just going through the motions and you're just there to show up and get the workout done. While that may be a percentage of the time, the majority of the time you better be challenging yourselves to increase your weights, to increase that resistance, to add more reps and more sets if the program is designed that way, to decrease or increase rest times, to increase the speed of a movement in an exercise.

These are parts of progressive overload. And when I get to how to implement it, those are the things that you can play around with in your programming, so that even though the exercises you're doing every day are boring to you, if you do these things, you are putting your body in a position to build more muscle, okay?

The majority of the reason why I don't share my workouts on Instagram is because I literally do the same thing for four weeks or six weeks or eight weeks, depending on the block that I'm in. And so you have to just get obsessed with doing the boring work. Same thing with nutrition. I eat the same thing almost every single day and it's boring AF, but it gets me results. And a big reason, you guys, is it takes the thought out of: what am I going to do for my workout today? What am I going to eat today? I do the same thing for upwards of six weeks on average, and I eat the same thing every single day.

A little side story, because this is what the podcast is all about. Sometimes I just go on a rant. I was at the airport checking in, going through TSA. I had to take off all my sweatshirts because I'm always bundled up, because I'm always so cold. I take off all my sweatshirts and the people working in security were like, "Damn, how can I get a body like you? What do you eat?" And I was like, "I eat boring stuff. I eat the same thing." And he asked me, "What did you eat for breakfast today?"

And I was like, "Dude, I've been eating the same breakfast for the last two and a half years." And he was like, "What?" I was like, "Yeah. I don't have to think about it, man. I just get up. I do my thing. I do my morning routine. I make my breakfast. It's the same thing." I don't have to worry about what I'm going to eat for breakfast, or what I have to make sure I get in today. I know this is a good protein, fat and carb combo for me. I told him it's egg whites, egg yolk, bagel and cream cheese. And that is what I have eaten for the last two and a half years of my life. And this guy was like, whoa. I was like, "Yeah, man, just do that. Start your day off with protein." That's the big thing right there.

It's boring, right? But you've got to do the boring work to get the results that you want. And if you think about it, I personally look at food as just fuel for my body. I don't really eat for pleasure. I'm past that. Many of you do that at the beginning and you need to feel some kind of pleasure with your food. But trust me, you get past a point where you're just eating to optimally fuel your body as best as you possibly can, for performance, for energy, for thought, for clarity. And there's the ease of not having to think about what I have to eat.

And then for workouts, I don't want to have to think about what workout I'm going to do today. It's more of: this is my program and my plan. I have a scheduled hour workout for myself, 4% of my day, to show up and get it done. And I just get it done. I do the boring work. But most importantly, I challenge myself with every single workout that I do. And that's what you guys have to do. Do the boring work, but go in and challenge yourselves. I'm going to share how you can implement progressive overload towards the end of this podcast, but let's just get into it.

So first and foremost, reminding you guys what progressive overload is. It is the gradual increase of stress placed on the muscles during physical exercise. In order to continually challenge the body and to promote muscle growth and adaptation, you have to implement progressive overload in the forms I'm going to show you. You can implement it in various different ways. You can literally do a week of doing this, a week of doing that. And that's how you can make it fun for you, but you're still doing the same exercises. But that is what progressive overload is. It's the gradual increase of stress placed on the muscle during physical exercise, because that is the most important way you are going to promote muscle growth and promote adaptation.

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You have to implement progressive overload in order to build muscle. So many of you say, "I want to be toned," but you think that cardio, and I'm going to actually feed into the thought, you think that cardio is the way to get you there. But cardio does not do what progressive overload does. It doesn't place stress on every single muscle of the body. Sure, I'm thinking about running, or rowing and swimming and all of those things, and over time you can do that, but you have to supplement with making sure that you're eating enough food, which a lot of people don't do. You can totally do cardio. You can totally do swimming. You can totally do rowing. You can totally do all of those things. However, in that session your body is requiring tons and tons of calories because your heart rate is elevated. And not many people supplement for that. If you're doing that consistently, excessively in a week, you'd probably have to eat upwards of 3,000 calories, and not everybody's going to do that. That's just broadly speaking.

But bringing it back: limiting the cardio and putting more emphasis on progressive overload and stimulating the muscles, all of the muscles of your body, that is how you're going to build muscle. That is how you are going to get toned. Toned is just showing more of the muscle mass you have built on your body. And you can get toned by doing more strength training and limiting the cardio exercise. Cardio will definitely help you get toned, but you have to put physical stress on your body. You have to put physical resistance on your body. And the way you can do that, and the only way you can do that, is through progressive overload and weight training.

I think that's the best way I've been able to explain it. So I really hope that hits home, because I put a recent reel up on Instagram and maybe I didn't elaborate on it as well as I'm elaborating here. I am not cardio bashing. Cardio is so good for your health, for your heart. Your heart is a muscle. It needs the endurance to make it stronger. However, you don't need to do cardio the majority of your time. You need to do this: progressive overload, strength training, weight training, adding and increasing stress to the muscles in your physical exercise and your workouts, because that is what's going to grow muscle.

Okay, so why is it important and why do you need to do it? If you have the goal of building strength, of building muscle and seeing your body composition change, that is why you need to do it. That is why it is important. And I think that's the majority of the women I speak to. You want to build muscle. You want to feel sexy in your body. You want to look like an athletic person. You want to have that athletic figure. This is what is going to get you that.

So let's dive in a little bit deeper. Why is it important? Four reasons. It promotes muscle growth and adaptation. It increases your strength. It prevents and breaks through plateaus. And it supports overall physical fitness goals. Let's dive into each of those specifically.

Number one, it promotes muscle growth and adaptation. When the muscles are subjected to progressive overload, they undergo microscopic damage. The damage that you do by working out stimulates the body to repair and strengthen muscle fibers, resulting in muscle growth and the adaptation that is happening here. As you continue to increase the stress placed on the muscle, the body will continually adapt, resulting in this ongoing progression of you gaining more strength and more muscle mass.

I always say this: when you're working out inside the gym, you are not building muscle. You are breaking it down. What happens in the next 24 to 48 hours after that workout session is where you actually build the muscle. During the workout, your muscle fibers are undergoing microscopic damage. And this damage, during the repair process, the building process, strengthens those muscle fibers. And this overall results in you building more muscle mass.

And the more that you do this and the more that you continually increase the stress placed on these muscles over time, your body is adapting. So when you're doing one or two weeks of progressive overload, just in the sense of trying to increase weight, you'll find that maybe by week three, that weight is now so easy. And this is the part of progressive overload where you increase the weight on that specific exercise, because the weight you were doing for the last two weeks no longer feels challenging. So here your body is adapting, and now you're putting the body under stress to be able to gain more strength and build more muscle. That is how it promotes muscle growth and how your body adapts to these stressors.

Number two, which I just touched on, is how it increases strength. You're gradually increasing the weight or resistance you use in any given exercise, as in the example I just gave. What this is doing is challenging the muscles and forcing them to work harder. And as the muscles adapt to this increased stress, they become stronger. Your muscles become stronger, and that allows you to lift heavier weights and perform more challenging exercises.

So like I said, you're doing the boring work, but you shouldn't just be going through the motions every single time you walk into the gym. You should be challenging your muscles by increasing strength, by increasing weight. And just like with promoting growth and adaptation, it makes it possible for you to continue making progress even after months and years of training. You go in and do these exercises, but two weeks in, a month in or two months in, that weight is no longer challenging. So you increase the weights, and this gives you the ability to gain more strength. One and two kind of go together, as I just elaborated on.

Number three is a big one for you guys, if you're ever experiencing some kind of plateau during your journey. A lot of people think they're stuck in a plateau, and they're doing everything right with their nutrition, and they think they have to change their nutrition. But let me tell you: keep your nutrition the same way and just do a little bit more inside your training sessions. Challenge yourself a little bit more. Maybe you're not challenging yourself enough, or you're not implementing the things that will spark you to break through a plateau.

For example, if you continue to perform the same exercises with the same weight and resistance, your body will eventually become too comfortable with the routine and stop making progress. When you implement some type of progressive overload technique, it ensures that your body is continually challenged and forced to adapt. This will prevent plateaus from happening and ensure that your progress is consistently ongoing.

A very easy example of progressive overload for me to speak to is the increase in weight. So many of you just go through the four weeks using the same weight and not challenging yourself. And therefore you could experience a plateau and think that you have to adjust your nutrition. Now, this is me assuming that the majority of you have your nutrition down pat. If you don't have your nutrition down pat consistently, then you need to put your focus there. But if you're consistent with your nutrition and you're stuck in a plateau, it's not that you need to change your nutrition. It's that you need to challenge yourself a little bit more, because your body has adapted to your workouts.

This is really important for you to understand. Stay with me. I hope it's causing light bulbs to go off, because so many of you, and I know this because I've coached thousands and thousands of women, just need to challenge yourself a little bit more inside your workouts. If for four weeks, five weeks you're doing the same weight, your body will eventually become too comfortable. Weight meaning exercise and weight inside the gym. And doing that routine consistently over time is probably why it feels boring to you, because you're not challenging yourself, and you will stop making progress. So I challenge you to lift heavier weights.

And the last one, super simple, super easy to understand: it supports overall physical fitness goals. Whether your goal is to build muscle, or for those of you who want to increase endurance or improve overall fitness, progressive overload can help you reach your goals. The key thing here is continuing to challenge your body and to promote growth and adaptation through challenging your body.

All right, so that's why progressive overload is important. I think I've hit the nail on the head, and I hope I have for you listeners, with that one specific example that the easiest way you can incorporate progressive overload and a challenge to your body, so you don't feel like you're just doing the boring work, is to challenge yourself every single day inside your workouts, every week inside your workouts.

So let's dive into how you implement it. Here are a few things you could implement on a weekly basis, a bi-weekly basis, a monthly basis, or from training block to training block to training block. I'll explain examples as we go.

The first one is what I've already shared: increasing resistance or weight. Gradually increasing the weight used in a given exercise is one of the most common forms of progressive overload, and I've already touched on examples in this podcast.

The next one is adding reps or sets. Increasing the number of reps or sets performed in, say, a squat, a bench press or a deadlift can also create progressive overload and force the muscles to work harder. I'll use an example of what I do for my clients. On a weekly basis, I have challenged my clients to increase the sets on the opening exercise they're doing. For example, week one, I had my clients start at three sets of squats. The next week, I had them doing four sets of squats. The next week, five sets of squats. The next time, six sets of squats, seven, eight. But they're keeping the reps the same. This is a form of progressive overload. They're increasing the sets on the given exercise while keeping the reps the same, but there's more challenge, because one week they only did three, now they're doing four, now they're doing five.

And vice versa. You could have them do five sets. I'm trying to think of an example I've done with my clients previously. It's probably been a little bit. But on given weeks they've had five sets, and maybe week one they did four reps, the next week six reps, the next week eight reps, the next week 10 reps, and so on and so forth. Twelve. Maybe 15 by the end. They're increasing the volume demand on their muscles.

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That increased volume is what promotes growth and builds more muscle. For one week they were used to doing only this, and maybe they had a heavier weight. I would challenge them to stick with that same weight they used at four reps, same sets, five sets. And then the next week, when we increase by two reps, I would make them use that same weight. So they're using the same weight and increasing reps with it. That's them breaking through and building adaptation. But most importantly, they're using heavier weight to do more work. And so the muscles are forced to grow, to be challenged and to have more resistance. Those are examples.

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The next thing you can implement with progressive overload is rest times between sets. This is the third one. The first one was increasing resistance or weight. The second one was adding reps or sets. The third one is decreasing or increasing rest time between sets. Let's talk about decreasing, reducing the amount of time taken between sets.

Rest time is so important. If you aren't paying attention to your rest time, you could be spending way too much time resting or way too little. If you rest too long, your muscle has had enough rest and isn't getting the stimulus it needs in order to have those muscle fibers broken down. Those muscle fibers are recovering during that rest. If you're waiting too long, they can recover to the point where your next set is way too easy. You want to find that sweet spot of about 60 seconds to 90 seconds to two minutes of rest, depending on what exercise you're doing, and jump back into that exercise right when that rest is done.

When you reduce the amount of time taken between sets, this can increase the overall demand on the muscles and promote growth and adaptation. Wait too long and your body has already recovered. But resting the optimal amount increases the demand on the muscle to perform in the next set. So going from two minutes of rest on a back squat one week to one minute the next week just increases the overall demand on the muscle, and this is a great form of progressive overload. For example, one month with my clients, they'll rest 90 seconds, and the next month I'll decrease it to 60 seconds. And just that little change in time forces the body to adapt. Your body has adapted to one way, now we're changing it, and we're forcing adaptation in a different way.

Then there are other ways. Number four is increasing the speed of movement. By performing exercises at a faster pace, you can create a greater demand on the muscle and promote progressive overload.

Number five is using different equipment. Switching to a different piece of equipment, like from a barbell to a dumbbell, can create a new and more challenging stimulus for your muscle. For example, front squats with a barbell, or going to a cable machine and doing front squats there. Or doing lunges with a barbell, then lunges with a dumbbell, or even going from a dumbbell to a band. You're creating a more challenging stimulus for the muscle. You could do a dumbbell exercise and then do it with a band and increase the reps. It's just a different stimulus to the muscle.

Number six is varying exercises. Varying the exercises you perform can target different muscle groups and create new challenges for the body, promoting growth and adaptation as well. For example, drop sets can be considered a form of progressive overload. Drop sets involve performing a set of an exercise until failure, then immediately reducing the weight and continuing to perform additional reps until failure again. This increases the demand on the muscles and forces them to work harder. These are just techniques for how you can implement it. One week you could do a drop set, and the next week you could take that same exercise into this next one, which is focusing on the negative portion of the lift: tempo work.

It's great because it places more time under tension. So one week you could do drop sets for an exercise, and the next you could take that same exercise and do tempo work. Tempo work is one of my favorite forms of progressive overload to implement in my training. It's literally just focusing on the eccentric, the negative portion of the lift, three seconds coming down. You can even play with the different seconds. Not pausing at the bottom, coming back up in one second, and then not pausing at the top and coming back down for three seconds. So you may see this written as 3-0-1-0: three seconds down, no pause at the bottom, one second coming up and no pause at the top, going right back into the motion. I'm actually going to share this on my Instagram soon, so keep an eye out for that and save it so you can implement it and play around with it in your training.

Another one is pause reps. Pause reps are so great. You pause at the bottom of a movement. Think about a squat. When you're at the bottom of that exercise, you pause there. This challenges you in so many ways and it's so underrated. During this motion, you are challenging yourself in the hardest portion of the lift to maintain good form and control your body. And this goes so far in challenging the muscle, providing stimulus to the muscle, providing resistance to the muscle in the hardest part of the lift while controlling the form, and then coming back up.

So you guys, I just said seven different ways, right? Increasing resistance or weight, adding reps or sets, decreasing rest times, increasing the speed of the movement, decreasing the speed of the movement, varying exercises, using different equipment. I said eight there, but one was combined together with increasing or decreasing the speed of the movement: tempo work, pause sets, going faster, going slower. Those are ways you can implement progressive overload. And progressive overload, as I said, is so freaking important when you are trying to build muscle.

So use this episode, use the things I just said. Go try them out on your own if you're not a WarriorBabe. If you are a WarriorBabe, that's awesome. Keep implementing these things, because there's a method behind the madness, as they say. There's a reason why your training blocks are the same for six, eight weeks. There's a reason why you're doing the same exercises for those weeks. There's a reason why we're adding tempo work. There's a reason why we're doing decreased rest times, more rest times, X, Y and Z. You're increasing weight. There's a reason why. Just do it.

Now, if you're not a WarriorBabe and you don't want to have to think about all of these things, try them out first. Second, if you find you're not keeping it consistent, then become a WarriorBabe and follow our workout programs so you don't have to think about it. Again, the link is in the description about what WarriorBabe is and what we do best.

All right? I hope this episode has helped you guys. I hope it's given you more insight into progressive overload and why it is so freaking important. Peace out. I'll see you in the next episode.

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